new battery - how to charge for first time ?

I've always fully charged a battery with my Optimate IIISP before fitting it, whether I need to put the acid in or not. Thas what most batterys say to do.... plus it doesn't do any harm and takes hardly any time to do.

hmmm my battery never said anything about charging it beforehand? hence i just filled it, left it to settle, put it in, and off i went

Ah well, when you're 200 miles from home you'd just connect it and go, just like I did

i emailed accumate, the company that sells optimates and accumates, and this was the response i got

Hello Warren,

Thank you for your enquiry. The battery fitted to your motorcycle is most likely an Absorbed Glass Mat (AGM) type rather than a gel electrolyte battery. Gel electrolyte are very rarely used as starter batteries and even some dealers become confused between the two types. Gel electrolyte starter batteries are common on large touring BMW motorcycles and a few very small cars.

As the OptiMate does offer a constant current charge it would be OK for the initial commissioning charge, Bulk charge with the OptiMate terminates at 14.3V which is a little lower than the ideal initial charge. This would better to be performed with a workshop charger such as the BatteryMate, your local Honda dealer will have a either the 80-7 or 150-9 version of this charger.

Please do not hesitate to call if you have any queries or require any further information.

Originally Posted by Sid Squid

Putting "new" acid in won't cause the battery to be charged, although the condition of the acid - it's specific gravity - can give some information as to the state of charge.
New batteries are commonly supplied "dry charged", this means that the battery's plates are produced with the chemical properties that they would have when the battery were charged. New batteries aren't stored with acid in them as they would, of course, start to deteriorate quite quickly as soon as they were made, (a common estimation is that good condition battery will lose about 1% charge per day, and a battery left flat will soon become unrecoverable), but left dry the chemical reaction that allows the battery to charge/discharge won't commence.
Even though batteries are made "dry charged" it's very rare to find a new one that's anything like fully charged, most commonly it'll have enough charge to be usable, but to get the best from it it's advisable to charge it before putting it in to use.

Indeed I have just bought and fitted a new battery for the Dullsville. This was also of the pre charged type. I filled the cells, fitted the battery and turned the key. Although there was charge in the battery to turn the engine, it was weak and not strong enough to allow the bike to fire up.

Originally Posted by Spanner Man

Morning all.

When filling a new battery of the sealed type, it's also advisable to let it stand for 3 or 4 hours before fitting the sealing strip.
You can put a battery straight into service without charging it, but it's noticeable how much stronger they seem if you charge it on an Optimate or similar.


Cheers.

The battery I bought stated 30 minutes

mine must not have needed a precharge then, after all my power woes, the new'un started fine

I just changed my battery and it said to just fill it, leave for at least 30 mins then use it. I fitted it and started the bike straight away.

Go ahead and charge it up, your Optimate will do all the work and look after it! Good piece of kit!

[embee]

Lead-acid batteries like to be kept as near fully charged as possible.

If you leave one flat for any length of time it will die.

Fully charging will do it good, and it'll make you feel better.