Funky Battery Tender or ?

I have installed a Powerlet adapter for battery charging and heated gear on my new 2016 FJR.

Last week -

I plugged in a Battery Tender Jr, and after about 20/30 sec, the red lamp went out. No flashing, no green, no nothing.

Plugged in my Gerbings temp controller, (no clothing connected) lamps light for a moment, then go out.

The battery is OEM VRLA, nothing fancy.

Tested-

There is +12.5v at the adapter.

The fuse is fine.

My cable is Powerlet to co-axial plug, then co-axial to SAE two prong, then SAE to Battery Tender. (for Gerbings, I remove the co-axial to SAE section)

There is proper polarity at the exposed side of the SAE connector, its -.

This week its gotten even colder, so I thought I would try the direct connection clamps to the battery.

Tender acts the same, red lamp for less than a minute, then nothing.

There is still good voltage at the connector, +14.00v, so I dont think the battey is frozen.

Temps have been hovering around 27-37F for the last 3 weeks. The bike lives outdoors, under a bike cover. I was afraid the cold might make the tupperware harder to remove, but this was not the case.

So is my tender a dud, and the Gerbings controller needs a load to operate properly?

Tender worked fine last yr, AFAIK.

If I am seeing over 14v at the Powerlet connector, is this a good indication that the bike will start? I have a service appointment next week, if the ice is off the roads, I hope to make it.

Thx for your thoughts and happy new year.

-Steve

How did you wire the Powerlet? Is it a direct wire to the battery for both plus and minus?

You can try disconnecing the battery completely from the bike and try the tender on the battery with nothing connected.

You can also verify your Battery Tender by hooking it up to another battery, like a lawn mower or car, but if it acts like that when connected directly to the battery then it is likely a bad tender.

Safest, I just purchased the Powerlet outlet kit for the FJR. Not sure if yours is the same but Powerlet has the ground attached to the frame. Wire the ground directly to the battery as Geezer said.

Mine will be wired into the aux. fuse block.

Thx for the suggestions.

Powerlet is direct connected to battery, both terminals.

Had the same 'connect it to another battery' idea about a minute after making first post.

Connected to truck battery, works fine, that is, red lamp stayed lit for over a minute.

Also tried plugging tender into two separate AC sources. Grasping at straws, since fuse on the + clamp lead is only 7.5 amp.

Didnt make any difference.

Current conclusion is tender is working fine.

Its 24F now, the high today was 31F, so any other ideas are appreciated.

-Steve

So, the red light stays on for some period of time depending on the charge already in the battery, then the green light comes on. That's the way my Tender and Tender Jr both work.

Next thing to try is to disconnect the battery from everything and then try the tender on it as it stands alone. That will point to either a bad battery or or something in your wiring.

Possible that the controller needs a load to work properly but that does not explain the tender. I would pull the battery and charge it indoors. If the tender doesn't work then use a conventional intelligent charger at a rate no more than 2 amps. Once fully charged, take it somewhere to be load tested. A charged battery will not freeze at those temperatures. Seems to me that the battery tender jr is not temperature compensated and may over or under charge at low temps.

Again, my thx for the suggestions.

I am going to contact Deltrans and ask them what they think is going on.

I want to ride the bike, so taking the battery in and out is not really an option. Its not going to stay too cold for too much longer, hopefully! I have to dig out the Gerbings gear soon, so I will be able to confirm the controller operation soon enough.

- Steve

I take it that the battery won't turn over the engine? Reading a voltage really doesn't tell the whole story and 14 volts on a battery seems odd to me as well. Just might be the meter is a bit off accuracy.

Anyway, as suggested, try charging with a proper charger instead of a tender.

I had a situation where the battery was showing voltage but no starting power and my small charger would not work. It went through the "start up" cycle then stopped.

Once the battery was charged up a bit with a "real" charger, the small one worked fine.

In my case, I figure the battery was so low, the small charger saw it as a fault.

^^^

That's precisely why I suggested charging it properly and having it load tested. Until you have measured voltage under load, you can't assess the condition of the battery. My immediate guess is that you have what amounts to an open cell. It may read an OK unloaded voltage but fail to deliver more than a few hundred milliamps without voltage dropping very low.

Have not tried to start the bike.

Still cant ride it, too much ice on the road. This morning its 15F.

I may have been mistaken about the 14v reading. The voltage measures 12.5/6 the last couple of days.

Deltrans says the Tender may be the problem. Its build date is 2009. They want me to send it to them, if its bad, they will do an out of warranty replacement for $11. Dont know if that includes shipping.

Stay tuned.

-Steve

as far as the controller goes...my Gerbings pulse controller flashes [works?] even without a load...

Could be the tender. I had a Deltran jr. tender in use for several years and recently it acted the same way as described. When connected the red light would come on for a short time and then go out. The green would flash intermittently and then go out. I tossed the tender and connected a new one and all is fine. Sapest's bike in almost new and I doubt it is an issue with the bike. Just a thought!!

Thx for sharing your experience.

Waiting on Deltran now.

-Steve

art miller said:

Could be the tender. I had a Deltran jr. tender in use for several years and recently it acted the same way as described. When connected the red light would come on for a short time and then go out. The green would flash intermittently and then go out. I tossed the tender and connected a new one and all is fine. Sapest's bike in almost new and I doubt it is an issue with the bike. Just a thought!!

Click to expand...

^^^ Is a possibility. I have had a Deltran Jr. choke and die in similar fashion after many years of use.

lnewlf said:

as far as the controller goes...my Gerbings pulse controller flashes [works?] even without a load...

Click to expand...

The weather has finally returned to a 'normal' PNW winter. Bike started fine.As SWMBO often reminds me, I am an idiot. Of course the Gerbings controller flashes, unless on 11. Doh!

Looking more like a faulty tender all the time.

-Steve

Deltran reports tender is toast.

$10.95 out of warranty replacement. Includes shipping. Great deal.

-Steve

sapest said:

Deltran reports tender is toast.$10.95 out of warranty replacement. Includes shipping. Great deal.

-Steve

Click to expand...

You made out very well here. I should have done what you did rather than throwing the defective one away. Next time!!!