optimate charger - GS friendly?
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NI Phil
Registered user
Yes connect it straight to the battery - no probs
GSband
Registered user
Actually, that's not completely right.
Everything's fine just as long as your battery's not completely dead (i.e. dashboard doesn't show anything). Your 'intelligent' charger will then send high current to battery to try to revive it. This strong current will then damage the on board electronics.
Optimate have recognised this, and have developed the Optimate 4 Dual, which has a specific CANbus program. If you read the Optimate 4 Dual manual (see website) then you'll see that the CANbus program doesn't allow this high current remedy.
And a look in your bike's manual at battery/maintenance/charging will confirm the above.
Everything's fine just as long as your battery's not completely dead (i.e. dashboard doesn't show anything). Your 'intelligent' charger will then send high current to battery to try to revive it. This strong current will then damage the on board electronics.
Optimate have recognised this, and have developed the Optimate 4 Dual, which has a specific CANbus program. If you read the Optimate 4 Dual manual (see website) then you'll see that the CANbus program doesn't allow this high current remedy.
And a look in your bike's manual at battery/maintenance/charging will confirm the above.
rce
Registered user
Connect direct to battery, not via acc socket and no problem.
GSband
Registered user
Perhaps there still was room for misunderstanding: if your battery is dead, wire charger directly to battery poles, but disconnect bike from battery. If you leave bike connected to battery, then charger will send high current to battery AND bike and destroy on board electronics. As per BMW manual.
MacFarlane
Registered user
WTF
It seems he is right, almost.
The Optimate 4 Dual will only enter Turbo-mode if the battery is not in circuit with the bike electronics. See section 5 of how it works here
This is the spec for the standard Optimate 4
Where GSband is confusing me & you is by using "current" when he means "voltage". In Turbo-mode the Optimate shoves 22 volts up a battery's jacksy in an attempt to wake up a heavily sulphated battery. Every other manufacturer must provide suitable protection for their electronics but, BMW, being BMW, save about 35p on each bike by not bothering to put any over-voltage protection on the CANBUS circuitry.
GSband
Registered user
Sorry, you're right, I meant 'high voltage'. 
Anyway, when in doubt, check manual !
Cheers !
Anyway, when in doubt, check manual !
Cheers !
thanks for the responses.
Please so correct me if i have this wrong but as long as I never let the battery die completely its fine.
My intent is during over winter to plug it in and leave it on the optimate all the time or at regular periods so as to avoid this happening.
Is this acceptable?
Ta
Dave
Please so correct me if i have this wrong but as long as I never let the battery die completely its fine.
My intent is during over winter to plug it in and leave it on the optimate all the time or at regular periods so as to avoid this happening.
Is this acceptable?
Ta
Dave
Yes that is right, just before you put it to sleep make sure the battery is fully charged to start with,
Going to open another can of worms here, read on here a few weeks ago that if the battery is NOT full charged to start with the optimate does NOT recharge it to the maximum, sounds daft I know but I will search out the thread battery life
read post 12
spike
Geezer
Registered user
My intent is during over winter to plug it in and leave it on the optimate all the time or at regular periods so as to avoid this happening.
Is this acceptable?
I've used the Optimate this way for the last 2 years on GSA without problem. Its wired into the battery and has a trailing connector. I just connect the Optimate into the connector and let it do its thing over the winter.
Is this acceptable?
I've used the Optimate this way for the last 2 years on GSA without problem. Its wired into the battery and has a trailing connector. I just connect the Optimate into the connector and let it do its thing over the winter.
You are misinterpreting what the poster said.
Batteries age with time. They become less efficient for the reasons the poster stated.
The best analogy I can think of is a tank that gradually gets filled with sludge over time. Every time you top it up you stop when the level gets to the top. Over time, the storage capacity is reduced by the sludge building up. So, you end up putting less into the tank on each refill but you have to refill the tank more frequently. If you don't clear out the sludge from the tank then eventually, you will only be putting a small amount in the tank which won't be much use to you.
The same thing happens with a battery only instead of putting liquid into storage, you are storing electrons. Eventually, as the battery ages you can't squeeze in enough of those electrons to spin the starter motor. To a battery charger, the battery will appear full as it can fill the battery to the brim i.e. it measures the voltage at 13.6V. The problem is, there aren't enough electrons stored to sustain that voltage at a current high enough to spin the starter motor.
For those into maths, W=VI - where W is energy in watts, I is current in amps and V is voltage.
So, the total energy stored in the battery is W. As the battery ages the maximum W decreases. So, with a knackered battery, whilst you may have enough V to look good on your multimeter or to convince an Optimate , if there isn't enough W stored then you may not have enough I (current in amps) to spin the starter.
Rearranging the formula to I=W/V gives the important bit of maths.
The good news is that one of the problems pukmeister describes can be reversed in some circumstances i.e. sulphation. That's where your fancy charger comes good.
you have answered the question yourself - if it has been happy for 2 years...eventually it won't be happy but that will because the battery has reached the end of its natural life which can be anything from 2-10 years.
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