battery tenders & chargers

**slabo** · 02-10-2011, 04:34 AM

Another advantage with ~250cc engines. Kickstart! Battery dies, no problem.. kickstart... ride for thirty minutes to get breakfast in a new part of town you've never been to and you've got a charged up battery.

**milton** · 02-10-2011, 06:02 AM

Hi Jeff,

I brought back from the States an authentic Battery Tender, which unfortunately runs only 110VAC. It was stupid of me to have discovered that only after getting back to SH. I am waiting for a converter (变压器) purchased off Taobao. THe converter is probably a bit lower tech than the multi-phase trickle charger. I will give the combination a try when the converter comes in tomorrow. If you just want a few re-charges, I can lend it to you. I actually replaced my perfectly good original JH600 battery with a new one based on a recommendation by 刘志东 (remember my restart problem, which turns out to be the NGK spark plug). According to him the new battery is the same version that runs on some BMW motorcycles. By the way, if your battery is not salvageable, i can let you have my original one (waiting on a re-charge as well).
Cheers.

**jape** · 02-10-2011, 06:40 AM

Milton, many USA devices have a switch, sometimes under a plate on the back, for going from 110 to 220 volts! Not saying you are stupid but many folk do not even know of this and these threads get read by many. If you checked for that and it doesn't have this switch you can often get some devices rewired easily.

You can just use a simple step-down 220 to 110 converter as you have bought, that should be fine as long as you looked at the wattage the tender uses and got one in that range. In layman's terms, Watts = Volts x Amps P = V I

You should also look at the 'herz' in these cases as some are 50, some are 60 and they do not always match up or work just by changing voltage. You can get more expensive devices will transform/convert and match frequencies. Always get electrical advice for two reasons: wrong wattage can cause a fire, easily, wrong frequency can f**k up sensitive equipment including some types of battery (which can even have circuitry built into them)!

**euphonius** · 02-10-2011, 06:55 AM

Originally Posted by slabo

Another advantage with ~250cc engines. Kickstart! Battery dies, no problem.. kickstart... ride for thirty minutes to get breakfast in a new part of town you've never been to and you've got a charged up battery.

Kickstart is great for carbureted bikes, but I don't think it would work with EFI, since the electronics demand a clean 12 volts and sufficient current to run properly. After five months of disuse, my battery still has enough juice to turn the engine in the cold case, but the voltage is insufficient to light up the injector. So I'm assuming that a kickstarter is a nonstarter with EFI -- unless you have an extremely strong leg!

But your message is spot on: High tech isn't always better tech.

cheers

**milton** · 02-10-2011, 07:53 AM

Originally Posted by jape

Milton, many USA devices have a switch, sometimes under a plate on the back, for going from 110 to 220 volts! Not saying you are stupid but many folk do not even know of this and these threads get read by many. If you checked for that and it doesn't have this switch you can often get some devices rewired easily.

You can just use a simple step-down 220 to 110 converter as you have bought, that should be fine as long as you looked at the wattage the tender uses and got one in that range. In layman's terms, Watts = Volts x Amps P = V I

You should also look at the 'herz' in these cases as some are 50, some are 60 and they do not always match up or work just by changing voltage. You can get more expensive devices will transform/convert and match frequencies. Always get electrical advice for two reasons: wrong wattage can cause a fire, easily, wrong frequency can f**k up sensitive equipment including some types of battery (which can even have circuitry built into them)!

I have looked at the back of the Tender, which is clearly marked for input as 110V and without a switch for different voltage settings. I don't remember what the frequency spec is. Need to go home and check. Just looked up the Wikipedia and found that China is 50hz versus the States at 60hz. The converter is marked for frequency range 50hz to 60hz. Now I am wondering what that "frequency range" means. Does it mean that it doesn't care what the input frequency is as long as it is in the range, in which case the voltage will be stepped down as advertised? But does it also convert the frequency from 60 to 50 (unlikely)? Would the tender (actually a Battery Tender Junior, rated output 12V 750mA) survive the 60hz? Argh, headache.
The converter is rated at 100W, which should give it plenty of head room.

**chinabiker** · 02-10-2011, 08:14 AM

Originally Posted by milton

I have looked at the back of the Tender, which is clearly marked for input as 110V and without a switch for different voltage settings. I don't remember what the frequency spec is. Need to go home and check. Just looked up the Wikipedia and found that China is 50hz versus the States at 60hz. The converter is marked for frequency range 50hz to 60hz. Now I am wondering what that "frequency range" means. Does it mean that it doesn't care what the input frequency is as long as it is in the range, in which case the voltage will be stepped down as advertised? But does it also convert the frequency from 60 to 50 (unlikely)? Would the tender (actually a Battery Tender Junior, rated output 12V 750mA) survive the 60hz? Argh, headache.
The converter is rated at 100W, which should give it plenty of head room.

That frequency range means it is suitable for 50 to 60 Hz rated frequency with usual tolerances of +- 10% appr. 45 to 65 Hz, so no problem.
It will step down the voltage as specified (hopefully

) but highly likely it will not change the frequency. Since you bought the tender in the US, it should be made for 60Hz, and as long as the frequency doesn't go over 70 and below 40, you'll be fine.

**jape** · 02-10-2011, 08:20 AM

Yeah, sorry, I don't like to just worry folk without also proposing a solution! And in all honesty the details of theory have long gone from my brain, was thirty years ago I got my certification and it was mainly intended for guided missiles and the like at the time ...

I would guess the frequency is not so critical in a battery tender, however all devices include electronics these days so there is a small risk. I just wouldn't use cheap converters/transformers and such stuff on something like a laptop or TV. Also with the power, to get the output of 12v x 750 milliamps, the input draw may well be 110v x I amp for example because of losses and all that stuff, so 100 watts is close. Just place it on concrete not a wooden desk, watch it and if it gets hot rather than warm, switch off! Sorry to be a downer, just being careful mate. Hopefully someone else is more up to date than me and can reassure you.

**humanbeing** · 02-10-2011, 08:31 AM

Originally Posted by milton

... it also convert the frequency from 60 to 50 (unlikely)? Would the tender (actually a Battery Tender Junior, rated output 12V 750mA) survive the 60hz? Argh, headache.
The converter is rated at 100W, which should give it plenty of head room.

Majority had SMPS which is EASY to modify to 220V if had electronicns background. (TV repair guy from Anhui are EVERwhere in China) Btw: smps DON'T care input frequency BUT "old tech" trasnformer cares : Designed for 60hz (Had Lesser Iron ) that ran on 50hz will be hotter.

**jape** · 02-15-2011, 10:29 PM

What happened in the end mate? I see you got it started and went for a cobweb loosener yesterday?

**euphonius** · 02-16-2011, 04:51 AM

Thanks, Jape. In the end I took humanbeing's suggestion and picked up this deluxe charger:

Set me back less than US$30, and gave the battery a long, luxurious, full charge. The bike liked this very much, and fired right to life in the first go. (Leave a bike unridden for many months and it gets as many cobwebs as you do as rider.)

Weather should gradually warm over the next couple of months, though spring is rainy in Shanghai, so I'm hoping to be on the bike regularly -- at least a couple times a week, when it's dry. I've got a very nice big Adlo top box, as recommended by bikerdoc, so the bike now is practical for daily runs around town, giving me a bit wider scope than with the bicycle. (Though I hasten to add that there's almost nowhere in urban Shanghai that's out of reach by bicycle; suburban, exurban, sprawling Shanghai which probably would even include Suzhou is another story...)

The riding was uneventful. I'm riding a bit cautiously, which is my style anyway, given my status as a relative newbie with a self-inflicted getoff still in recent memory. I'm also mindful of the shank in my shoulder and the need to avoid falling on that region again, at least until the shank has been extracted (and turned into a keyring) and the bone fully healed. So I took her out for a soapy bath in Jiaoji Lu, so she's all pretty again.

I felt a little rear tire slippage in one turn on dry pavement, so I'm starting to feel traction-challenged and will open a new thread soon on tire choices in China (which is a very different discussion from just "tire choices", since so many are not available here, especially for my wheels -- 130/80-17 and 100/90-19). Milton bought me some hand guards that need to be installed, and with 8000km on the bike I need to pay attention to the drive train and a few other things.

But truth be told, the bike felt great and really ran almost like new. I'm still very, very pleased with this Jialing JH600!

cheers