ALTERNATIVE BATTERY TRICKLING POWER SOURCE QUERY

The Chief

The Chief

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Good Afternoon All.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

I hope that this is the right place to pose this query.

So, I have a garage that the BEAST is currently stored in but it has no power. The other day, I went to turn her over and the battery was dead. Most likely the TrakKing system draining over 3-4 weeks of no use. The recharge has now taken place so I have purchased this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OptiMate...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

It is great that I can trickle charge through the power socket directly but, I need a portable source of power to plug it into and have been looking at these two items:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/NOCO-GB20-...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=W1SN4KKNSEDKHX4WR5F3

https://www.amazon.co.uk/NOCO-GENIU...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=A16G1G5PXFMKHPSTCBYG

Not being mega technical, I would be most grateful for any relevant thoughts, suggestions or recommends, please, to keep me on top of a repeat performance.

VMT
 
The second link is a charger. I don't have a Noco but I do have something similar to that I bought from Amazon several years ago. It has earned its keep many times over starting the bike, the wife's car and several neighbours cars. I keep it in the car all the time and take it away with me when we go on the bike. Definitely recommended.

This is the link to the one I bought just to give you an idea as its no longer available. I've thought about 'upgrading' to a branded one such as Noco but to be honest I'm really happy with mine and can't see any point until it actually fails.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01GHBKGLS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_b2C9FbQYETQF5?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

I also use it to charge phones in the evening when we're away, then recharge it from the bike when we go out in the daytime. It will also run a tyre pump. Worth its weight in gold to me
 
Relevant thoughts:

1. Look for posts by er-minio, who has done exactly what you want to do, which is to get reliable 240 volt power into an otherwise unpowered garage or shed

2. It’s a motorbike, not your baby, steed, beast or anything close to it
 
Wapping said:
Relevant thoughts:

1. Look for posts by er-minio, who has done exactly what you want to do, which is to get reliable 240 volt power into an otherwise unpowered garage or shed

2. It’s a motorbike, not your baby, steed, beast or anything close to it
Click to expand...

And besides which, the Beast is a Peugeot Vivacity 50cc scooter, as any fule knoes.
 
The Chief said:
Good Afternoon All.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

I hope that this is the right place to pose this query.

So, I have a garage that the BEAST is currently stored in but it has no power. The other day, I went to turn her over and the battery was dead. Most likely the TrakKing system draining over 3-4 weeks of no use. The recharge has now taken place so I have purchased this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OptiMate...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

It is great that I can trickle charge through the power socket directly but, I need a portable source of power to plug it into and have been looking at these two items:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/NOCO-GB20-...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=W1SN4KKNSEDKHX4WR5F3

https://www.amazon.co.uk/NOCO-GENIU...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=A16G1G5PXFMKHPSTCBYG

Not being mega technical, I would be most grateful for any relevant thoughts, suggestions or recommends, please, to keep me on top of a repeat performance.

VMT
Click to expand...

I've been mulling over the same problem as you, my garage is across a road in a block from my flat and I too have an OptiMate 4 which I'd like to use, how would you plug the OptiMate into one of those NOCO packs, it has a standard UK plug on it...or am I missing something? I thought the only way to do it was to buy one of those big portable power packs.
 
Many thanks. I have PM'd to see what advice is forthcoming.

Oh, and it IS definitely a BEAST!! Lol
 

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Hi Chief, just saw your PM.
Responded privately, but I'll continue here as I think the information can be useful to others as well. ;)
Also, I'm not very technical as well, so if I say something wrong... pretty sure there is a few 'sparkies' on here that can correct me.


If you have no mains in the garage and you have to keep the battery topped up it doesn't make any sense to power a mains (240v) battery charger from another portable source. You'll be wasting a considerable amount of energy to charge. Also you'll probably won't be able to do it with the equipment you listed.

I ended up having a solar panel on the roof of my garage that keep charged (via a regulator) a small battery bank that I use for internal LED lights, power for alarm/security and I have an electrical inverter I can use when I need 240v for power tools.
The set up, even being very basic, ends up being fairly expensive. And even having access to 240v via an inverter, using that to connect an mains battery charger to keep the bikes topped up would be a massive wastage of electricity to achieve what effectively is DC to DC charging, and it will probably drain the system over a few days.


So, I keep the batteries of the motorbikes topped up via three Optimate Solar (https://www.optimate.co.uk/products/optimate-solar-40w), one per motorbike.
Two of them have 40W panels, one of the is 20W.

My garage has sub-optimal sun exposure (almost never direct) and those have been keeping my motorbikes' batteries topped up for 1, or maybe almost 2 years now.
HP and DR-Z are wired to the battery directly via the harness provided.
On the GS (I use it more often) I installed another mini-din socket on the right side of the bike and wired that to the battery (fused).
Park the bike in, put the plug in, done.

I used to have issues with the GS before this, if left untouched for 2/3 weeks it would struggle to start or fail to start. Never had an issue since.
Same on the HP that sits unused most of winter too.


The Optimate solar is a nice bit of kit. It is very expensive for what it is, yes. But it does the job.

For the DR-Z at some point I built my own battery charger using a spare PWM controller I had laying around, but ended up getting another Optimate Solar as it is easier/simpler to manage.

You can connect/disconnect the battery as you wish, while most solar panel controller want the battery connected first and the panels connected after instead, and also the flashing leds do indicate the state of charge of the batteries at all times.
Sometimes I walk in the garage to pick up something else, just a quick look on the wall, everything flashes green: ease of mind.
 
This is it:
solaropt.gif
 
I feel compelled to add: no pigeons under my solar panels so far.
 
er-minio said:
This is it:
solaropt.gif
Click to expand...

Sincere Thanks for all of the information and apologies for the delay in responding. My garage is in a Military Establishment but I have since been given permission to install a Solar Panel set up so, after much searching I came across this AMAZING deal that I will also put in the Deals section of the forum. The cheapest I had previously seen for an 80w kit was £260+. Today I have purchased an 80w kit for £103.98 and I have checked with www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk this morning and all seems to be fine. The operative confirmed that my order was for an 80w Optimate kit and that it was in stock. My confirmation email has been received and payment has been taken - bring it!!
Heres the link:
https://www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk/motorcycle_parts/content_prod/404071

Thanks again for all of the advice. Such a great place to belong to.

Steve
 
+1 - I've also just ordered one of these as well, thanks for the advice above chaps.

Just got to work out how to get round the residents committee so they'll let me pop it on the roof of the garage :D
 
That is an amazing deal if the price is correct.

If light conditions are not ideal, I wouldn't go below the 40W panel.

My three bikes are connected respectively: GS/40W; HP2/40W; DR-Z/20W panels.
I can see the DR charger is actually harvesting enough light to top up the battery just a couple of hours a day in current weather.
It is ok because it is a very small battery and it has no dispersions (so far). But might not be enough for a bigger battery/bike.
The actual current coming in is very, very low.

To give you a comparison, next to the three panels connected to my Optimate chargers, I have a 160W monocristalline panel (the Optimate ones are poly) that I use to charge the service batteries I use to power lights and tools in the garage.
For the last 20 days the average max wattage from that panel during daylight was only 12W... (i can download the data from the charge controller)
Daylight, again in average over the last 20 days was about 6 hours.

I'd expect the smaller panels to deliver just a microscopic fraction of that (1W every once in a while). Despite all, all the bikes are topped up so far :)
 
Good result.

I could really have done with something similar when I rented a garage but none of this kit had been invented.
 
The Chief said:
Oh, and it IS definitely a BEAST!! Lol
Click to expand...

Sorry, mate, but it most definitely isn't. :augie

You, on the other hand, could do with a BEASTING for wearing that Please Don't Knock Me Down jacket/vest thing, and having a headlight PLUS auxiliary lights on during pure, brilliant, sunny daytime conditions. :augie
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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