Battery tender & Maintenanace free batteries?

[DBG]

I am changing out the OEM battery with the Oddessey PC680, and have been using a Battery Tender plus on the OEM unit. Does anybody know if there has been any problems using the Battery Tender on the dry cell type. Thanks DBG

[powerman]

You shouldn't have any problem with the BT, thats what i'm using, the pc680 isn't really a dry battery, it just doesn't have much electrolyte in it to spill out.

[FlyingJoe]

I'm confused about this whole battery tender prevelance. I keep seeing posts about these. I have a 94 R1100RS and have never had a tender, have left it alone for >4 months at a time , never had to manually charge the battery etc..

 

Are people using these because they live in colder climits (I'm from CA) and being 'topped off' makes easier cold starts? Do the newer bike drain more when off? ?? Cars certainly don't need these, why are there so many ad's and questions about tenders?

 

Thanks

[Ken/OC]

I'm confused about this whole battery tender prevalence.

 

I'm in California too, and have a battery tender too but have never used it on my RT in 3 1/2 years. Probably time to replace the battery pretty soon, but the Battery Tender has never been an issue. May be more important on the 1100RTs where the ABS seems to have more of a problem with older batteries...

[Ken H.]

Are people using these because they live in colder climates (I'm from CA) and being 'topped off' makes easier cold starts? Do the newer bike drain more when off? ?? Cars certainly don't need these, why are there so many ad's and questions about tenders?

Well part of the answer to your question is yes, a lot of us can't ride for 3, 4 months of the winter and the battery does need to be kept topped so the bike will crank when we want it to. And many of us have to store our bike in unheated areas where the temp. falls and stays well below freezing.

 

But part of the reason for so many discussions is confusion abounds about the various battery technologies (lead/acid, gel, AGM, sealed, vented...) and how they should be properly charged. Then throw in BMW's brilliant idea to have a CAN-BUS controlled accessory socket as the only high $$ officially approved way to charge the battery in the new R1200xx series, and you really have a recipe for mass-confusion!