Battery Tender Jr.

[ImpactBattery]

Not sure about those two items i use different brand altogether mind works great, but to the person or persons that say i use yada yada and nothing else i just have this statement i found

“There is a principle which is a bar against all informa -
tion, which is proof against all arguments and which can-
not fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance—
that principle is contempt prior to investigation.”
—Herbert Spencer

That is a good word sir!

[redbug]

Yeah you are right, all I was trying to do was a comparison of the battery tenders in the real world . Just got carried away.

[OldZX11Rider]

I went to Wal-Mart and bought a battery charger/tender for less than $20. When I bought my 1500 Goldwing in November, I was told it would probably need a new battery pretty soon.
Since I bought my charger/tender, I've noticed it starts better and spins over a little faster.
It's working for me but I can't say how it will work in the long term. However, if I only get a couple 2 or 3 years out of it, I'll go back to Wally World for a new one.
For my purposes, I just can't see spending 2 or 3 hundred $'s for a battery charger/tender.

[WingAdmin]

I got a new Battery Tender Jr., and realized that they have drastically changed the design. The old unit was a transformer-based unit, similar to the "wall warts" found up to ten years ago. It used a transformer, which is a coil of wire wound around a ferrite core to magnetically reduce the power from the 120 volts found in your wall socket, to the 13.8 volts required by your motorcycle's battery. The problem with transformers is that they are bulky and large.

Around ten years ago, switching power supplies began to appear in power adapters. Switching power supplies have been around for a long time - they're ubiquitous in computer power supplies. Your phone charger is a switching power supply. The big difference with switching power supplies is that they do not require a transformer: the power conversion is done with electronic components, which are far more efficient, less wasteful, and much smaller than old-style transformer power supplies. You'll notice transformer power supplies waste energy as heat, whereas switching power supplies rarely warm to the touch.

The new Battery Tender Jr. uses a switching power supply - and the difference is immediately noticeable. It is much smaller, MUCH lighter, and has a narrower case:

New Battery Tender Jr - back - new one on the left

New Battery Tender Jr - side - new one on the left

I have just plugged in this new unit and will watch its performance over the next few months. If I see any problems, I'll report back! Being a Battery Tender however, I don't expect to have any issues at all.

[thrasherg]

I have about 6 of the new ones and 5 of the old ones, the only downside I have found to the new units is that they do not seem as impervious to noise on the 110 volt supply. Our main power line to the house was struck by lightning, it damaged a few items, but every one of the new battery tender Jr’s failed. All the older units are still working fine, so whilst it’s not a big issue, I prefer the older units just because they seem more robust than the new units. As battery tenders the new ones work fine.

Gary

[WingAdmin]

I have about 6 of the new ones and 5 of the old ones, the only downside I have found to the new units is that they do not seem as impervious to noise on the 110 volt supply. Our main power line to the house was struck by lightning, it damaged a few items, but every one of the new battery tender Jr’s failed. All the older units are still working fine, so whilst it’s not a big issue, I prefer the older units just because they seem more robust than the new units. As battery tenders the new ones work fine.

Gary

That's funny...because the reason I bought the new one is because a nearby lightning strike took out the old one in the picture above. Along with a cable modem and a radio. I have five of the old ones, now I have four old ones and one new one.

Very understandable though that a lightning strike could easily kill the switching power supply inside the new one.