Battery Chargers

Well i'll throw up the first Topic then....

I have been using one of these AccuMate Battery Chargers for a couple of years now and have had no battery issues.
Def worth getting something similar to keep your battery in good nick over the winter months.
These ones come with a waterproof plug you can leave hard wired onto the battery terminals, making it a simple plug in when you wanna hook the charger up.

I have a similar unit, the Oxford Maximiser 360T.

My first 2 winters was able to hook the charger to the battery (likewise has a waterproof permanent connector). Bike stayed outside with only a cover for protection, battery remained perfect.
Last 2 winters I haven't had the luxury of a power point near the bike, so the battery was only being charged when it couldn't start the bike. Not even winter yet and the battery is no longer holding a decent charge and has had to be replaced.

; )

I was only joking, I didn't mean to kill the thread...

I SOWWY...

I'm still trying to work out what the previous post was.

Alternate fan, dynamo cool, coil cooler????!

stretchie_ wrote:I SOWWY...

umm, you know how good we are at correctly identifying items on a bike but you're forgiven

So what are those items ..

An alternator stator and a rectifier / regulator.

Bingo

First one is the stator and the second one was the reg rec.

The stator spins on the end of the crank inside big magnets on the inside of the grey cover on the left hand side and generates an AC current, this is then passed up to the reg reg which changes it from an AC to DC (nothing to do with grown men dressed as schoolboys) and then reduces the current down to an acceptable amount to charge your battery.

Hence, it is the best charging system as it is already on your bike...

Basically I was trying to be a smart arse and say ride your bike.. A bit cheeky really as this week is the first time in a month that I have been on mine.

But you know what they say... Don't be a smart arse if you're not fully equipped for it..

stretchie_ wrote:Don't be a smart arse if you're not fully equipped for it..

I then go ahead and ignore your sound advice.


I'd recommend using a charger (ideally one of the smart units mentioned above) even if the bike gets used during winter, especially if the bike sits outside and is more exposed to the cold. Essentially two things happen, the colder temp reduces the specific gravity in the battery, the lower it gets the lower the charge (power) available to start the engine. The other thing is the engine oil is pretty thick and requires more crank power to turn. The battery is in for a difficult time either way.

Even though I have ridden mine just about every weekend through winter I used to hook it up to the charger. My rides are a lot shorter and having the heated grips, headlight and all the electrical gumph I have connected the battery doesn't always have a chance to charge.

stretchie_ wrote:Bingo

First one is the stator and the second one was the reg rec.

The stator spins on the end of the crank inside big magnets on the inside of the grey cover on the left hand side and Don't be a smart arse if you're not fully equipped for it..

Is it not the rotor that spins?? Thus inducing an electric field which excites the stator windings to produce a terminal ac voltage that the rectifier then chops to dc via a diode bridge which is then regulated to smooth out voltage spikes etc

Very funny - never knew electrical engineering could be so entertaining!

Ah haa, someone who knows what they are talking about.

I refer to my previous comment about me not being a smart arse as I am not well enough equipped. ; )

But got the thread going again so I must get a point for that.

(I wouldn't mind but I've had to replace stators and reg recs on a few Honda's. So I should know which bits go where... DOH)

; )

Don't mess with DBD - He's a bright spark and a smart arse.

Like the rest of us their have been times when he's been a dim-wit (not getting new tyres before going to the land of expensive tyres for example)
Like you Stretchie - he's always been a short arse though.

Wub you Rosco.

Oh and just for info, I've got Oldcat's old Optimate

; )

billyw wrote:Very funny - never knew electrical engineering could be so entertaining!

You know me. If it's got boobs or wheels I'm gonna cock it up somewhere along the way

I must confess electrickery is my day job but i'm not so good with tyres!!
Ref Rosco's dig!!

Oxford optimiser 900
used this on my bike and also on my caravn leisure battery.
bike battery:
used this to rechanrge after leaving parking light on for 2 days, got the battery up and running again no problems from dead dead flat

carvan leisure battery:
12v huge mean sucker of a battery, charger in the van went up the swanny, so had to charge it. used the oximiser, firstly it recovered the battery and then charged it and maintained it for 3 days put it back on the van worked a wonder (now all i got to do is work out why the van charger aint working)

Hi, finally found a thread I was hoping to find but the last post was 2011......so, I'm after an optimiser, are the models referred to in here still good choices, I'm an utter noob so frantically scouring strange words on eBay then googling them to see if they can be made more sense of and decided you guys and gals should be a safer source of discovered knowledge. For example, is an optimiser 600 and 900 to do with engine sizes or did they just think they would do this to confuse the simple people like me?? I don't want to cough up loads when a simple one will do, after all, its only for a few weeks whilst the frost is down, gotta save pennies for chain and tyres....a girl has her priorities you know!! Thanks in advance

DaisyChain wrote:For example, is an optimiser 600 and 900 to do with engine sizes  

I was going to do this
but I won't

In the case of the Optimiser the 600 and 900 refer to the power output of the charger. Really all you are looking for is a charger that say's it's good for bike batteries, car/caravan/etc batteries are much larger and require a larger amount of current from the charger. Bike batteries don't need as much and if connected to a high powered beast, could overcharge quickly, boil the water and damage the battery.  

The Optimiser and Optimate's are intelligent units, hence the higher price. I've opted for the former and am convinced it has added extra life to a couple of batteries and even brought one back from the dead.

The 600 will do the business, I just liked the look of the 900 so was persuaded to part with some extra cash

If I wasn't giggling so much at your emoticons I'd feign some sort of upset, but also I can't get good emoti responses from the phone so shall I just stop rambling and say thanks

I did worry I'd overcharge and boil the battery ('onest guv) but now I'm suddenly more technologically advanced it's all Watts, Amps and Outputs from here. (I think I just got a teensie tiny bit carried away there huh!)

Right, I'm off to check fleabay out (now that I know what I'm looking for)

Thank you

I've got a prehistoric Oxford optimate, had it when I had my gsxr before the cat even but still works fine. I stick it on for a couple of days once a month through winter
Only on the 2nd battery on the cat in nearly 14 years I've had it so it must help!

Paul.

CTEK is another brand of charger that gets good reviews. They also make a little plug-in monitor that checks the charge state of the battery.

http://www.ctek.com/gb/en/chargers/mc

CTEK Comfort Indicator

Motorcycle Megastore in Swindon have Roxter chargers (re-badged Oximiser) for £20.

Like Paul I have an old Oxford one and it does the job of keeping the battery topped up, and being "intelligent" you don't have to worry about overcharging - you can leave it on all the time if you like. My 'Cat was still on its original battery when I sold it at 9 years old, even though it had a Datatool alarm which is a constant drain.

I use a Ctek, or a rebadged version of such at least (can't remember what name's printed on it) on the R6 which had a habit of flattening batteries within a couple of weeks. Datatool alarm on it could kill it quite easily somehow, no idea how though, got the same on the VFR and that can sit for weeks without a problem. Went in asking for an Optimate and they suggested that instead, can't remember why but the sales pitch sold me.

And for your amusement, guy gets a tattoo of an alternator thinking it's a turbo, internet replies as only the internet can:

I have never put the battery of the Thundercat on charge or left it on an optimate in 15 years of ownership. Same battery and the bike still firs up first time generally. Amazing really.

That's great news Radar, luckily I haven't really had a need to put it on charge yet but I like to be prepared.....just in case!! Have gone for an Oxford oximiser 600 I think. I now have peace of mind, would love it if I don't need to use it though, scary thought taking the battery off ( thank goodness for Haynes manuals) loving the learning curves!

Thanks everyone for advice x