Optimate

[winger]

Don't ask me why,i've no idea but the supply and price seems to vary in periods of 6 months or so,if your after one their about 32 quid at the mo,the last one i bought that came out of the warehouse was more than that.

[Archie]

Where from.... I've only got two, and they're cheaper than batteries!

[winger]

Great Barr Motorcycles 01213586425

[Backmarker]

Seems to be £39.99 -maybe they were clearing some of the previous ones out cheaper?

http://www.motorcycletrainingbirmingham ... roductId=3

[winger]

Thats an old price and what i'm talking about is new stock,straight out of the warehouse,hence why i said at the begining don't ask me!!!

[Taz]

Had mine into the dealer for a service today and questioned whether the battery was buggered. He asked if I had an Optimate on it all the time, to which I replied Yes.

He said that this tends to boil off the electrolyte in the battery and that an Optimate should only be used for a day a week to help keep the battery topped up if you don't ride the bike often.

He also remarked that the alternator is not particualrly powerful and that even a ride of 50 or 60 miles would not be enough to properly charge the battery, so if it's only got just enough power to start the brute don't expect it to have much more charge after the ride.

I suspect his thoughts are likely to spark off a debate ......... whose first?

[Dog Tyred]

Had mine into the dealer for a service today and questioned whether the battery was buggered. He asked if I had an Optimate on it all the time, to which I replied Yes.

He said that this tends to boil off the electrolyte in the battery and that an Optimate should only be used for a day a week to help keep the battery topped up if you don't ride the bike often.

He also remarked that the alternator is not particualrly powerful and that even a ride of 50 or 60 miles would not be enough to properly charge the battery, so if it's only got just enough power to start the brute don't expect it to have much more charge after the ride.

I suspect his thoughts are likely to spark off a debate ......... whose first?

Pete, all sounds like a load of old boxerbollox to me, but I stand to be, and most likely will be corrected

Nu2

PS:How often do you read about charging problems on this site??

[oyster]

I saw some new chargers at Excel MCN (6/10 for the show). Actually now called conditioners. About £40 if I remember right.

[winger]

Taz(Peter)

He right and wrong really,if you have a nonsealed battery he's right it will burn the water off,you just have to check it more often,but it would be some kind of trick to see an Optimate do the same to a sealed one!!!

As for the chargeing,blimey thats pretty standard stuff,you do need a long run to put the charge in that you took out to start it,but then thats always been the same!!!

[Rob B]

The concept that Optimates work on is exactly the sames as any industrial UPS, (Uninterrupted Power Supply) basically, a charger that supplies a constant (trickle, top up, call it what you like) charge to a huge bank of batteries.

This is often called float charging.

The principal benefit is when the mains power supply fails, your battery bank is in top shape, and fully charged. Lead acid, and their close cousins, prefer to be float charged as a storage method. They hate being left (un-cycled) and slowly loose their charge. Unlike ni-cads which prefer to be totally discharged and stored empty.

I think some of the issues I have seen reported recently could be put down to two faults. 1. The battery is past it's best and needs replacement. This is when even a semi sealed, AGM (absorbed glass mat') battery will start to boils its guts. 2. The optimate or cheap equivalents don't detect the battery is fully charged and so they continue to try to charge rather than falling back to a maintenance trickle mode.

Rgds,

Rob