Hello Peter,
You seem to be very knowledgeable on many subjects, so I respect your opinion on such matters so I wonder if you can enlighten me (and others) about your comment "
DON'T USE A TRICKLE CHARGER OR EVEN A TENDER all the time!!"?.
I always thought that hooking a charger/maintainer on the battery all the time would help maintain the health of the battery and therefore a good habit.
Specifically I have this unit:
https://no.co/genius1
With the following capabilities/features:
NOCO GENIUS1, 1A Smart Car Battery Charger, 6V and 12V Automotive Charger, Battery Maintainer, Trickle Charger, Float Charger and Desulfator for Motorcycle, ATV, Lithium and Deep Cycle Batteries
If you have a read of the numerous posts & threads here on the Forum about the hazards of running tenders
ALL the time, ie. if you're not riding, it's on a tender, then it shouldn't take too long to realise that doing this often hides a dying or dead battery. The better quality tender/maintainers (like your NOCO GENIUS) don't usually do this quite so often, but they too are reported as doing this over time.
Basically, if it's on a tender
ALL (or nearly all) the time you're not riding,
ANY tender, &/or if you've left it on a tender for an extended period, if you rock up, take it off the tender, and start it up; you just won't know if that was your battery being up to the task, or simply the residual '
higher state of charge' left over from so recently taking it off the tender that always occurs!! If it
WAS the latter and you've done this, started up on a false state of charge and then ridden away from home, then the first time you'll likely know that your battery is no longer up to starting your vehicle too well (if at all!) will be out there somewhere, once you've left home, ridden away, stopped for a while, and then you try to start it up again - unsuccessfully!! Maybe this won't happen every time, but it's happened often enough, as reported here - often! If your battery is getting tired & old & not holding charge for long any more, don't you want to know that
BEFORE you're out somewhere, possibly miles away from home &/or help??
So if you are going to ride your Spyder/Ryker/car/whatever within a week or so, just leave it off the tender -
ANY tender!! And if it's been
ON a tender for a while, even just a few days, a week, or an extended layover, and you're planning on riding soon, take it off the tender a few days beforehand so that the battery can settle to
ITS 'normal state of charge', and not just the
Tender induced 'higher state of charge' that has little real grunt behind it and will disappear completely the very first time it's used! By doing that, if your battery isn't quite as robust as it used to be, you might notice the hesitation &/or the slower cranking, you might even see some of the other warning signs
BEFORE you get too far away from home or help, but at least it shouldn't be when you're out somewhere inconvenient &/or far from help!
Just Sayin'
