trickle charger

went to start the bike up at the weekend, wasnt flat but not ebnough to kick it over, put the leads on to my car and started straight away, have ordered myself a trickle charger, dont supose there's anything wrong with those ?


Derek

If its not too late look at the multi stage chargers. They can charge from flat up to full charge and hold it there till needed.

I got a trickle charger from E Bay for about £5. Great for keeping my Burgman charged up, and if i use the Burgman more, just put it on the Silverwing for an hour and it's fully charged. Haven't used my main charger since buying it.  

If it isn't designed to be connected for a long time to a motorcycle battery, I wouldn't leave it connected. A trickle charger for a car will be too much for a motorcycle battery often, unless it has some intelligence.

gadget here in U K i have used car chargers ,set on low and
fixed to a time clock to come on on for a few minutes a day
used for several years.the batteries  lasted 5.5 years from new
that is a fair life span, just another view from across the pond.

I use an Optimate 4 - not the cheapest, but I've never had any problems with the battery as long as I've used it. It can be left connected all the time, or just switch it on for a couple of hours once a week if you're not running the scoot.
A lot of bike dealers use them on their showroom stock.
Apparently it runs a check on the battery every so often (can't remember the timing), then gives a charge if needed.

Works for me!

Graham.

I am away in New Zealand at the moment and I have left the SWing and both our cars hooked up to various models of the Optimate which I have bought over the years.  The batteries will be fine when I get back even though I am using bike models and the Swing is always hooked up when I am not using it as I feel that this helps to have a happy &healthy battery!

I have five Battery Tender Juniors by Deltran. Two are used for my fishing boat, one is used to maintain my generator battery, another is used to maintain my pickup truck, and the fifth one is used to maintain my Swing's battery (Recovering from an accident and I should be riding by this March). I keep them connected whenever not running the engines.  Never had a problem.  Got them on Amazon for about $35/each with free shipping.

I use an Optimate and usually have it connected to my Silver Wing via the 12v socket permanently while it's in the garage. I done the same when I had 400 and 650 Burgmans, a Majesty, a Helix, and a couple of BMW's I had before I got into maxi scooters.

I haven't got a convenient socket for a mains battery-charger so plug in a solar-charger to the cigarette socket in the LH cubby.
I also have one for the car.
They both work well.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&langId=-1&productId=927421&catalogId=10151

I'm a big fan of CTEK.

I keep a Deltran Battery Tender connected to all of our "occasional" use vehicles while not in use.
While we were back east I had two 2004 and a 2006 Honda product with the the original batteries that load tested "good" when I sold them in 2011.
I'm curious to see what the 120 degree heat in the garage does to the battery life here in Arizona.

Ron,

Have had no problems with my almost 6 year old SilverWing's battery while parked in garage during our Hot Summer's.

Robert

robert wrote:

Ron,

Have had no problems with my almost 6 year old SilverWing's battery while parked in garage during our Hot Summer's.

Robert

That eases my concerns, every time I had a battery fail it has always been in the summer without warning. Thanks!

I installed an Argus Battery Bug to keep track of the batteries health. Although production has been put on hiatus due to patent legalities you can still find them on line.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ayya5kOMmyY

I have a trickle charger on both my bikes. 05 swing and 06 GSF. I prewired the pigtails directly to the batteries and left the connectors slightly visible and easily accessable on the sides of the bikes. In Canada the bikes sit idle for 6-7 months so having a trickle charger is a must for the guys who care about their rides. I usually plug them in during the riding season as well. Keeps the batteries happy!

That is one more electrical device that I must have.
The Argus Battery Bug is the only device I have ever seen of this type.
Thank you for the info.

johnd wrote:

That is one more electrical device that I must have.
The Argus Battery Bug is the only device I have ever seen of this type.
Thank you for the info.

A simple digital voltmeter shows exactly the same thing. The only difference is that an algorithm built into the bug's electronics converts voltage drop on starting into a % of battery life remaining. Whoever wrote this algorithm could not have possibly calculated the different voltage drops for the huge number of different batteries and starters out there. The size and type of battery all respond differently to the starter draw. Hooking a voltmeter in parallel with a battery tells nothing about current draw. To really know your battery's condition, you must load test it in series with the battery.

thanks for the reply's, i got one from Amazon, seems to have a brain because it switches off when charged then starts up again, only 15 quid

Never go with "the lowest bidder" on a trickle charger or battery....money well spent!

Thank you much. That was it