Motorcycle battery chargers

[gordon stephenson]

I agree with a post above, Lidl/Aldi permanent "float" chargers do not restart after a momentary power interruption, I cream crackered a newish Optima spiral wound battery because I didn't know that at some time the garage supply had stopped for a while, Charger was on my cobra but under the cover, so not visible, My own fault I suppose should had checked now and again.

 

[Alan Reynolds]

Don't leave your battery permanently connected to any charger. Plug it into a timer to come on for an hour a day if you want it to survive.

That's exactly what I tell all my go kart drivers who use motor cycle batteries, to do. Use a proper charger, that will trickle once the battery is charged, not a common or garden car battery charger, and put it on a timer for 1/2 max per day. Lead acid batteries do not like the cold and damp or being constantly overcharged, and it's surprising how much leakage can occur across the terminals when the battery is dirty. You have to watch out for the 'too intelligent' chargers and make sure that it comes back on at the right settings when the timer switches on and off.

 

[dobbslc]

^^^ that's why I bought the Optimate!
You don't need to **** about like that , just plug it in and forget it.

 

[Red'n'Black]

Another vote for ctek, I have the MXS 5.0. Used to keep various infrequently used vehicles topped up. Unless the battery was already fubar they all fired up first time.
IIRC mine remembers the setting (car/bike/agm etc) and it restarts automatically after a power cut.

 

[zzr1200]

Another vote for Optimate, I used one for years on my old zzr1100, the ex had another on her 955i for 7 years that I know of and that probably only done 800 miles a year max.

I never had to replace the battery after buying an Optimate.

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Another vote for ctek, I have the MXS 5.0. Used to keep various infrequently used vehicles topped up. Unless the battery was already fubar they all fired up first time.
IIRC mine remembers the setting (car/bike/agm etc) and it restarts automatically after a power cut.

That's what I have

 

[Greg05]

used a halfrauds 1.25 amp smart charger that i got on offer years ago, used to leave it permanently connected with no problems, used it in anger recently on the car too and can't fault it.
remember looking recently online and they were peanuts on ebay etc

 

[Greg05]

should say no buttons either so you could use a timer but its like a cheap optimate that recognises when the battery is full and stops charging etc. if i had the funds at the time i would've got the optimate

 

[8ob]

I have been using the Aldi autoxs charger for a while now and its been faultless, no good on a completely flat battery but good on something like a bike that needs an occasional charge, it does its thing and then stops charging so you dont need to worry about overdoing it.

Bob

 

[dobbslc]

Another vote for Optimate, I used one for years on my old zzr1100, the ex had another on her 955i for 7 years that I know of and that probably only done 800 miles a year
I never had to replace the battery after buying an Optimate.

The old Triumph triples need a VERY good battery or they bugger the sprag clutch!

 

[RichardM]

Optimate or Ctek.

 

[earthman]

Another vote for Optimate, I used one for years on my old zzr1100, the ex had another on her 955i for 7 years that I know of and that probably only done 800 miles a year max.

I never had to replace the battery after buying an Optimate.

I have but I'm not blaming the charger, one battery lasted 5 years. The bike dealer were I bought the replacement thought that were pretty good too. I dunno, I just think that like everything else that's made nowadays, they are not built to last.

 

[mangocrazy]

Thanks for all the comments. I've been doing a bit more digging, and it would appear that my Accumate charger is perfectly suitable for AGM batteries (despite Motobatt's dire warnings), and this tallies with my own experience. If and when it flakes out I'll probably replace it with a Ctek or Optimate, but I believe that it's the battery that is the guilty party here, not the charger.

However I do take people's point about leaving the battery hooked up 24/7 to a charger/tender, no matter how 'smart'. I'm pretty sure I have a mechanical 24hr timer in my pile of 'stuff', so setting that to only come on for 1 hour per day would seem to be a wise move, especially as the bike will be unattended in France for months at a time and I can't rotate the charging intervals manually.

 

[Farside]

Looks like an even split between Ctek and Optimate... I'm pretty sure that the Motobatt battery blurb is designed to scare you into buying one of their pricy charger/tender units. As people have said, AGM batteries are just an evolution of lead-acid.

Pretty much.
I've been using Motobatts for a couple of years and the Lidl version of the Optimate / Ctek (I think Ctek make it) hasn't caused them to spit their dummies.
The jury's out on how long they actually last. I'll tell you in five, six, or eight years time.
Mind you, it pays to actually read the instructions. It was only when I finally got around to that trivial detail recently that I discovered the Lidl charger will automatically cater for AGMs if you tell it to. Otherwise it just assumes there's a standard lead-acid hooked up.
It only took about ten years to read them.

 

[nickk]

My last few years of road bikes,I left a solar panel on it all winter,do the same with intermittent m/c like fork lift,tractor,generator.