I have a battery tender and it wasn't charging I took it back to where I bought it from and they said it was bad.They said there were new ones coming in,in a week.Before I bought the new one I had him check to see if it worked it did not as well untill he tried it with the aligator clips that come with it instead of a tester.He checked the one I had with the aligator clips and mine was ok as well.So with all this said can a battery tender be checked with a multi meter.The reason it wasn't working was it had a blown fuse the which brings the next question is what would blow the fuse.My buddy says not to start the car with the battery tender plugged in will this blow the fuse or hurt it.Sorry to be so long winded....and thanks in advance.

So I cant hook the tender jr to the car battery

I don't see why not...

A battery charger should be connected to a battery before it is pluged into the outlet.

Disconnect the battery tender before you try to start the car. not doing that could blow the fuse. Many chargers won't power up unless there is a load connected.

yes disconnect battery tender before starting car. battery tenders are only made to put out 5 amps or less depending on model. so starting car will blow fuse since it takes alot more amps than 5 to start a car. or if you put one on a car that has a dead battery allready it will blow fuse also

nOW i put it on my bike and hour later it was fully charged. I started it, with the charger on the batt. u think that it cld have caused damaged.

My tender has a 3 amp fuse in it.I don't remember starting it with it on but I could have...

Is the fuse blown?

My fuse was blown and took the battery out had it checked took the tender to get checked all for a blown fuse....

My fuse was blown and took the battery out had it checked took the tender to get checked all for a blown fuse....

Gotta be short!

Its working fine now...

Its working fine now...


Operator error?

I've used them for years & I've found that you should not connect a Battery Tender to a battery that needs charged. Use a regular charger first to top off the battery. The tender will keep it fully charged over periods when the vehicle sits. My motorcycle battery lasted 8 years this way.

Do not try to start the vehicle with the tender connected. It can blow the fuse. Did it before myself... oops.

Personally I bought the quick connects that permanently attach to the battery.... no alligator clips to accidentally short out. Using these I never unplug the tender from the wall. Just disconnect from the vehicle, start it & leave. When I come home, just connect it back up. Yes, my tender has been plugged into the wall continuously for 10 years.

This is the way mine is also I have close out panels in my trunk and I have the plug in under the rear tag.I just didn't think to check the fuse until I saw the new one and it reminded me there was a fuse.I started with about 11.9bamps and now has 13.6 and the tender is in the float mode.Now I think I can put my motor together.Thanks for all the input....

I use a smart charger. I think I paid $60 for it at walmart (Shcumacker SpeedCharge). It has settings for regular lead acid, deep cycle, and glass matt batteries. It has a 2A, 7A and 12A charge setting. It automatically controls the voltage and current. It'll automatically go into trickle mode when the battery is fully charged. The glass matt setting is great because it regulates the voltage. Typcial chargers will allow the voltage to get too high on glass matt batteries like the optima (which is why I bought it). Anyway, I've started the car with the charger attached several times with no issues.

Thanks for the input the one I got was $40 and I think it will blow a fuse if cranked on.I am just going to unplug it before cranking.

I got that jr that creight sells!

I got that jr that creight sells!I bought mine where I got my Odyssy battery and the guy said he has only seen one other tender like mine go bad and mine,but mine was ok its working great now.The charge is on about 13.6.

All i got is a plug and a red or green light on the box and clamps. lol