Which Battery charger should I buy?

using the oximiser (third winter) and its absolutely spot on. Bike started on the button the other day after not starting it for over 6 weeks

[embee]

Originally Posted by Skip

..Do these chargers "use" the battery to keep it healthy or do they just trickle charge the battery once its at its full capacity??

just for info, lead-acid batteries do not benefit from any sort of significant discharge/charge cycling. They are best kept fully (but not over-) charged. That basically means a top-up charge once a month for a free standing battery, maybe more often if it has some drain on it (alarms etc).

Being left fully discharged will kill them off pretty quickly and it's usually irrecoverable once the plate materials have chemically converted.

The "intelligent" chargers generally have functions which assess how the battery is accepting and holding charge, and may do a bit of a cycle in order to achieve it, but it's a diagnostic thing rather than for the benefit of the battery itself.

[Skip]

Originally Posted by embee

just for info, lead-acid batteries do not benefit from any sort of significant discharge/charge cycling. They are best kept fully (but not over-) charged. That basically means a top-up charge once a month for a free standing battery, maybe more often if it has some drain on it (alarms etc).

Being left fully discharged will kill them off pretty quickly and it's usually irrecoverable once the plate materials have chemically converted.

The "intelligent" chargers generally have functions which assess how the battery is accepting and holding charge, and may do a bit of a cycle in order to achieve it, but it's a diagnostic thing rather than for the benefit of the battery itself.

Excellent info - thanks for that embee...

Originally Posted by embee

just for info, lead-acid batteries do not benefit from any sort of significant discharge/charge cycling. They are best kept fully (but not over-) charged. That basically means a top-up charge once a month for a free standing battery, maybe more often if it has some drain on it (alarms etc).

Being left fully discharged will kill them off pretty quickly and it's usually irrecoverable once the plate materials have chemically converted.

The "intelligent" chargers generally have functions which assess how the battery is accepting and holding charge, and may do a bit of a cycle in order to achieve it, but it's a diagnostic thing rather than for the benefit of the battery itself.

Not strictly true is it? How can cycling a battery not benefit a battery? Are you suggesting that Intelligent chargers are nothing more than a gimmick and only for diagnostic purposes? Piffle! The Optimate cycles the battery much like everyday use would, and as we all know, a battery which is used every day will last far longer than a battery which is stood for 4 months without any cycling at all. As for the rest of your post, ok, i can agree with the not leaving a battery fully discharged as sulphation will short out the battery's plates in the long run. We are all entitled to our opinions and if your opinion is that the intelligent chargers are nothing more than a gimmick with pretty lights then fair enough, i respect that. But please do not ill inform others into thinking that this is gospel.

Sean

[embee]

Originally Posted by Balddood

Not strictly true is it? How can cycling a battery not benefit a battery? Are you suggesting that Intelligent chargers are nothing more than a gimmick and only for diagnostic purposes? Piffle! ........ We are all entitled to our opinions and if your opinion is that the intelligent chargers are nothing more than a gimmick with pretty lights then fair enough, i respect that. But please do not ill inform others into thinking that this is gospel.

Sean

Hi Sean,

read the post again, I never said nor suggested that the "intelligent" chargers are gimmicks, I use one all through the winter months. Read the words.

Everything I've read and been told within the automotive industry (25yrs design and development) says lead acid batteries do not "benefit" from cycling. Storage (which is what were talking here) is best done fully charged. Automotive batteries are not intended for "deep" cycling at all.

Regular charging compensates for the natural discharge which lead acid batteries experience, something in the region of 0.5-1% per day I understand.

If the charger does a cycle to diagnose the condition of the battery, it's "diagnostic" so it can determine how to maintain/charge it at it's best. The cycle is not to benefit the battery per se.

http://www.yuasabatteries.com/yuasa05/maintenance.asp
http://www.yuasabatteries.com/yuasa05/faqs.asp

or if you have a spare hour or 2
http://www.buchmann.ca/default.asp

respect to your views, Sean. No probs.

Originally Posted by embee

Hi Sean,

read the post again, I never said nor suggested that the "intelligent" chargers are gimmicks, I use one all through the winter months. Read the words.

Everything I've read and been told within the automotive industry (25yrs design and development) says lead acid batteries do not "benefit" from cycling. Storage (which is what were talking here) is best done fully charged. Automotive batteries are not intended for "deep" cycling at all.

Regular charging compensates for the natural discharge which lead acid batteries experience, something in the region of 0.5-1% per day I understand.

If the charger does a cycle to diagnose the condition of the battery, it's "diagnostic" so it can determine how to maintain/charge it at it's best. The cycle is not to benefit the battery per se.

http://www.yuasabatteries.com/yuasa05/maintenance.asp
http://www.yuasabatteries.com/yuasa05/faqs.asp

or if you have a spare hour or 2
http://www.buchmann.ca/default.asp

respect to your views, Sean. No probs.

Ok, i have re read and may have made a wrong assumption about your post on the whole. However, intelligent chargers do not "deep cycle" the battery, they merely "cycle" it. I.e, they do not fully discharge the battery (or allow it to discharge fully) and then slow charge it back to full capacity. They monitor the output from the battery, boost and then trickle charge back to full capacity and then switch off. Once the battery falls below a certain level, they repeat the cycle. Again, it is much better to have a battery cycled than to leave it to discharge and waste away. Working for a battery manufacturer / retailers, i have encountered many, many motorcyclists who have bought a new battery one summer and been back in the spring for another simply because they "left it on the bike all winter mate and now the fecker won't start". I have also seen some return the next spring and repeat the "left it on the bike all winter again mate, how much are them there Optimates?". I personally use an Optimate (on the rare occasion the bike is not used for more than a week) and can say that they look after the battery well.

Now back to the plot, the optimate is both a diagnostic tool and one of, if not the best motorcycle battery chargers / maintaners on the market. I would advise anyone who leaves their bike for a long period of time to use one. It WILL save you money in the long run.

Sean

/rant

[embee]

I hadn't meant that the chargers "deep-cycle" the batteries, it was just a comment on automotive batteries generally. I didn't phrase it very well.

I don't think we differ at all.

Keep the battery fully charged, and an Optimate is as good as any.

[Mark_h]

As the original poster and in the spirit of Christmas I thought I’d best introduce some seasonal good-will and see if perhaps we can all be friends again. I am not sure of the physics and best practice, but my original post asked if people had good experiences with any of these chargers. Pretty much 100% of responders said yes and said Optimate. Balddood even offered me one at a discount price.

I now have an Optimate and a bike that starts on the button each morning. I may or may not slightly shorten the overall life of my battery, but as long as my bike starts I am not too fussed. I would rather buy one extra battery in the life of the bike than have something I can not rely on.

So I got an answer to my question and a bike that now starts on demand. I’m happy. If/when my Optimated battery gives up the ghost I’m sure Balddood can do me another one that has been correctly prepped and stored.

Lets all have a group hug a mince pie and a sherry.

Huh? Theres no ill feeling on my part Mark and i'm sure embee feels the same. I respect his knowledge as he always has good advice to give. I apologized for reading his first post the wrong way and added my two penneth worth, thats all Merry Christmas anyway and don't be mean with the port :P

Sean

[embee]

hey, no issues! Discussion keeps the world turning. In the big scheme of things I don't think "the best way to look after batteries" scores very high on the priority list!



Good on Baldood for his services to the members