New battery / charging question

[bcs]

Bought a new Yuasa battery for my DRZ. Got it by mail from one of the catalog places. followed the directions, poured in the acid, installed the caps. Put the battery in the bike tonight. Simple job.

I have a "pigtail" on the battery to make connection of my Battery Tender easy. Checked the voltage at the pigtail and it was 12.6V.

Connected the battery tender and went in the house. After 2 hours, the Battery Tender was still showing the RED light only. What the heck? The Battery Tender was quite warm to the touch--much more so than normal. Disconnected it and checked the voltage of the new battery. 13.1 volts. I turned on the key; i couldn't crank it over but the headlight shone brightly.

So what the heck? The Battery tender is obviously connected correctly--the plug is polarized, and it has been working for a couple years. Why would the tender behave like that? Do you think I have a bad Battery Tender?

I guess my real question is, is it normal for the Battery Tender to get that warm when it is presumably charging at a relatively high rate. When i keep it on the bike for storage it never gets warm at all. There's nothing else to check, is there? Thanks for any ideas

[William1]

New battery needs to be charged, typcally at .75 amps for 12 hours.

The higher the draw when supplying power to charge a battery, the hotter the tender will get.

[ROUNDEYEHELMETHEAD]

a battery tender is just that. it will not replace a battery charger in this situation.

[bcs]

a battery tender is just that. it will not replace a battery charger in this situation.

The battery tender people claim its a charger. From the Battery Tender instructions:

The chargers operate in one of the 3 primary charge modes: the bulk mode

(full charge power, constant current, increasing battery voltage, battery is 0% to 75% or 80% charged), the absorption mode (high constant voltage,

decreasing current, battery is 75% to 100% charged), or the storage/float

maintenance mode (low constant voltage, minimal charge current, battery is

fully charged, typically 100% to 103%).

When the battery is fully charged, the green status indicator light will turn on

and the charger will switch to a storage/maintenance charge mode. Battery

Tender® Junior and Plus Chargers will automatically monitor and maintain the

battery at full charge.

[ptgarcia]

2 hours isn't sufficient time to charge the battery. If you have the Battery Tender Plus like me it's only putting out 1.25 A. You need to charge that battery over night.

Heat generation is normal. My tender gets warm to the touch, but not too hot to hold.

[Noble]

There are all kinds of "battery tenders". Some are better than others. So far I have not seen one with an "AGM" charge option as do newer battery chargers. In any case, you need about a 12 hr charge on a new battery. When finished charging, let sit for 1 hr no load. Terminal voltage should be about 13 to 13.2 volts.

[William1]

A couple of the chargers from Tec-Mate are designed for AGM's.

http://www.tecmate.com/

[iowaBClivewire]

thanks I'm going to buy one today