[Vulcan Verses]

I got a charger called the "Battery Companion" made by Schumacher from AutoZone. IIRC I paid about $20 for it. You can find it at www.autozone.com It is currently $16.99 on the website. Don't know what it will be in the stores. This is very nice and to those interested, this is the same as the more expensive Battery Tender and Tender Jr. Open them up and they are the same. Sorry, I just checked and there are no stores there but you can order online. The description is as follows: "A must for motorcycle owners. Has a quick disconnect harness with ring connector. No need to take the battery out again to charge it. For 6 and 12 volt batteries. 1 amp trickle charge rate charges in 2 to 12 hours Reverse-polarity protection. Quick-Disconnect Harness-Snap either connector into place in seconds Molded plastic case Warranty: 2 yr Limited Warranty " What it doesn't say is that it has both ring connectors and alligator clip connectors. I installed the ring connectors permanently to the battery and with the quick-disconnect connector it is a real breeze to hook up the charger without removing the seat. I store the QD connector under the left side cover.

Thanks for the info! I just looked it up on line and then also viewed the information on the Schumacher web site. It indicates that it is a manual charger which to me means that it does not shut off when the battery reaches full charge. Isn't that a bad thing? I thought this could result in battery damage.

I didn't realize there were other versions of it. Mine is automatic. Not the manual one.

 

[Vulcan Verses]

I think I'm gonna purchase the Battery Tender Plus for 33.95 from MAW. It's only 14 dollars more than the Battery Tender Junior. Unless someone out there has some other suggestions???

I got the "Jr" one and am very satisfied...if you are only going to use it for your bike ..I see no real reason to spent the extra $14.00..

Couple of years ago on the other VROC board someone posted the explanation of why we want the LOWEST amperage charger for our batteries. The Battery Tender Jr. is good for .75 A, and is sufficient for frequent trickle charges. This is especially important for winter charging, where it does not get a chance to drain down from use. The 1.5A trickle charger will cook the battery twice as fast. He even said why the low amps were better for MF AGM's like Westco or Yuasa, but was too technical for me to remember.

Dan Morgan Subject: RE: battery tender
I'll say again, the Yuasa line of battery chargers are better than the Battery Tender series. They have more testing modes and better charging modes including recovery of sulfated batteries. I have seen far too many comments in other forums AGAINST the Battery Tenders mostly the Jr. model. One fellow went thru 3 of them over one winter season. Seems they fail without any indications or for no apparent reason. I have been using my Yuasa charger for almost 2 years with no problems.