If you've lost the instructions for that thing this pretty much puts it in a nutshell.

When the battery is fully charged, the status indicator LED will turn solid green and the charger will switch to a storage/maintenance charge mode. The Battery Tender® Junior charger will automatically monitor and maintain the battery at full charge.

How important is it to let the battery "soak" after filling the electrolytes and before charging? I just noticed the instructions said to, "Wait for electrolyte absorption: for batteries less than 18Ah, stand for 20-60 minutes. 18Ah and more, stand for 1-2 hours" I only let it stand for about a half hour, is that going to cause any problems or lessen the life of the battery? Is there anything I should or could do about it now or is it too late?

I'd let it sit for at least an hour which is what I do. And that's after the electrolyte container is empty. Better safe than sorry.

As I said before Yuasa recommends a maximum of 14.4 volts for a full charge. It'll take hours for the Deltran unit to switch to float because of the higher voltage it's trying to force on the battery.

My mistake. I just noticed in the ad that the absorption voltage for that charger is 14.4. I was going by the specs for their other charger which is 14.9 volts or at least it used to be. Maybe they finally saw the light.

I called them on the higher voltage once and was told it wouldn't hurt anything to which I replied that Yuasa said it would.

Well I did some digging around the web, and read the "soak" period is due to bubbles that form on the plates when you first fill the electrolyte. (<--- This link is to a good post that has the step by step process with lots of good photos.)

This is what caught my eye:

"'You need to let the lead plates absorb the electrolyte for about....'

About an hour is better than most ever see, but a longer soak is better. The key here is getting as many bubbles off of the plates as possible before slow charging. In a military battery shop they use a vibration table during soak, but rapping the battery gently with the back of screwdriver works fine in the home shop.

The simplified theory is that any plate surface not wetted by electrolyte (like at each bubble) will corrode during charging, thus reducing the efficiency and life of that plate."

I went out to the garage to check if the battery was hot, and it wasn't even warm... thankfully. But surprisingly, the charger light that had been a steady red, was now flashing green, which indicates 80%+ charged. This surprised me because the battery had only been on the charger for roughly 3 hours. To be safe, I disconnected the charger and tested the battery with a multi-meter. It read 13.37 volts.

I then took a screwdriver handle repeatedly tapped the battery all over for about a min. After about a half hour, I tested the battery again and it was down to 13.25 volts. I reattached the charger and this time the solid red light came back on.

I'm going to check it again in a little while, but is it normal for a charger like that to reach 80%+ in only 3 hours on brand new battery?

Just adding the electrolyte brings the battery up to about 80% anyway. The battery is 100% charged at 12.8 volts. A fully charged battery should read about 13.1 volts after sitting for 1 hour with everything disconnected - according to Yuasa.

Doc, from what I read from others who have charged Yuasa's with the same tender you have, their numbers were almost identical to yours.... 13.25 - 13.35v

At .75a the absorption rate is low enough not to cause any heat to worry about. Go to sleep forget about it... sleep well and enjoy that ride in the morning!

Doc_V are you up and running brother?

I let my fresh filled AGMs absorb for 2-3 hours before I charge them. Does not hurt a thing, and is essential for a number of reasons. I use my Battery Tender Plus to top up my newly activated batteries, and they last for years, so I think whatever it charges to is just fine.

Well it's a battery... The charge finished, I assume, because the steady green light was on which indicates it's in storage mode.

I'm just concerned about doing anything wrong because these days, whether it's for a car or motorcycle, it seems your lucky if you get two years out of a battery; which is total BS in my opinion! I'd like this one to last considerably longer.