floating battery charger

so what's the consensus on the HF charger? 7.50 is definitely a good deal - I can't find anything that good up here.

Is it a good idea?

Oh, I guess I forgot to mention, as I understand it, that "dumb" charger scenario I described is what is described as "float" charging. The supply basically puts out nominal current pulses, and the voltage of the battery "floats" to whatever voltage is the result of the sum of the cells. The key is that the transformer in the charger is designed such that it's output current reduces as the output voltage (battery voltage) increases.

One of the other types of charging is called "equalized". Basically it forces a slight overcharging voltage and current into the battery to ensure that the weaker cells get fully charged. This requires a regulated supply. In a "float" scenario, each cell has a slightly different voltage on it so each gets a slightly different amount of charge. By overcharging in a controlled manner, the "equalized" method supposedly gives each cell a full charge.

For $7.50, the Harbor Freight charger sounds like a good deal as long as it is not defective. Parts alone would cost more for such a charger. Basically it is a trickle charger that reduces the trickle as the battery nears full charge. The safety is probably in case of a short or reversed connections, but is not a safety for overcharging. If it is meant for a car, it may be too powerful to leave on a motorcycle indefinitely plugged in. A resistor might reduce the charge enough to leave it plugged in indefinitely. I'd try a 10 or 20 ohm, 1/2 watt resistor, in that case. If you end up with about 1 to 5 milliamps, you should be ok indefinitely.

Post edited by: loudhvx, at: 2007/02/15 23:30

WG-
Are you sure ou have the radio wired properly?
It should have a memory/clock wire that power is applied to all the time and a power wire that goes on the 'open when off' side of the accessory relay/switch. Check the specs for your radio/clock. The current drawn by these clock/memory circuits is usually small relative to the self-discharge of the battery.
-Duck

Duck wrote:

WG-
Are you sure ou have the radio wired properly?
It should have a memory/clock wire that power is applied to all the time and a power wire that goes on the 'open when off' side of the accessory relay/switch. Check the specs for your radio/clock. The current drawn by these clock/memory circuits is usually small relative to the self-discharge of the battery.
-Duck

Good point duck, and welcome to the site.
I would imagine memory maintenance current would be on the order of a few tens of milliamps, or it may even use a lithium on-board/internal battery that recharges when radio is powered.
However, if there _is_ a memory maintenance current, it must be taken into account that it is present 24/7.
Now, owing to the fact that a bike battery only has, what, maybe 1/8th to 1/4th the capacity of a large auto battery, say for a 7.3L DIT diesel with twin battery start/charge system; :woohoo:
Well, I think you see where I am going with this.
I dun'no, but the slow drain may kill a bike battery sooner than you might think.
Check the leakage, George, and see just what it is.
Oh yea, and George, welcome to KZR.

Everyone that owns a Voyager experiences battery drain. This issue is due to the fact that it is a two-up touring bike and not generally ridden for a week or two at a time. I have owned SEVERAL other touring bikes and the Voyager is the only one that I have noticed battery discharge as a problem. MOST Voyager owners put a battery tender of some sort on their battery. I had one previously installed and was not familiar with what type it was so I replaced it with a float charger to try and keep the battery fresh.

Well..if they ship to canada, I'll buy one.

Here's the link to the PDF manual:
www.harborfreight.com/manuals/42000-42999/42292.PDF

It says it's good for 12V batteries between 5 and 125 Amp hours, which includes motorcycle batteries.

The comparable charger that I can get up here is at least $40

wiredgeorge wrote:

Everyone that owns a Voyager experiences battery drain....

You know, there is another approach. Use a known, good car battery as your "charger".
If you have one sitting around, not being used then why not let it work for a living.
Put a nifty little connector on a battery-clip pair that matches/mates to the pig tail you made up for your bike battery. When you are not ridding the bike, the car battery, with it's associated large capacity will keep the maintenance/tickler current going, and going, and...

If you guys haven't learned yet, you're not going to buy something for nothing. I suggest spending extra money and staying away from Harbor Freight. I walked through their store and was utterly disgusted at the darn crap, Chinese products myself. All companys like this do is to lure the unsuspecting buyer away from decent competing companys. Kind of the Wal Mart of tool companys.

FWIW.

I bought one of those from Harbour Freight last year for about $7 and it works just fine.
I read about it first on the concours onwers group site.
They had some mixed reviews on them. They pretty much said it's a cheap device, if it gets banged around it will not work very long.
I try to treat mine nice. And everytime I use it, I put my electrometer on it to make sure it's all still good.....and it is.

But as Ron knows, I'm all about dipping my bike in one color non factory paint, bolted up with after market crap and maintenanced with cheap chinese junk.

RonKZ650 wrote:

If you guys haven't learned yet, you're not going to buy something for nothing. I suggest spending extra money and staying away from Harbor Freight. I walked through their store and was utterly disgusted at the darn crap, Chinese products myself. All companys like this do is to lure the unsuspecting buyer away from decent competing companys. Kind of the Wal Mart of tool companys.

I concur, sort of. The way I like to put it, you get what you pay for, if you're damned lucky.
Seldom will you run across a "bargain" for close to free. The only problem is, some of us financially challenged tool whores can not justify Snap Ons, we can't smack down $1000 bucks for a MIG/TIG welder that only gets used a few times a year. That Waterloo, top of the line chest has been on my Christmas list for as long as my actual size, true-to-life, with real working parts, Angelina Joli inflatable doll. I am also hard pressed to trust my ride to someone I don't know, and a lot of "mechanics" I have met don't get my vote just talking to them, much less taking a chance on giving them my business.

I wish I hadn't even brought up buying the thing. The Harbor Freight float charger is working fine. Thanks to those who tried to add some genuine information and to the others, the negative? I wish you well in your search for fine American made electronic devices hehe

wiredgeorge, I'm going to get one for the Goose bike. Thanks man.