Optimate 4

[casbar]

The latest on battery-gate. SO As mentioned I connected the optimate direct to the battery whilst still connected to the bike and left it overnight. In the morning the battery health was back to normal. I.e. before I started having this problem about 4 months ago. I.e. really weak starting.
Anyway that has been a couple of days and we seem to be good. So I am thinking of waiting maybe until spring to get a replacement battery as this is the original battery that came with the bike so 7 years old.
To summarise. I have used the optimate via the canbus a few times and the last time I left it on for three days with no real improvement. Actually last weekend it seems to have nearly drained the battery. I am sure it was in canbus mode. So taking it out of canbus mode and direct charge to battery worked and using canbus has not worked for me. Checking some other battery topics on here seems to be hit and miss whether it works using canbus.
So I am happy at this time and thanks for everyone for your help and advice with this.

Well all I can say is, I have used my Optimate 4 in can bus mode to charge my 2014 RT, my 1250 RT, plus 3 RTps 2 x 07 and 1 x 2014 plus a FJR1300 all by the aux socket never had an issue. So not sure why its hit and miss. I also don't change it out of can bus mode when I stick it on the car direct to the battery and that also seems to work ok

 

[Joe 90]

Casbar, I don’t know enough about the technology of the canbus controlled accessory socket to explain why there is a difference for some people either.
I’d imagine there is some sort of semiconductor control, hence a specific current limit, and that semiconductor might have a junction voltage drop, but I’m guessing.
As regards always using the canbus mode, that will work because on a non-canbus controlled socket/bike, the activation pulses from the charger are just ignored, and the charger just starts up.
Wildfowler, optimate have chosen to inhibit the high voltage recovery charge program when charger is in canbus mode.... they must have a reason for that. I think for safest operation ,switching to canbus mode even when charging direct to the battery terminals might be a good idea. That setup works for me to date. I have the bmw alarm as an additional battery drain so if the optimate wasn’t working I’d be in trouble after a week or so.
HTH

 

[casbar]

Casbar, I don’t know enough about the technology of the canbus controlled accessory socket to explain why there is a difference for some people either.
I’d imagine there is some sort of semiconductor control, hence a specific current limit, and that semiconductor might have a junction voltage drop, but I’m guessing.
As regards always using the canbus mode, that will work because on a non-canbus controlled socket/bike, the activation pulses from the charger are just ignored, and the charger just starts up.
Wildfowler, optimate have chosen to inhibit the high voltage recovery charge program when charger is in canbus mode.... they must have a reason for that. I think for safest operation ,switching to canbus mode even when charging direct to the battery terminals might be a good idea. That setup works for me to date. I have the bmw alarm as an additional battery drain so if the optimate wasn’t working I’d be in trouble after a week or so.


HTH

You learn something every day I didn't know that Optimate have chose to inhibit the hight voltage recover programme in Can Bus mode. Does that mean that even if you connect direct to the battery the high voltage recover mode won't work, or is it only if its plugged into the aux socket?

 

[knutk]

You learn something every day I didn't know that Optimate have chose to inhibit the hight voltage recover programme in Can Bus mode. Does that mean that even if you connect direct to the battery the high voltage recover mode won't work, or is it only if its plugged into the aux socket?

The battery needs to be physically disconnected from the bike on order for the highest level of recovery to be working. The reason is simple enough. In the highest recovery mode, the charger injects bursts of voltage that are so high that they may do permanent damage to the computers in the bike.
Leaving the battery in the bike is ok, but the battery cables needs to be disconnected. Before the charger engages this high recovery mode it checks that the battery is disconnected, and the process will not start before this check is ok.

I have used Optimate 4 for several years now, and I have one for each of my bikes. As long as the battery is in good condition, using the Canbus connector seems to be working ok.

However, if the battery for some reason is drained way down, the Optimate seems to be lacking the punch to get the battery charging process started, as a 'kick-start' needs a bit of punch from the charger. So in cases that this is needed I use a heavier charger for these rear occasions.

As already mentioned by others, charging through the Canbus socket drops the voltage slightly.
As the Optimate analyze the battery condition by means of reading the voltage, the optimum way is for a direct connection to the battery.
But as long as the battery in the bike is in a good condition I have experienced that using the Canbus connector serves the purpose.

 

[casbar]

I read the manual, quite informative, maybe I should have done that 6 years ago

 

[Wildfowler]

Casbar, I don’t know enough about the technology of the canbus controlled accessory socket to explain why there is a difference for some people either.
I’d imagine there is some sort of semiconductor control, hence a specific current limit, and that semiconductor might have a junction voltage drop, but I’m guessing.
As regards always using the canbus mode, that will work because on a non-canbus controlled socket/bike, the activation pulses from the charger are just ignored, and the charger just starts up.
Wildfowler, optimate have chosen to inhibit the high voltage recovery charge program when charger is in canbus mode.... they must have a reason for that. I think for safest operation ,switching to canbus mode even when charging direct to the battery terminals might be a good idea. That setup works for me to date. I have the bmw alarm as an additional battery drain so if the optimate wasn’t working I’d be in trouble after a week or so.
HTH

Thanks for the information Joe 90. My bike is parked on my drive for the last 5 years and open to the elements bar a couple of covers. I dont have any additional draw on the battery when I am not using it so I think that getting 7 years out of the battery so far is quite good. Good to read a lot of the technical information provided by you and others on the forum. Thanks