Thanks all, for the in-depth monitoring. Interesting stuff. We've not done any of our own but, can speak to what's worked for us.
We have an old, original aluminum-case version of the Battery Tender. These days it's used mostly for the initial charge of a newly activated flooded wet battery.
We use an older version of this charger for routine maintenance:
www.amazon.com/Schauer-Battery-Charger-M...JJ35Y&qid=1576594596
Our older Schauer model
SW121060 has 2/4/6A settings, unlike the newer unit that has 1/8/12A settings. Ours is always set to 2A. Depending on the bike, it's set to either wet or sealed AGM charging; once per month, per battery, for 24 ~ 48 hrs. or sooner if we happen to see the indicator for fully-charged. Our Taiwanese conventional flooded wet batteries (Z1's and CB-750 Nighthawks) typically last 3 ~ 6 yrs. Our only Taiwanese AGM battery (Honda ST1300A) is going on 6 yrs. & performs well.
We don't buy any batteries made in China any longer, as every Chinese battery we've tried has died prematurely. Taiwanese or Japanese batteries have always preformed very well for us.
We saw a suggestion long ago that a 2A dumb charger be connected to the lighting circuit of a garage door opener. Charging would occur each time the opener was cycled for as long as the light was energized.
We also have a small 2A "smart" charger purchased from Cycle Gear for $5.00 on Black Friday a few years ago that's dedicated to keeping the AGM battery in our 8Kw emergency generator topped up. Same once a month for 24/48 hrs. regime as the bike batteries. It's a tiny little thing, about the size of a thumb, and is claimed to be "smart; red for charge, green for "float", whatever that does . It does indeed keep the battery ready to crank in even the coldest weather. The current battery is going on 4 yrs. old. However, we discovered not long after buying this cheap charger that it applies a parasitic load on the battery when left attached to the battery but not powered on by wall voltage. Over about two weeks, it will drain the battery completely, damaging the battery in the process, because AGM batteries don't tolerate well to being deeply discharged. Disconnecting the charger from the battery prevents that. Maybe something to monitor if one has a cheap "smart" charger.
Interesting thread! Thanks to all who've offered technical insights.
Good Ridin'
slmjim & Z1BEBE