Optimate ate my battery

Took the battery off the Pan last October and put it in the warm in my
study connected to the optimate. Fine all winter/spring but this morning
noticed it was indicating knackered battery!

Optimate will have to go. What's the clit battery rescuer these days?

 

Ctek are well liked an are available for less than the Optimate, e.g.

http://www.mdsbattery.co.uk/shop/productprofile.asp?ProductGroupID=2654

 

Err, not sure optimaete is meant for permanent connection. I'd have
thought you'd have boiled it dry ..

I put mine on for a day, every couple of weeks when they're laid up,
over winter for example.

Paul.

 

You may be right, but I was under the distinct impression that that was
exactly what they were designed for! As opposed to a straightforward
charger?

 

Agreed .. Ctek make really good chargers. I went for one a couple of
stages up which is a tad more versatile as it also charges large car
sized batteries, and leisure batteries and fire-alarm batteries etc.
The first (car) battery I tried it on was one that had been on the shed
floor for a year, presumed dead, which it revived well enough to use
again .. and which is still working 6 months later!

Most excellent bits of kit.

 

The bike's own alternator: not as a rescuer, but as a prevention?

 

Oh Mr Luscher you are a wag and no mistake!

 

<modest>

One tries, you know.

 

There's absolutely no need to use any trickle charger when the
battery's off the bike - they'll retain a charge for many months. Same
goes for when they're on the bike if you haven't got an alarm.

 

I didn't know that. I always assumed that cold killed batteries; end of.

 

Huh? Optimate should be no problem at all left on for long period.

 

the early ones had a problem where they could discharge a battery which
then kills it.

I have one of these and the problem arises if you have a mains power
outage. The unit does not switch itself off, the LEDs remain on using
power from the bike battery and when mains power is restored the charger
does not reset itself but remains sinking poweer from the bike battery.

I'm pretty sure after the launch of the Optimate 3 they fixed the
problem. I still use my mk1 optimate but only to top up the AGM battery
if the bike is left for more than a couple of months as the LCD clock
gradually lowers the volts.

 

Absolutely, but with one exception: Aprilias discharge the battery at
about the same rate as an alarm would.

 

My mk2 version does that. I only discovered it last week.

The power went off, briefly, during a storm, last week and I noticed
the leds were still lit. I disconnected the lead and sat thinking
about diodes and stuff, for a millisecond, then decided that a newer
charger would be a good idea.

Do those ctek chargers have a "cig-lighter" lead available? I've not
been able to discover this.

 

4ax.com:

http://www.ctekchargers.co.uk/ctek-xs800.php has some accessories inc. a
cig. socket plug - note the red bit, separated from the plug. That will be
an adapter to allow the lead to be used in standard cigarette sockets and
the BMW DIN/Hella variety.

A tenner seems a lot - probably on Ebay for a fiver.