Trickle Charging advice please

[steve hughes]

Hi my 08 GS650 is the unenviable position of only getting a run every weekend or even upto two weeks between rides as the weather in lancs is sh...

Tonight I took it out after 10 days in a cold garage and the starting was decidely edgy. The battery just turned it over. After 10 mins riding everything was back to normal.

I have a BMW canbus charger bought from this parish , but no instructions. I have used it for 12 hr stints when it was really cold -5C ish.

My question is, is it OK to pop it on and leave it on for say a few nights to give the battery a good charge?

Reason I ask is after just 12 hrs (o/night ) I get two green lights on the charger indicating everything is OK ( I do all the plugging in before the canbus switches off bit , initially it a red and a green light)

Thanks in advance
Steve

 

[wessie]

Yes.

Once the green light is on the charger will go into maintenance mode and only start charging again if the battery has been drained below a threshold voltage e.g. by an alarm or clock

 

[steve hughes]

Thanks Wessie

 

[v8legend]

Yes.

Once the green light is on the charger will go into maintenance mode and only start charging again if the battery has been drained below a threshold voltage e.g. by an alarm or clock

I've found with quite a few of these intelligent chargers that they can go to sleep if just left on. If you are going to leave it for any prolonged period of time, then switch the charger off every few weeks for a day or so. It then goes through the full check, and starts again. I've never left my BMW charger on long enough to see if it does the same. However, this does happen with my Accumate/Optimate.

 

[wessie]

I've found with quite a few of these intelligent chargers that they can go to sleep if just left on. If you are going to leave it for any prolonged period of time, then switch the charger off every few weeks for a day or so. It then goes through the full check, and starts again. I've never left my BMW charger on long enough to see if it does the same. However, this does happen with my Accumate/Optimate.

I think some chargers get confused when there is a power outage - my Optimate (original version bought in late 90s) certainly does not reset itself if the mains goes down. I think they solved this problem with more recent chargers from Optimate 4 onwards.

I only connect my charger if the battery is showing signs of being low. Once or twice during the winter maybe as the Odyssey holds a charge very well. I disconnect it after a day or two as it saves me a few pennies on the electricity bill.