Supersmart Battery Tender

SUPERSMART BATTERY TENDER

CW EVALUATION

Safeguard against dead cells

WANT A GUARANTEED SYSTEM FOR shortening the life of your motorcycle battery? Just park your bike in the garage for a month or two. Storing it all winter is an even surer way to kill a battery that would otherwise last another season or two. Unless a battery is charged at regular intervals, it will sulfate and short-out the battery plates.

Everyone, of course, has good intentions of slow-charging the battery every so often during their bike’s idle periods, but few of us actually do. The result is predictable: purchase a new replacement battery and swear to keep it charged next year.

A sure-fire way to eliminate yearly battery purchases is to invest $55 in a SuperSmart Battery Tender from Deltran (801 U.S. Highway 92 East, Detand, Ftand 32724; 800/456-7901). The Battery Tender looks like a regular trickle charger, and it will charge a low battery just like a trickle charger, although there are two major differences in the way it works. First, the Battery Tender charges at a very low 1.25 amps. Second, once the battery is fully charged to 14.4 volts, the Battery Tender switches to a maintenance-charging mode.

The maintenance mode continues to charge the battery, but the amperage is reduced from 1.25 amps to 10 milliamps. If the battery’s voltage should drop below 11.5 volts during an extended storage period, the Battery Tender will automatically switch its amperage output back to 1.25 amps until the battery’s charge reaches 14.4 volts, and then revert back to the maintenance mode.

We have used the SuperSmart Battery Tender on numerous motorcycle batteries during the past year, and it has performed as advertised. One bike in particular, a Ducati 851, often sat for four to six weeks between rides, but the battery always spun the big Twin to life.

We’ve experienced no problems with the Battery Tender, so it’s doubtful that we’ll need its two-year warranty covering defects in material and workmanship. The Battery Tender is available at motorcycle dealers or directly from the manufacturer.