Hi all,
Asking about the definitions of battery chargers. I have, it appears, at least three different kinds and I was going to ask where one fits in the continuum. I have a plain old BMW charger. It has a meter to show the charge rate and as near as I can tell that's it. Then I have a couple of Deltran Battery Tenders and a Optimate 3 desulfator-charger. I believe these all come under the heading of tenders in that you leave them connected and they charge as needed to keep the battery up. And of course I have at least one trickle charger which as I understand it provides a steady milli-amp charge but should not be left connected charging indefinitely as it doesn't know when to stop.

Now my question I have one, Hoya model HYCH007 Battery charger, which claims to be an Automatic Battery Float Charger. Can anyone place this on the continuum of charger, tender, trickle charger? I've been searching but haven't been able to differentiate whether its a trickle charger or a tender. Much of the hype simply confuses who does what and which ones can be left connected continuously.

Thanks
J.

J, I was just about to write up a new new topic on this very thing, only a bit different, re: operation of the charger.

A few years ago I bought an Optimate 4, charger, designed as a "tender" battery charger, inasmuch as it measures the battery volts at regular intervals, and, if required, delivers a few bursts of charging current to keep it topped up. It can be configured for a direct charge system or a CAN-Bus system. My current ride is an R1200RT, which is CAN-Bus, and the Optimate works just fine.

Now...a good mate of mine has just bought a brand new R1250RT, had has just 3½ thousand Kms on the clock. He has recently suffered a major health issue and won't be able to ride for many months. I offered him the use of the Optimate. The volts at the battery went up to 13.67V, and I was expecting it to reach around 14.2V, before it goes into the tender mode mode. Then, at no stage did the top RHS green LED light up, and the volts dropped down to 13.17V, with everything still connected.

This has caused me a deal of confusion (I'm easily confused these days, especially with my technical ignorance).

So, I'd be really interested in the forum's thoughts on these matters.

Thanks!

Rickmeister wrote: The volts at the battery went up to 13.67V, and I was expecting it to reach around 14.2V, before it goes into the tender mode mode. Then, at no stage did the top RHS green LED light up, and the volts dropped down to 13.17V, with everything still connected.

This seemingly helpful video from our friends at Optimate provides a simple explanation, if it can be accepted.