Battery tender

[strathroy]

Just FYI
When I got my Trophy the dealer put a battery trickle charger on for free which I used regularly. I went away for a week and plugged it in when I came back the garage smelt of burning plastic the charger had shorted out red hot and still on. It was a cheap Yuasa and I have bought another more expensive one which I hope is better.
I spoke to a friend who was at a HD dealership and he said the dealer had 3 bikes with destroyed ecu’s from faulty trickle chargers. Just something to keep in mind.

[digital]

It would be nice if you could tell what make and model of these chargers. It only occurs to me that in order to destroy an ECU it is that these chargers produce radiation at a certain frequency that affects the ECU.

[strathroy]

Apparently it was a voltage spike which fried the internal boards.

[Canes1]

Would have the battery tender, being plugged into a surge protector have made any difference?

[wyso]

The bike has a port already that you can plug a charger into, not sure why you had one installed. The fact the dealer installed one shows their lack of knowledge of the bike.
Battery Tenders have fuse, 2 amp I think, inline that should pop before the tender melts.
I've used dozens of Battery Tenders over the years and never had a issue.
Maybe it was a cheap unit that he supplied for free.

[Novocastrian]

I was the UK Sales & Distribution Centre Manager for Littelfuse Tracor Inc. for a few years (inventor of the twin blade automotive fuse).   Don't believe all fuses are the same...and be extremely wary of cheap market stall fuses.  The fuse may appear to be an insignificant component but it needs to work which is why I will only buy branded fuses....I have seen horror stories from fuses that don't act as they are supposed to.

Fast acting fuses are exactly that (as opposed to slo-blow) but even then they sometimes don't act fast enough.  Ask yourself why there are surge protection products available....to guard against voltage spikes.  A fuse won't do it.

As for cheap battery chargers...well some are OK and some are not.  You don't get a lot of technology for £10.  I use an Oxford Oxmiser 3X.....certainly not cheap but man, this is the bees knees of battery tenders.

[TomAdis]

Originally Posted by wyso

The bike has a port already that you can plug a charger into

This is news to me.  Where is the port located?

[Coconut]

It is the Hella / DIN socket adjacent to the Rider's left knee.

This socket is permanently Live and is often used for connection of a Battery Tender.