Customer Reviews

Battery Tender Waterproof Jr. Motorcycle Battery Charger

5 star:		(121)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Deltran Battery Tender 12-Volt 800 milliamp Waterproof Battery Charger

The Battery Tender Waterproof Tender operates in essentially 3 stages. It first initiates an absorption charge that attempts to charge your battery to 14.5 VDC at up to 0.8A (or 800mA). This bit of information was not readily advertised, so I was concerned when I heard my battery making gurgling noises while the LED was "amber" for the past 8 hours. This battery was only 2 years old with less than 5000 miles and had been maintained since day 1, so I was sure it wasn't a problem with the battery. It turns out that it was nothing to be concerned about since this charger was designed to be used for long-term storage of batteries.

My previous charger, a Black & Decker / Vector 2A "smart" automatic maintainer tried to keep my battery voltage at 14.75 VDC at 2A for over 24 hours. Needless to say, I was concerned when I saw this happening with a brand new Battery Tender. I dug around on their website and discovered a PDF that indicated the Tender would try to reach 14.5 VDC for the absorption phase, at which point it would switch to a trickling charge and finally the maintenance charge. I logged all of the readings and confirmed that once the battery reached 14.4-14.5 VDC, it would start to trickle down finally remaining at about 13.12-13.22 VDC @ 20-100 mA. A modern car's parasitic draw is about 10-50 mA, so the maintenance charge is to compensate for the parasitic draw and for self-discharging of the battery. I discovered the Tender does a much better job at a maintenance charge because I have yet to see the Tender go into the Amber-LED mode, whereas my Vector/B&D occasionally switches back and forth even on a fully charged battery. I logged some data from the Vector/B&D and discovered that once the LED is green, it provides NO current to the battery. In essence, the Vector/B&D just shuts off once it reaches 14.5 VDC - which is not as useful as providing an actual maintenance charge. The Battery Tender wins. Quite a few people have commented that their Sears "smart/automatic" maintainer and other brands constantly switch between the Green and Amber modes. I suspect those chargers are doing the same thing as the Vector/B&D. They just shut off when the battery is "charged", which is not very good for the battery. It needs to hold a maintenance charge to prevent sulfation.

The Tender Waterproof is fully encapsulated with a thermally conductive potting material. This makes the unit quite heavy for such a small device. It uses a quick-disconnect 2-terminal fitting that is commonly used for battery chargers/maintainers. It comes with ring terminals or large battery clamps all fused with a 7.5A ATC fuse. I made my own wiring harness with smaller alligator clips since I don't have room under the hood for large clamps, and I do not want to permanently install a set of ring terminals that can short out or cause other problems in the long-run.

Pros: Battery Tender has an excellent reputation for making reliable chargers. The Waterproof unit is quite durable and is insulated from shock, water, corrosion, extreme temperatures and other environmental variables.

Cons: At 800mA max current capacity, this charger will work rather slowly for 50Ah or larger capacity batteries, so expect 10-12 hours upon hooking it up to a battery before the LED turns green. The benefit of this is that it prevents boiling the battery or generating a lot of heat due to excessive current.

Overall: If you're using the charger in an environment subject to cold or hot temperature swings with plenty of moisture, such as in a detached garage for your motorcycle, boat, stored vehicle, or even a daily driver, I highly recommend the Waterproof unit over the Tender Jr or Tender Plus.

UPDATE:
I decided to purchase an additional Battery Tender Waterproof because I needed another charger for my daily driver and because I experienced no problems with the first unit.

I have been using battery tenders for a while now, but needed one that could be placed on outside vehicles without worrying about precipitation. This one was perfect. It's a simple little device - if you can plug a cord in and connect like colored clips - it's all you need.

The construction seems even hardier than I anticipated - it seems very rugged. It has rained and snowed on it already with no issues. My biggest pet peeve is dead batteries, and battery tenders have worked great for me! My Harley battery is 5 years old and still functions like new.

I highly recommend you pick one up if you have a battery that sits idle for more than a few days at a time.

The Amazon title says this is an 800 Amp charger (which is a bit ludicrous -- most houses are only set to handle 60-150 amps). This device is actually an 800 milliamp charger, or 0.8 amps. This places it as comparable to the 0.75 amp Deltran Battery Tender Junior.

The package includes high quality adapter cables, including both traditional claw-style clips (useful for charging/maintaining a stand alone battery) and o-rings to screw onto a battery for direct hookup while still installed in a vehicle. This latter option makes it supremely useful for maintaining a motorcycle over the winter, even outdoors.

Deltran's "Battery Tender" brand series of trickle chargers are excellent quality. The Waterproof model maintains the high standard.

I have three of these. In the northern Ohio winters where temps can sometime go down to single degrees at night, I know the truck will start in the morning. I keep one on the generator and tractor for battery maintenance during storage. They work perfectly.

I have 2 of these now, and they work great. I have them hooked up outside, and I dont have to worry about bringing them in. Light indicators on the chargers seem to be accurate. I have never had any problems with this product. Plus the kit come with clip or permanent attachment setup. Nice product!!

I just bought the Deltran Battery Tender Waterproof 800 automatic battery charger. I haven't even plugged it in, and I have every reason to believe that it will work perfectly. But before you buy any such product from this company, realize that the "3 YEAR WARRANTY!" advertised on the outside packaging probably is, in comparison to all the other warranties on all the devices you've ever bought, meaningless. What you'll discover after you've bought the product, peeled off the plastic wrapper, and read the enclosed insert, is that the "non-refundable warranty evaluation, shipping and handling fee" equals sixteen dollars ($15.95 anyway), which is half of what you'd pay Amazon for the new product. If the unit fails within three years, you return the defective unit, plus a check for that amount. After Deltran receives it, "You will be notified regarding the total cost of the repair, before the repair is conducted. Repair-fee payment will be by credit card. If you choose not to pay for the repair, the unit will be returned to you in the condition that it was received."

Is there anyone who, under those regulations, would actually return the unit for repair, as opposed to buying a new one? If Deltran is proud of the restrictions of their warranties, they should expalain those restrictions on the outside packaging. This is a warranty scam.

Deltran doesn't state who must pay for the unit to be returned to you, if you choose not to pay the cost of repair. But it's not hard to guess. And before they tell you that amount, they probably have your credit-card number on file.

If you need a battery charger, buy it from a company that actually warranties their products.

ur 2000 Mercedes Benz C230 developed an electrical current drain that resulted in a dead battery ir the car sat for two or three days between uses. My choices were to spend several hundred dollars casing the short in the front instrument panel or purchasing a $32 automatic battery tender. The battery tender has worked well. We have had no "dead battery" instances since we began using the device. The device was as described on the amazon.com web site and shipped within one day if placing the order. Needless-to-say we are very happy campers.

I really like it. It looks really well made. And it works very well. It charged my bike quickly when I accidentally drained the battery because I left the lights on. I bought the 25 ft extension with it also. The only thing that you have to be aware when using this charger/tender is that the battery must NOT be completely drained out. If the battery reads less than 3 Volts( I think), it will NOT charge it. There is only one light on the charger. It will light orange when it is charging and it will turn green when the battery is fully charged (or it won't light at all if the battery is completely dead). If you own a motorcycle the supplied hook up will allow you to charge the battery without having to remove it from bike. The only downside it that this model is on the more expensive side. Having said that, being water proof and having a built-in fail safe switch (won't hurt the charger or battery if you hook it up wrong) is worth it, I think.

This charger gets used in my barn. The waterproof nature is a must for the damp and dusty conditions there. A big plus is the fact that I can leave it on 24/7, ensuring that the equipment has a full charge and a battery that lives a long time. The low power is perfect for this kind of duty - it won't run up my electric bill. It's 800 mA, not 800 A; it's a smart trickle charger, not a welder. A big plus is the smart circuitry that prevents overcharging. I won't buy a dumb charger ever again.

I also got the cigarette lighter adapter so that I can use it in the other car, which doesn't always get regular use.

Although I didn't specifically need the waterproof feature, I like how the whole thing is sealed in epoxy. I've used these for a couple years on my emergency backup batteries. These also extend the life of typical car batteries in storage. It will never overcharge or boil a battery dry like the old types.

Sept 2007 Update:

I've used this on the newer AGM batteries (like Optima) and it seems to work just as well on these batteries. I use one indoors to keep a 12 volt ham radio station topped off. I actually bought two more!

Another one provides 12 volts to a all of my LED deck lights.