Got me worried now. My bike sits plugged in continuously until I need it. I'll have to have a think on it now.
. The electricians at work told me it would be best, to periodically switch ignition on, put the lights on so it takes a bit of juice out of the battery. That way the optimate works better charging it up. Leave it plugged in for a few days and disconnect it for a few days. I run like this for the past year on mine, so far no problems.
Similarly, I only connect mine if the bikes been sat for a week, and then I only connect for a few hours. The reason is that I read the bumf for the new Optimates and the proclaim to be the first charger intelligent enough to be permanently connected... I inferred that the 3/4 are NOT intelligent enough to be connected for long periods.
Worth a try, mind you, it's been on there for over 18 months so far with no issues. But now, of course, Captain Paranoia is on duty.
mines an oxford opti been on constant since beginging of october,thought that that was the whole point of em to be able to leave em connected!!
Me too. I thought the idea is supposed to be that the charger 'massages' the battery to condition it as well as charging it. It's supposed to be a 48 cycle on the Optimate 4.
If I leave the battery on the bike and charge it with a standard battery charger,12v 6 amp will it be ok or is there any chance it could damage anything on the bike,cos if you guys are saying there frying the batteries why waste my money on a so called smart charger.if I can use the charger I've already got,just put it on charge once a week for a couple of hours or so.but will it be ok with the electrics on the bike,not burn anything out or awt. Thanks so far to all that have replayed and helped out.it's beginning to sound something of a black art this battery maintenance.it giving me a head ache. Lol
Ahhh, its coz I have an Optimate 3+, not a 4. 3+ - "safe to leave connected for months"... which I infer to mean you shouldnt really leave it permanently connected - OptiMate 3+ Battery Optimiser 4 - "maintenance time: unlimited" - OptiMate 4 Dual Program Battery Optimiser So, there you go!
This was the point that I was looking for in a smart charger at the start. So I could get home, plug it in and forget about it until the next time I used the bike. It has worked perfectly for me since 2008 but now, of course, I'm expecting the garage to be on fire when I get home tonight. If anyone's got any magic beans for sale too, it looks like today might be the perfect time to flog them to me.
I use a Ctek, leave it on for weeks on end during winter months, never a problem. Used it on the Blade and now on my STR.
Just bought a ctek charger,6 function £37 from ask close to where I live,bloke in shop assured me it won't fcuk my battery up.it will charge and maintain it.thats all I want from a charger.will keep you guys informed next year when I use the bike now,time for maintainance work to be carried out.new gold chain and sprocket,bmc air filters,braided hoses,check pads maybe them too,shit hot with the spanners.electrics.i suck.
