HarleyTechTalk

I'm looking for a good battery charger for my AGM batteries.  I'd like to hook one up to a plug that matches the battery tender type of plug so that I can charger up the battery without pulling the seat to get to the battery.  I have a battery tender but sometimes I need to put more charge into the battery.  Another thing, my "124 Ultra set for about 2 weeks with the battery tender hooked up to it and when I went to start it nothing happened.  The funny things is that lights were really bright but just a click when I hit the start switch.  I don't have any extra stuff on the bike other than the alarm but I would think that the tender could keep up with that.   

I like my Deltran 021-0128 battery tender/charger. It has that easy plug in connection like the HD tenders have that make it real easy to use ~ $50 on Amazon.

Another possibility is to add an extension wire from the + wire from the battery to somewhere out side of the frame. Suitably capped, it should cause no probs. This way, should you have any probs out on a run, you can accept a jump start from another vehicle. The - connection could be from anywhere that would give a good earth. This would also allow your charger to be used on something else, assuming it has crocodile clips. HTH.

Quote from: mr. pitts on January 03, 2015, 10:13:23 PM
Another possibility is to add an extension wire from the + wire from the battery to somewhere out side of the frame. Suitably capped, it should cause no probs. This way, should you have any probs out on a run, you can accept a jump start from another vehicle. The - connection could be from anywhere that would give a good earth. This would also allow your charger to be used on something else, assuming it has crocodile clips. HTH.

It's very easy on a Dyna or Touring to access the + connection of the starter (=battery) with a crocodile clamp. No need to have an extension.



Karl

That may be so, but the original poster said he didn't want to have to pull the seat, so I imagine it's a bolt on, like my bike, a '96 Electra.

Why pull the seat? 

I see that I had a typo on my original post.  I have a '14 Ultra and a '00 softail.  I may not have to pull the seat on the Ultra but I do on the softail.

http://smartercharger.com/

These are the ones which work best for me.  I left my bike on acc one time and took a brand new battery down to almost nothing.  My big Schumaker wouldn't charge it, the voltage was too low.  Just on a whim, I threw it on the ctek and damn if it didn't bring it back.  Cteks are friggin awesome.

There are cheaper places to buy them, but the above is their USA site.  I built a battery bank in the basement for a backup to my sump pump and refrigerators and use the bigger one to keep the batteries topped off.  They run very quiet vs the Schumaker which has a very noisy fan.

Your 14 ultra has the harness on it already.. Under the left side cover..

I picked up a new Deltran 021-0128 battery tender/charger and left it on the Ultra overnight and this morning I had a steady green light which means that I should be good to go.  I turned on the key and the lights are bright as ever but when I hit the start switch I just get a click.  It doesn't sound like the click when the battery is low it is a loud click.  I checked the battery cables at the battery and they are tight.  I also checked the cable at the started and it is tight also.  I'm out of ideas.   

Have you checked the voltage on the battery? Did you use the little washers that should come with the battey??
Is this on the softail?

This is a 2014 FLHTCU with only 4500 miles and the original battery, it's 6 months old.  So the battery is the way it came from the dealer.  I've checked all of the connections on the battery and the starter and they are tight.  The bike is stock as far as anything electrical goes.  The only change is that I just added new mufflers so nothing that would cause a current drain.   

You need to disconnect the bat charger, and put a volt meter on the battery, let it sit for a half hour and check it again.
There are a lot of bad 6 month old bat.
It should be at least 12.4 or more volts.
Also just because the cables are tight does not mean you are getting a good condition, best to take them off and clean them, use a little dielectric grease.

I think that my battery took a  .  I put my digital VM on it and it showed 13.5.  Then about every 20 seconds it would drop .1 volt.  I'll check it again in an hour and see how far it dropped.

OK after an hour it dropped to 11.8 and when I turn on the key it goes to 11.1 and down to 5.6 when I hit the start button.  I'd say my battery is toast, now I have to figure out how to get it started so I can get it down to the dealer.  I could take it out myself and take it down but why should I put down my beer and get my hands dirty when it's under warranty. 

I think the battery makers there are only 2 Deka & Johnson controls that I am aware of have made a major change in battery quality.  Many recent postings on the net about battery failures new batteries failing 2 years old and newer.

Mine was on it's 2nd season last year and barley made it through till the end of the riding season. I keep mine on a tender and I'm starting to think that don't much matter anymore either.

I'm even starting to question short term tender usage?  I mean yea if the bike is gonna be down for 3~4 months winter outage than sure makes sense to place the battery on a tender. But if I'm riding every other day or even just on the weekends I want to know before I depart for 200 mile run if the battery has held a charge on it's own before I pull out of the garage.

I'm gonna be looking to buy another new battery in April but I sure don't have much faith that any of em today are worth a chit.

Deka makes around 20 million batteries a year and around 10 years ago they supplied Johnson with unlabeled batteries. Things could have and probably did change in that time.