Give me the description off your battery (model # or other info) and I'll tell you the rest

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

Look out, another chapter is do to arrive! J/K Cyber!

Screw it, I have a few minutes free...

(A) Yuasa says your battery should be a YT12B-BS, which means it has a 1.0 amp-hour charge rate and 125 CCA's. Thus, you should use a battery tender (or other charger, like the OptiMax [the best available] or the Yuasa 900mA charger, PN YUA1200901) whose max charge rate is 1.0 Amp-hours or lower.

(B) Out of the Deltran BatteryTender series, that means you can use (safely and by their recommendation) the Battery Tender Jr. and the BatteryTender Waterproof 800. Personally, I prefer the waterproof 800, because it can handle rain. snow and condensation without any issue and keep on doing it's thing (if you shop carefully, you can also find it for $35 or so).

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

I found my battery jr, at a motocycle show for 30.00, brand new, so yeah, they're out there.

Thanks Cyber. So, I want a charger with a charge rate which is less than my battery? I didn't know what that rate was for my battery, and it's tough to access on my bike.

The Waterproof 800 seems like a good deal. I am wondering if there are features not available on it, for them to offer it at that cost.

Anyone have a review of the Waterproof 800?

I just cut a extensionc ord, and spread the wires a bit and put them on the bike that way.

You want one with a charge rate equal or lower than the rate of your battery -- that will keep it from cooking off (overheating, boiling off) if the battery is totally dead at some point and you start charging it...

I use one. I've poured water on it. It kept cranking away doing it's thing. It's been outside in summer thunderstorms and true tropical storms (for hurricanes I bring the bike in) and kept on cranking away. It's been dropped a number of times and no worse for wear. As far as I can tell, it has the same feature set at the Battery Tender Jr. except for the slightly lower charge rate (800mA for the Waterproof800, 1000mA for the BatteryTender Jr) and the fact that it's built into a big block of epoxy surrounded by a plastic case. Doesn't have the desulfination modes and extensive test modes of the OptiMax, but it does have a multi-level charging system and status lights to indicate charge level and battery condition. Sulfation isn't likely to happen to your maint-free battery anyway

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

I looked at a few after market batteries the other day. They had listed on the side 10mAh and 12mAh. Is that the charge rate? We were talking about my battery having a 1.0 mAh charge rate, so I doubt that those are the same numbers.

They were probably misprints (should have had a decimal in it). The common battery number schemes have the on-going max charge rate built into the battery model number without the decimal. Examples:
YTX9-BS is the Yuasha battery for the 98+ Kats.
YT (Yuasha Maint Free) X (High Performance) 9 (Performance level - 0.9AH max charge rate in this case), B (terminal type on sealed batteries, vent location on unsealed batteries) S (sealed).

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

Thanks again Cyber!

There doesn't seem to be a large difference in features between the Junior and the Waterproof. I'm leaning towards the Waterproof.

As a side note, I did the first oil change (on the new bike) today. The previous owner consistently used Yama-lube 20w-40 oil. I found that it does not have a JASO rating, so I will be using Castrol ACT-EVO from now on.