Battery Charger

[Kris]

Hey all.

I finally have the chance to receive a Christmas present that would be useful and one that I actually need, rather than the usual multipack of 'briefs' or the Lynx deodourant 'gift set'.

I need a battery charger for the Bandit, seeing as it sits outside and the cold kills batteries. Can anyone recommend me a charger to get? I've heard good things about the Optimate series, although £40 is a bit steep tbh.

Any ideas?
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NSR125RR - ZXR750H1 - ZX9R E1 - GSF600S - GSF600SK3 - VFR400-NC30 - SV1000N - ST1100-R - CBR900RR-R - GSF1200SK5 - GSF600SK1 - VFR1200FA - GSXR1000K2 - ZZR1400 D8F
www.prisonplanet.com

[dainesefreak]

Do you want a battery charger or an optimizer?

As far as chargers go I've got a Halfords rapid charger, always done the job and is cheap as chips. The Optimate is supposed to be very good but I wasn't willing to pay the money for one and I never leave my bike standing for that long. There are similar products out there to the Optimate too. Oxford do one called Oximiser, cheaper than the Optimate Here

[nrml76]

I'd recommend the optimate . You can knock a few quid off if you buy it off ebay. Pays for itself in a few years, and you can go to sleep safe in the knowledge that it wont fry up your battery. I have wrapped mine in cling film, and leave it underneath the bike cover on a brick in all sorts of weather. No problems at all. The permanently attached charging cable makes life easy also

[Gazdaman]

An optimate is well worth the money.

Not only does it charge it reconditions. When I first hooked it up to my (fully charged) TZR battery it showed it's face, but left it on for a few days and it had a face.

It discharges and recharges and does all sorts of magical stuff.

Gaz

[NSR-Rulez]

i have a datatool one got it when my alarm was fitted

its a battery conditioner charges, discharges and maintains charge cost £40-£50 normally, works really well recahrged the NSR's battery from flat as a pancake to fully charged in 12 hours, top job and i highly recommend it.


NSR-Rulez
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Past: 1985 Suzuki GS 125 + 2002 Honda NSR 125 R-2 + Ford Fusion
Present: Honda CBR 600 RR-5 + Suzuki SV650S-K4 + Mitsubishi FTO GPX

[nrml76]

The datatool charger and optimate are identical products.

[The Old Geeza]

I could tell you how to do all this 'fancy' stuff that's offered on these expensive 'conditioners' quite easily and cheaply.

But nobody want's to know about an old man's ideas



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Horse Power was safer when the Horses had it!

[mchaggis]

[Mongrel]

Optimate/datatool...no argument, no contest.

[sickpup]

[The Old Geeza]

[colin1]

'back in my day we didnt have optimates
you can do the same thing with a headlamp and any bog-standard battery charger'

interesting but optimate is less hassle for those who dont know what they are doing
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colin1 is officially faster than god

[ZZR Girl]

I recently asked the same question on the ZZR International forum. As my bike is going to be off the road over winter and it's got a digital clock which is on permanently, I need to keep the battery topped up. I saw a Battery Tender advertised in BIKE magazine which supplies a trickle charge and I thought this looked quite good. However, most of the replies I got recommended the Optimate III and I've just bought one on eBay for cheaper than retail.
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Keep it shiny!

[the grim reaper]

Just to buck the trend, I would not recommend an Optimate charger. The problem with the Optimate is that it only trickle charges and maintains the battery, after a while, the battery starts to rely on the Optimate, especially if you are not using the bike. Once this happens, the battery will die very rapidly when not being charged by the optimate (i.e if you go to stay with relatives).

There is no substitute for riding the bike, batteries like to be drawn on heavily (starter motor) and then charged fast (alternator), a constant slow trickle charge will kill the battery, eventually.

I'd recommend taking the battery out of the bike and using a high wattage light to drain it and then fast charging it with a standard battery charger (I have a Halfords on that is very good). Do this occasionally and your battery will last for far longer than if you use an Optimate.

Alarms are the curse of batteries as they draw a small amount of current over time and slowly drain the battery. Batteries hate this slow discharge, a slow recharge from an Optimate only makes things worse.

Cheers

Grim
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Adverts don't always work: Remember that advert, where the army are running across the desert and they have a wounded man on a stretcher. They get to a ravine, the bridge is down and a caption pops up that says, 'What are you thinking?'. I don't know about you but I was thinking, 'Christ, I'm glad I'm not in the f***ing army'.

[sickpup]

[The Old Geeza]

[carvell]

The Old Geeza seems to have forgotton to mention about how to bring a battery back from the dead.

All you need is a nice big lorry esque battery, and some leads.

Hook up -ve on the big battery to +ve on the one you want to bring back to live and vice versa.

Stand well back.

If nothing goes bang, then there's a good chance that you've given your battery a new lease of life, if you haven't, then you haven't lost anything.

While we're on the subject of batteries, if you ever get a bog standard alkaline (duracell etc.) battery go dead, then if you feed a nice small constant current of 65mA or so through it, and leave it until the battery reads 110% of the stated voltage, then you've charged the standard battery back up to its former glory. I've been doing it for a while, ignore everything on the side of batteries! if you know what you're doing
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Yamaha TDM 850

[The Old Geeza]

[carvell]

[The Old Geeza]

[mchaggis]

[carvell]

It's quite easy to make a constant current supply of 65mA.

A bog standard npn transistor with a bog standard hfe of 100, a couple of bog standard diodes ripped out of old things, a 12v battery and some electronics knowledge and a couple of resistors.

A PSU with a current limit of 65mA wouldn't really cut it anyway, the current limit is just that, a limit. As the battery charges, the current that is output will probably change (whilst remaining under the limit) as the voltage of the charging battery increases.

To make the constant 65mA source you can connect +12v from the 12v battery through a 1k resistor and a couple of diodes, in series pointing in the direction of conventional current. Connect the base of the transistor to the midpoint of this potential divider config. This provides a voltage of around 1.3v at the base, meaning a voltage of approx 0.65v at the emitter. Connect the emmiter to ground through a 100ohm resistor, you will then get a constant 65mA between +12v and the collector. The current here is equal to the emitter voltage over the 100ohm resistor.

Connect the battery you wish to charge between the collector and the emitter, +ve facing towards +12v and it'll charge nicely.
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Yamaha TDM 850

[The Old Geeza]

Oh, thanks for removing and/or editing your post, carvell

Now no-one knows what I responded to

(it's a good thing that BCF kept a record of your earlier reply before you changed it)



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Horse Power was safer when the Horses had it!

[carvell]

I changed my mind about what I wanted to say, but for the record my "lying around" comment still applies.

[The Old Geeza]