How to Maintain Your Battery

[Arsey]

Was going to put this in Font of all Wisdom section but it’s locked .

An article from latest MSL which may be of use .

 

[Pukmeister]

Cheers Arsey, thats a good article, thanks for posting.

To add to that article, just because a battery is showing volts across the terminals doesn't mean it can fully deliver power like is was when new.

Batteries degrade naturally over time (depending how they are used/maintained) and the only true way to know if a battery is still good or not is to use a load tester (aka drop tester). This puts the battery under a brief heavy load and analyses how much sustained power it can deliver.

Load testers have become pretty inexpensive to buy, I got one recently (built in to a car OBD scan tool) and it condemned as scrap a handful of spare batteries I had a spares that I thought were okay.

 

[Zoton]

Interesting article. didn't know you can't jump start a lithium Ion battery.

 

[sanqhar]

The Lithium charger I use has to detect voltage in the battery before it will charge. So a flat lithium battery will have a problem. I got around this by connecting one of those small 9v radio batteries in parallel when connecting the charger. The charger then detects some voltage and starts charging, you can then disconnect the 9v battery.

tom

 

[Arsey]

To follow on from last months article ,this months MSL has some info on how to maintain your battery. Especially useful for our Wankpanzer listeners

 

[snelly]

My old Kawasaki RX fuel gauge used to check the battery voltage at the press of a button; that was 1988. I've often wondered why the did away with such an easy facility.
Good post Arsey; i'am liking that little checking devise you leave fastened to the bike,;

 

[Deleted account 250319001]

Cheers for this.
Im just converting to Lithium on the new 13. And it seems a minefield. However, the genuine BMW Lithium charger seems to be the solution. But now reading the above. My NOCO GB40 , which says is OK for lithium batteries, Apparently isn't ?

 

[Billy Law]

Very useful information in all that. Thanks Arsey.

 

[grantmac]

Good article, thanks Martin. Does now beg a few more questions from my side. I have one of the BMW ´´approved´´ chargers which I can plug into the DIN socket under my seat.
I wonder if that's as good as maintaining my battery as an Optimate.
I had a classic car on an optimate as it sat in my garage basically used 1 or 2 a year and the battery lasted 10 years.....

 

[Guru Gora]

https://www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk/motorcycle_parts/content_prod/474644?glCountry=GB&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD9yAK-9fKA3OzBUzRF1lLn03LBC6&gclid=Cj0KCQiA4L67BhDUARIsADWrl7HfEV6_isytX2xQu9n82w-IERmW4Zv4fF27M_z5H4boC_qqztOuv-IaAjDREALw_wcB

Buy one of these, plug it in, forget about it

 

[grantmac]

thanks but I want to use the BMW DIN plug under the seat rather than faff around with leads to the battery. I have 2 Optimates sitting at home not doing anything. Question was more if the BMW charger does the same as the optimate?

 

[Billy Law]

thanks but I want to use the BMW DIN plug under the seat rather than faff around with leads to the battery. I have 2 Optimates sitting at home not doing anything. Question was more if the BMW charger does the same as the optimate?

In short, yes it does. We had the BMW charger for the works bikes and did the job reliably. That said, you can get an adapter to allow you to plug the Optimate direct into the Din socket of the BMW. And the Optimate will be cheaper than the BMW charger.

 

[Engineer]

The BMW charger works just fine on my 1250GS and Triumpg Thruxton R. All my battery problems in the past were caused by my Data Tool tracker - once I got shot of that piece of crap all was good

 

[SBD]

Funny that, no issue with mine since I changed the battery.

 

[Mr Bean]

Cheers for this.
Im just converting to Lithium on the new 13. And it seems a minefield. However, the genuine BMW Lithium charger seems to be the solution. But now reading the above. My NOCO GB40 , which says is OK for lithium batteries, Apparently isn't ?

Is it ok for charging but not jumping?

 

[Deleted account 250319001]

Is it ok for charging but not jumping?

The whole point of the NOCO GB40 is to jump start the vehicle.

 

[Deleted account 250319001]

NOCO Boost Plus GB40 Jump Starter 1000A 12V – For Cars, SUVs, Trucks, & Motorcycles Portable Emergency Battery Booster Jump Box With Power Bank

The NOCO Boost Plus GB40 is a compact and portable 12V lithium jump starter that delivers 1000A of starting power to safely jump start dead batteries in seconds. Ideal for cars, trucks, SUVs, vans, pickup trucks, motorcycles, ATVs, boats, and more, it provides up to 20 jump starts on a single...

no.co

 

[Berin]

Interesting article. didn't know you can't jump start a lithium Ion battery.

Not strictly true - I’ve jump started lithium batteries. I don’t know whether it reduced the life of the battery but it worked, and with electric start only bikes and you need to start it, there’s no other choice.

 

[Deleted account 250319001]

Not strictly true - I’ve jump started lithium batteries. I don’t know whether it reduced the life of the battery but it worked, and with electric start only bikes and you need to start it, there’s no other choice.

 

[Mr Bean]

The whole point of the NOCO GB40 is to jump start the vehicle.

I get that, I too have a similar booster, mine can also be used as a charger.

Just looked at their web site and it states suitable for boosting 12 volt lead-acid batteries, no mention of lithium. Have I missed something?

It is however, a lithium booster.