Gel Battery Charger

[TGarner]

I am a little confused. What battery charger do I need to charge the BMW Gel Battery on my 04 GS?

[moshe_levy]

Any like Deltran Battery Tender or equivalent will do just fine.

 

-MKL

[TestPilot]

Deltran makes a Battery Tender specifically for Gel batteries. It's not shown on their web site, so call them. Gel batteries require a slightly lower charging voltage than wet or AGM batteries.

[brydcole]

I purchased mine here

 

http://www.batterymart.com/p-battery-tender-plus-12v-1_25a-gel-battery-charger.html

[Ken H.]

While it’s true there are slight differences in the optimum charge curve between different battery technologies, in practice it's not enough to make a hill of beans worth of difference. After all; the bike doesn’t know what type of battery is in it, and it charges them all just fine.

[Peter Parts]

I'm with Ken. As far as I know, if you treat the charge level in a battery as subtly as you would the water level in a garden pail, you are doing fine. Or at the least, not worth a hill of beans difference.

[Unhofliche_Gesundheit]

while we all appreciate quality the "relentless advancement of society" means that you can now get a battery float tender for under 10$. i have found no reason not to use one of these... http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=42292

(and if there are reasons why such a cheap unit should not be used i would be happy to know of them...)

 

i dont trust it fully and so only hook it up for 24 hours at the first of the month in the off season (i.e jan 1st, feb 1st, mar 1st april 1st. and maybe, tbd, april 15th). so far so good.

 

i rigged it up to plug into the powerlet ('bwm style') outlet on the side of the bike..

 

[Angel]

w i have found no reason not to use one of these... http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=42292

(and if there are reasons why such a cheap unit should not be used i would be happy to know of them...)

 

[effexer1]

I have a gel battery, and just use a normal car battery charger on trickle charge mode. It seems to work ok.

[jfremder]

w i have found no reason not to use one of these... http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=42292

(and if there are reasons why such a cheap unit should not be used i would be happy to know of them...)

 

I have seven of the HF battery maintainers. Have used them for 5 years. I also use the on for a day or two, off for a month or so in the winter. Another methos is to hook it up to a light timer for an hour a day. I have replaced one out of the seven batteries in that 5 year time span. YMMV