So, there are countless references to the Optimate on here. What's so good about them? I won't be putting my bike on a trickle charge permanently, because there is no electricity in my garage. I have to run an extension lead from the house, which is OK from time to time. I have a cheap charger, which charges. It doesn't have any meters, just a light that is supposed to come on when the battery is fully charged. It's like something out of a 1970s O level physics experiment. Should I be changing it? What will a better charger give me? What should I be looking out for? Could I damage the battery with a naff one? Are there recommended charging speeds? I'm afraid that automotive electrics totally passed me by.
you could buy a 12 month subscription to www.boxofelectricsparks.com that would keep the battery topped up nicely if you dont have electricity in your garage.........
The major difference is that whilst all provide a trickle charge, some maintain the condition of the battery so they switch on and off as the charged state goes from full to needing a top up. Some will actually cycle the battery which means they discharge it and then re charge it if it has been on trickle charge for a set period of time. On the older bikes with no "electronic memory" most would advise taking the battery out and keep it in the house. On the more modern bikes and bikes with alarm systems the better the charger the less likely you are to boil the battery. Pays your money, takes your choice. Leave it unattended or give it a top up on a regular basis. Andy
You can fast charge or you can slow charge, fast charging produces heat, continuing to charge a full battery produces heat, batteries don't like heat. Batteries don't like deep discharge. Batteries like being used. Good chargers take the above into account, cheap ones don't.
Not sure I should admit this but I'm using a small electronic battery charger I bought from Lidls... It does a fine job and has settings for car or motorbike batteries and for trickle/maintenance, fast or sulphated pulse charging. When I first got it, it brought a sulphated battery back from the dead but took quite a few days to do it. Since then it's always done a great job on the maintenance setting. You can't just go to Lidls and buy one though, you have to wait until they have them on offer. Have you looked at CTek??
Suggest you check them out. Perception is similar quality to Optimate but cheaper as not the brand leader.
@AirConTechnical is the man to give you sound advice (as I've found out to my cost, but that's another thread for another time) & I hope he chips in. In the meantime my opinion FWIW, it partially depends on the battery and the battery type, but from this thread @johnv is the guy I'd agree with. Cheap chargers are fine if you pay attention and take them off when the battery is charged, but if neglected will at best bugger the battery in the long term. I use one of the lower range CTEK chargers for several batteries and its been great for a long time. Again as @johnv states do not overcharge or discharge for long periods or your going to be shopping for a battery sooner than necessary. @Old rider rider may be right too but I have no experience of Lidls chargers To quote the oracle @El Toro opinions are like arse holes everybody has one. But what the fuk do I know????
Just to complicate matters, I bought an "Accumate" some years ago - made by the same company as Optimate, but it does car batteries too. I don't think I spent much time deciding, but I was keen to have something, just in case, for cars as well as bikes at the time. I was replacing something that looked like part of the Tardis, which I had scavenged from a rubbish dump in Chertsey in the 1980s. I don't tend to leave the Accumate connected up for long periods of time, but I try to hook it up to each bike (I only have two though) for a day or so every couple of weeks over winter. The 900SS needed a new battery this year but that was a replacement for a 6 year old unit so I can't complain. The Accumate looks similar to Optimate and still appears to be available. I don't think I've used it on a car more than a couple of times, but it was handy to be able to do so recently after the missus had run the car battery flat and had to get the RAC out to start her up again before driving home; one overnight Accumate charge and it has not needed any further attention, but that's in daily use.
Nope - I have several cheap float chargers that discharge and only trickle charge - you only need to pay £15. You don't need all the gizmo's in an Optimate and they don't stop charging do they?
If you intend laying up your motorcycle for the winter, with no start ups then remove the battery. Keep it at room temperature somewhere safe with both terminals covered at all times. On the 1st of each month attatch it to any old cheap battery charger for 8 hours then disconnect. All will be fine...for any other advice search on here for other wisdoms? I run optimate 4/5 about 5 units on ducati, R32 VW and a van...all good except one early failure. Replaced under warranty. I also have an expensive battery conditioner which I use twice a year on each. All great if you have mains power. For my sins I have previously specialised in long life (+7 years) battery technologies on short range (under 100m) frequency and band agile radio transmitter's for high security applications.
Nice circuity in the optimate 4 & 5, nice strong connection for daily use, waterproof charger for 365day use outside, most of mine are screwed to outside walls. Easy to understand indication (not too much information). Biggest bang for your ducati dollar. Safe fast charge, circa 3 amps, then trickle, with regular discharge and recharge; as would normally occur when used with the noticeable exception for a heavy V-engine start. No electronics engineer would say that a near dead short is good for a battery, but that is what your starter motor is doing on those cold mornings!
Letting a battery stand unused for extended periods can cause sulphating Trickle charging is OK but I personally wouldn't leave any battery on charge indefinitely, batteries perform better when cycled, without deep discharge or over charging. Something else to consider is the fact that batteries are usually made up of a collection of cells which although in theory are identical in practice may not be, which is one benefit of the battery conditioner that AirCon Technical refers to. As AirCon Technical says regular discharge and charging is the way to go. I use an Optimate for 24 hrs every several weeks over the winter if my bike is not in use.
My chargers don't trickle charge - they discharge too so he was wrong to disagree but it's not the first time. I can't find anywhere in my Optimate 4 instructions which says they do so and have never seen them indicating they do so, which is why I asked the question - I have 2 Optimate 4's too
The optimate does both charge and discharge. It has to do that to perform the battery test. Tomorrow I'll dig out the PDF. When I first bought one I did a load of tests and though it was pretty good for the money. Working from a Hudl at the moment, in bed so typing isn't so easy.
The optimate does both charge and discharge. It has to do that to perform the battery test. Tomorrow I'll dig out the PDF. When I first bought one I did a load of tests and though it was pretty good for the money. Working from a Hudl at the moment, in bed so typing isn't so easy.
So does my cheap so called 'float' charger so why disagree, it was a question regarding the Optimate not a statement :Wideyed:
The optimate does both charge and discharge. It has to do that to perform the battery test. Tomorrow I'll dig out the PDF. When I first bought one I did a load of tests and though it was pretty good for the money. Working from a Hudl at the moment, in bed so typing isn't so easy.
