5/16/2023 0 Comments Battery buddy not charging![]() ![]() This will allow Fords BMS to read a SOC of 100%. The oldest battery I have that was kept on a Tender was over 12 years old followed by a Yuasa on my Ducati also now coming to 11 years.īattery Tender Mai trains at 13.15 to 13.2 VDC with 50mA to 150mA of current. In my experience this hurts the battery over the long term. The question you need to ask is how much current is the charger providing during maintenance mode? Almost all of them will float above 13V but only Battery Tender seems to provide enough current to fight parasitic drain and top off the battery. My go to Tender is their 800mA waterproof used on cars with big batteries as well as my Ducati. Over the past 15 plus years I have tried a bunch of different brands of Maintainers. Still, it is better than a straight-up Voltmeter. It doesn't seem to be terribly accurate, as it dropped my brand new AGM from 100%, down to 68% life left in it, after just two start-up's now, after two years of use, it is down to around 62%, so it is declining very slowly, as I would expect. My 'smart' battery monitor (mine is similar, but made for motorcycles - no longer available) reads the voltage drop during starting, to gauge the life left in the battery, to warn me when it gets tired - this is basically load testing the battery, under real starting conditions. Almost impossible to tell if they work, but they're out there - for lead-acid batteries only, though. Some of the newer types will even try to de-sulfate the battery, with a high-frequency AC signal on top of the charging current. They do not, however, perform any type of load-testing. Voltage readings, over time, are the only way to be certain of a battery's charge level, so the smart chargers monitor it over time, assuming that the battery needs charging upon initial connection. Some will show a good voltage at first, when the bike is shut off (fully charged by the alternator while riding), then drain to a lower voltage reading after resting a couple of hours. ![]() Some batteries will show a good level, initially, then fail when a load is applied. Smart trickle chargers are computer controlled, but the computer takes an average voltage reading, over time, to determine the charge state of the battery. My current bike has a 'smart' battery monitor, with an LCD display, which takes even less current to operate (would take a couple of months to drain the battery, all by itself). The first two bikes had switched, automotive Voltmeters installed, which I only checked occasionally, to monitor the health of the battery, and the charging system - switched so they would not drain the batteries over a few weeks' time. It started over-voltaging the bike after two years of use, 15.5+ Volts (AGM battery, which should never have more than 15 Volts applied.), so I bought another model from Harbor Freight, to try.Īll three models behave the same, per the Voltmeter on the bikes: regardless of the battery's voltage on connection, they go into charge mode, applying 13-14 Volts, initially, for around 5 miniutes to a few hours (depending upon the actual charge level), before switching to topping off mode (<14 Volts), followed by monitoring mode (12.6-12.8 Volts). It's replacement was a model from Wal-Mart (half the price of the BT Jr.). The third was replaced when I ran it over with the car. ![]() I sold two with their bikes, but they worked flawlessly. The first three models I used, were all Battery Tender Jr.'s. I've had three different brands of smart trickle chargers over the past nine years. Well, OneEyedJack, I was actually speaking from personal experiences. In short, measure the voltage across the battery without the tender connected, then measure the voltage across the battery in the different modes of the tender: charging should show a voltage above 13 Volts near full charge, the voltage may be lower, but it will still be above 12.8 Volts, and in monitor mode, it should be 12.6 Volts, flooded battery, or 12.8 Volts, AGM battery. ![]() If the battery's voltage never changes with the modes of the tender, then it is not working properly. With the tender connected, and in a charge mode (check its lights to see what it is doing), the battery's voltage should increase to above 13 Volts, over a period of 5-10 minutes, as this indicates it is being charged by the tender, similar to what the alternator does in the bike, running down the road. The battery, if known good, should read around 12.6-12.8 Volts, without the tender connected. Testing a battery tender is easy: hook it up to a known good battery, connect a voltmeter across the battery before, and during the tender's connection to the battery: measure the battery's voltage without, then with the tender. ![]()
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