I know there’s plenty of you with motorbikes, so what is your collective experience?

Optimate & Oxford Oximiser look like the main options (and the optimate is definitely the most expensive). Halfords do their own branded one which looks like a good price.

Depends what you want it for… Personally my batteries are off the bike in the in the house for winter. They’ll get a charge in spring and then fired up.

From my experience i wouldn’t trust ANY of the trickle chargers on the market and leave plugged in etc over winter… they’ve usually done more harm than good.

I have used an OptiMate for years and never had any issues.

weeksy – what charger do you use to top your batteries up then?

I don’t mate.

After winter i use a cheap Ebay charger for 6 hours or until my battery shows the correct voltage required, then remove it… single charge, single go…

I’ve had nothing but bother with trickles like Optimates etc… over charging, undrcharging, underreading etc etc. Sadly at the moment the wifes bike will require a trickle charger for the next 10 days as it’s away in a mates garage. It has an alarm so needs topping up at times. I’ve got a spare battery at home that’s a bit crap, but will hold an alarm charge etc well enough so will swap it out next week.

Not a bike batt, but I use an Aldi charger (does bike batts too) as I’ve seen nothing but good reviews. The car it’s hooked up to does nothing for weeks at a time and often in very cold winter months. This charger seems to hold the voltage nicely as required and as yet hasn’t caused any issues. It pulse charges as it’s maintenance I believe. We also use it to maintain our race car battery (which is a motorbike one) and that’s been sat plugged in for 6 months now with no ill effects. Cost £13 quid.

A Ctek charger, they are expensive but are designed just for this. I’ve got one for my motorhome so I can charge either the starter or leisure battery without disconnecting them.

Have had one of the basic Halfords ones for several years now, it works well.

The R1’s battery is not much bigger than a paperback book and it either starts instantly or not at all. I take the battery out during winter and connect it to the charger once a month or so, leave it on for 24 hours then disconnect it.

tbh I’ve never used one, just make sure that you fire the bike up once a month or so.

Only time one of my bikes wouldn’t fire was due to a ‘passed-it’ battery, so just replaced it.

I’ve had an Optimate on my Blackbird since new; ~10 years now. It’s still on the orginal battery and has been sweet as a nut. In the same period, my ride on has had 3 batteries but no Optimate (I don’t leave the power on where it lives). Anecdotal yes, but good enough for me.

great advice chaps. Thanks.

I think my old rat bike isn’t actually charging the battery so it’s now “run out of electricity”. It’s been running fine on the new battery until it’s now discharged. Actually, I probably just need to charge it up so that I can diagnose the likely electrical fault and then it should keep charged with use. There’s no alarm or anything to drain it, so I just need to keep it topped up so the cold doesn’t kill it.

Optimate 4 here. Used it on a couple of bikes over the past few years – no problems whatsoever.

<waves at fellow ‘bird owner – hey boblo>

I have an old accumate 12/6v charger. Yours for a fiver plus postage..

I’ve got an Optimate III I’ve not used since I got rid of the motorbike – £15 posted?

C-Tek (Cheapist one they do) keeps my MX5 ready to go during the winter months. Not had any problems with it and has extended the life of what was a tired battery when I got the car.

I use a cheap Ctek on my bike powered kit car. Used to loose the battery over winter, but last few years with the Ctek have been fine.(But may have achieved the same by storing in the warm.)

Footflaps, does that have the battery flylead and lead with clips? I’ll have it please.

Yep, comes with battery leads. Will dig it out of the cupboard tonight and email you to confirm it’s all there, if so, I’ll post it tomorrow.

Ben

Why does cold weather kill the batteries?

I think I’m going to just take my battery out and store indoors (I’m not going to ride it when it’s really cold anyway). Once I’ve fixed the bike electrics I think, on this bike, I’m going to not use an optimiser after all. Sounds like there’s pros and cons either way.

Once the new bike gets purchsed (next summer, hopefully), I’ll probably sort out a new optimiser to go with it as it’ll likely have alarms and stuff to worry about as well.

Batteries discharge at a slower rate in cold conditions but they still discharge. More people leave their bike unused during the winter.

Why does cold weather kill the batteries?

Combination of things. The acid can freeze, but it’s fairly rare, what’s normally the problem is that the chemical reaction that occurs to create your power happens a LOT slower when cold, coupled with an older battery with sulphated plates leads to next to zero starting performance. Add to that the fact that a “drained” battery’s acid will freeze sooner than a charged one and you get a nasty situation where that battery you’ve neglected and is coming to the end of it’s life will keel over at the first hint of harsh weather.

one of these ..worth every penny (imho)
http://www.ctek-chargers.com/?gclid=CPjPsKyhjq0CFUUPfAodYFhsmg

My bike has stood in rain and snow last year (over a foot of snow at one point for around a month)yet it still started up fine.

Started it yesterday after a month+ of nothing at all and again.. started fine. I might sell the optimizer as i have a Kawasaki.

:O)

Japanese bikes and bikes without alarms are obviously easier than big Italian twins with alarms etc to fire up.

my old 750 race bike used to be left from Nov > March and would fire up first press of the button. But it was Japanese and had no alarm etc.

So, a nice warm blanket for the battery might be a good idea?

i just stick mine in the house under the stairs… it’s not house warm, but warm enough. In a wardrobe etc, anywhere it won’t get below freezing really.

If you don’t have an alarm, there’s little point having the battery in it. Obviously it makes it harder to steal too 🙂

Once the new bike gets purchsed (next summer, hopefully), I’ll probably sort out a new optimiser to go with it as it’ll likely have alarms and stuff to worry about as well.

I haven’t bothered with an alarm after having one on a Ducati…, no problems getting insurance etc on my last four new bikes (and all insured business cover unlimited miles).