Battery charging and Optimate problems

Mark H

Mark H

Formerly known as Easyrider5258 (Mark)
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Remotely in East Anglia
1999 R1100RT.

On the way to France last week the ABS wouldn't extinguish despite several stops and restarts, long suspect the cheapo unnamed gel battery 4 year old was suspect, had a new genuine Exide BMW Battery fitted at Sawbridgeworth BMW cured ABS problem and no problems around France, now back and hooked up the Optimate 3, it shows the orange charge all the time, will not go to 2 greens, even after 5 hours connected, measured the volts with a voltmeter across the Optimate output = zero, but connect back up to bike and orange charge light comes on, measured volts across battery with Optimate powered up and connected & powered down and still connected no difference to volts?

The Fact the orange charge light comes on when connected shows the charger is seeing the battery but not sure if charging, there's no increase in battery volts, start the engine and run up to 2000rpm and the volts kick up as the alternator comes in.

The Optimate is about 10 years old and has a permanent connection to battery and is connected via a plug on nearside of bike.

Any ideas on testing the Optimate?
 
I don't know about testing the optimate but I do know from experience that it wouldn't fully charge my battery but would 'maintain' whatever the charge was when it was connected. The best it would do was a minor increase in charge level. The next best thing for the job, next to a genuine BMW charger, is a C-tec. I've got the 3600 model which has since been superseded but it's safe to use on the AGM type batteries and will fully charge and then maintain that full charge. Far superior, IMHO, to the optimate.

PS. Mine is a 2000 R1150GS with a Datatool alarm :blast hence the need for a trickle charger.

Mick

livin' the dream
 
If I understand well, your new battery is working fine, but you aren't getting a green light on the Optimate.

Is the Optimate 3 rated to charge Lead acid and AGM batteries?


The Optimate is a battery tender. Unless the battery is discharged below a certain threshold, the Optimate will only maintain voltage within a narrow band.


If you want to make the battery 'hot' stick it on a constant output charger with no failsafes. There's no advantage to this though.

Your Optimate is probably fine. To test it properly, read the voltage of the battery before you put it on charge. Charge it for 24 hours and then check the voltage again.

Personally, if the bike starts and runs and the voltage is over 12.6V and under 13.2V at rest, I'd not worry about it.
 
Optimate 4 is better the 3 will have trouble charging an AGM from a low state. Fine for a trick;e charge though.
 
Thanks for the replies so far, My new battery is fine and is in a high state of charge, The problem is that the behaviour of the Optimate seems different, Don't forget I have had this device for ten years and in the past If want to connect up the Optimate to a fully charged battery to maintain the charge it will go orange for a short while and then go 2 greens, It has worked this way countless times over ten years, now it wont move off orange, so the question is there some sort of test I can do on the Optimate to see if its gone faulty?
 
Sorry to labour the point, but is the Optimate 3 rated to charge the type of battery that you have? Also, is this battery different to the previous batteries (obviously yes), I mean AGM vs lead vs spiral cell etc etc.

The only way to test the O3 that springs to mind, is to do what I suggested in the previous post. If you can lay your hands on a discharged battery as well, that would be ideal.
 
Yes the Optimate should charge the new battery, The new Battery on the R1100RT is the same as fitted to my 05 R1200RT and a Previous R1100RT and it charged them to two greens every time for the last ten years, now it is behaving differently with the same battery.
.
 
My optimate 3 did this. The problem was an iffy connection in the optimate white plastic connector. Easily sorted and has been working fine ever since. Worth a check maybe?
 
fatnfast said:
My optimate 3 did this. The problem was an iffy connection in the optimate white plastic connector. Easily sorted and has been working fine ever since. Worth a check maybe?
Click to expand...

Cheers, but already checked that, its ok, beginning to suspect a faulty charger, it is ten years old, might treat myself to a new one :thumb2
 
fatnfast said:
My optimate 3 did this. The problem was an iffy connection in the optimate white plastic connector. Easily sorted and has been working fine ever since. Worth a check maybe?
Click to expand...
I get the same symptom due to dodgy connection at the socket on the bike, usually giving the plug from the charger a couple of twists then turning the Optimate off and on again sorts it.
 
By your description the optimate has a problem and will drain your battery if left attached.
 
Don't do this if you're unsure about bump-starting an R1100RT!

Get the bike moving, change up into 2nd gear, pull in and hold the clutch, switch off the engine using the ignition key, switch back on, wait while the ABS tests itself and extinguishes the warning lights. Release the clutch thus bump-starting the bike. I did this plenty of times. Your optimate and battery are probably fine.

However bump starting a bike on a public road is pretty dangerous, you'll have no brake lights while the ignition is off, the real wheel can lock-up and any vehicle following will have no idea what you're trying to do so don't say I didn't warn you.



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Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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