My bike is kept in a block of garages away from my house with no Electricity and I have an Datatool S4 alarm fitted on it which keep draining my battery. So I replaced the battery but I have to keep taking the battery off and putting it on a optimiser in my house every week as the last battery was so drained that it would not take any charge and it was only a month old!!! Does anyone know of any ideas on how I can get round this annoying problem without have to take the alarm off???
Maplins do a solar charger if you have some way of fixing it outside. My bil uses one on his elderly mothers car, which isn't used much, and since using the solar charger has had no problems.
Thanks for the advice I am just looking at an Oxford one now as the one from Maplins don't seem to be all weatherproof.
How important is the alarm to you? May be worth just ripping it off. I have a tracker installed on my bike but it kills the battery. I keep the battery out of the bike when locked up at home as I've had to replace it once already. Only other option is to run an extension to the garage if possible and keep it on an optimiser. Replacing batteries every other month is a pain.
The garage is in a block away from the house, I am going to leave the alarm on there to see how it goes as the alarm has only been on there for a couple of years and is meant to be half decent apart from (draining the battery) I am going to look at getting a solar trickle charger and see how I get on with that but if that don't work then the alarm is gone!!! Thanks for the advice though chaps
I'm sure you can put the alarm in winter mode which uses less power this might be worth doing and see if it helps
If the alarm is properly in winter mode then it shouldn't be drawing enough current to drain the battery. Also,the alarm is not active so why not just remove battery and take it indoors and put on optimate?
I have been taking the battery off to put it on optimate then once it has been charged back up and on remain I have been putting it back on the bike. Apparently the alarm has another battery so if you take the main battery off and leave it off the battery on the alarm will drain and cause another problem. Does that make sense lol?
I've got the same alarm but fortunately my garage got power. If you're keeping alarm in winter mode just keep battery in house over winter as the alarm wouldn't sound anyway. With it being in a block of garages away from your house would you even hear it? Do you have a decent ground anchor and chain as that's a better deterrent.
I wouldn't but the neighbours would lol when I got another battery from a local garage they said if I take the battery off through the winter the other battery on the alarm would drain in about a month and could cause a big problem as the bike would be immobilised. Have you heard about this other battery???
I'm assuming they're speaking about the backup battery in the alarm unit that keeps the alarm sounding in the event someone tries to remove the vehicle battery. The alarm manual makes no mention that removing the bike battery when the alarm is in winter mode will damage the unit in any way or cause the bike to be immobilised permanently.
find a car or lorry 12v battery and kee;p it in the garage and connect bike to it. or buy an old lion from London Zoo
The on-board batteries are pretty naff. There is one on my tracker that is designed to cut in when it feels the battery is becoming drained. They last no more than a month and then it'll require replacing. Also the process of letting it drain, charging back up, putting it back on, letting it drain, etc is going to ruin the new battery very quickly. Save yourself the £50+ quid and take it out permanently. Reinvest the money in some sturdy security equipment, something like a ground anchor with Squire lock and Almax chain. I was sick of taking the battery out to charge it then put it back in again every week so keep it out and locked down to the ground.
Agree with slimwilly, a big 12v forktruck battery or liesure battery might be of benefit, bugger to carry back home to charge though. On a side note what does London zoo do with old lions?
