Battery Disconnect - Question ??

[outrunner 4,457]

Never used an Optimate, or any other make of battery tender in my life, mind you, my bike gets ridden all year round.

 

Andy.

[Mr Toad 9,022]

11 hours ago, outrunner said:

Never used an Optimate, or any other make of battery tender in my life, mind you, my bike gets ridden all year round.

 

Andy.

 

I used to own one battery tender. I used it on the Bonny when I took it off the road for the winter while still riding the other bike. Then came lock down and neither bike was getting ridden so I bought a second one for the GS. 

 

But I also have two cars and they were standing mostly idle too or being used for short trips to get supplies. I used to periodically check the battery voltage and use the charger if necessary but after a while decided to replace the basic car charger with a decent car battery maintainer. I fitted charging leads with a connector inside each car so that it was a simple matter to connect the charger, no more croc clips on the battery. 

 

So now I have three battery maintainers............I'd much rather be riding/driving to keep my batteries in good shape.

[tomcat 667]

I've always used an optimate maintenance charger on my VFR750. Any doubts that this will harm your battery can be dismissed, the battery on my VFR is the original Varta, fitted by Mr Honda when the bike was made in 1993. Still starts the bike with no hassle to the present day.

Over the Winter months when my other bike, F850GS, isn't being used as often, I swap the charger from one bike to the other on a weekly basis,

I never remove the battery from either bike. I simply fit an optimate charging lead to each bike.

Edited October 31, 2020 by tomcat

[SteveThackery 3,090]

I've never used an Optimate, and I've never had any battery troubles arising from a winter in the garage.  I once rode a bike to a friend's house and parked it outside with a tarp over it.  I went back six months later, it started up perfectly and I rode it home.  

 

Maybe I've been lucky.  This chart shows that a few months without charge shouldn't be a problem.  Interestingly, self-discharge is more of a problem in the higher temperatures of summer:

(courtesy of https://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/elevating_self_discharge)

 

 

Edited October 31, 2020 by SteveThackery

[Slowboy 20,501]

So if I take my battery out over winter and keep it in the fridge it’ll be fine?

 

Asking for a friend 😉

[Mr Toad 9,022]

One of my friends was having low battery problems through lack of use. Even after a full charge it lasted only so long. He did a bit of digging and the alarm and immobiliser were a small but constant drain. The car in question is his wife's Astra.

 

As a result he fully recharged the battery then left it disconnected. It has remained pretty much fully charged since he did this. My Jeep is the same, it will go a couple of weeks without any problem but after a month the battery needs a charge. It's been like it from new, a month away on the boat and it was touch and go it it would turn the engine over hence the maintainer. 

[SteveThackery 3,090]

18 hours ago, Mr Toad said:

One of my friends was having low battery problems through lack of use. Even after a full charge it lasted only so long. He did a bit of digging and the alarm and immobiliser were a small but constant drain. The car in question is his wife's Astra.

 

I think you've made a really important point: with modern cars and bikes, it's quite likely that self-discharge is the least of our concerns.  The parasitic drain from permanently-powered electronics may well be the bigger factor.  In that case an Optimate would seem like a great solution.

 

My experience of leaving a bike for six months, and finding the battery easily able to spin the engine and start it, was with my Royal Enfield Bullet.  With that bike there is zero current draw when the ignition is turned off, which is probably why there was no problem.  

[PoppetM 16,845]

On 30/10/2020 at 21:38, outrunner said:

Never used an Optimate, or any other make of battery tender in my life, mind you, my bike gets ridden all year round.

 

Me neither until I gave up the commute on two wheels, longest spell mine would be parked was two weeks while on holiday, and the first thing I did after the food shop on way back from the airport was take the bike for a spin . 
Now it is a life saver. Nothing worse then looking forward to a ride and finding it dead.

 

18 hours ago, Mr Toad said:

One of my friends was having low battery problems through lack of use. Even after a full charge it lasted only so long. He did a bit of digging and the alarm and immobiliser were a small but constant drain. The car in question is his wife's Astra.

 

As a result he fully recharged the battery then left it disconnected. It has remained pretty much fully charged since he did this. My Jeep is the same, it will go a couple of weeks without any problem but after a month the battery needs a charge. It's been like it from new, a month away on the boat and it was touch and go it it would turn the engine over hence the maintainer. 

We were wondering about that for the Civic, just leave it out the car... how long has he left it for so far?

 

My NC had no alarm or tracker, longest it was stood for was a month (snow) before turning the wheel. Forza was around two months because I was sick, it was sluggish (tracker) but turned over. Rebel a mere 7 days, I got a warning by email then it was dead when I got home to it. Hence the optimate. 

[Mr Toad 9,022]

12 minutes ago, PoppetM said:

We were wondering about that for the Civic, just leave it out the car... how long has he left it for so far?

 

My NC had no alarm or tracker, longest it was stood for was a month (snow) before turning the wheel. Forza was around two months because I was sick, it was sluggish (tracker) but turned over. Rebel a mere 7 days, I got a warning by email then it was dead when I got home to it. Hence the optimate. 

 

His wife's car stopped being used at the beginning of lock down and he removed the battery in April or May. Since then it has remained pretty much fully charged. Once a week he checks it with a voltmeter and it is always fine. 

[Argyll 1,334]

Simply disconnecting the black earth (-ve) cable has much the same effect, and a lot less hassle.

[Mr Toad 9,022]

For anyone that is interested the smart charger that I bought for the cars was the Noco G3500. It will of course work on bikes and Lithium batteries as well. For the money I'm very pleased with it.

 

It has been used by me on a long list of batteries:

 

• The small 12V battery in my Kawasaki Generator
• An old 12V motorcycle battery that I removed from GF1's Yamaha and replaced with a new one as a precaution after a couple of years in storage. The charger seems to have recovered the original to full health. I will use it on the Enfield if required.
• Large AGM stop start Battery on the Merc
• Large  AGM battery on the Jeep Wrangler
• 5 130Ah 12V AGM leisure batteries off the boat

You can unplug the croc clips and attach different connectors to the lead, eyelets for direct connection to battery terminal, 12V accessory plug, great if you have a socket that is powered even when the ignition is off. 

 

It is important to note that the connector used by Noco is not a standard SAE type that Optimate use. However, they do sell a Noco to SAE converter. This wasn't an issue for me as I already had chargers/optimisers for the bikes. When I bought mine earlier in the year there was an offer on which included a second lead with eyelets. This is a link to it on A mazon

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/NOCO-G3500UK-UltraSafe-Battery-Motorcycles/dp/B00E907PWS

 

 

Of course there's absolutely nothing stopping you from cutting the Noco connector off and replacing it with a standard SAE connector which can be had for a couple of quid from a UK fleabay seller or as low as 99p from China. This would have been my preferred solution for a one charger regime as it is cheaper than the Noco accessory leads. 

 

 

This was the top of the search for SAE connector.

 

https://www.that auction site.co.uk/itm/1Pc-SAE-DC-power-automotive-DIY-connector-cables-2x0-75mm-15-TDUK/233679241802?_trkparms=ispr%3D1&hash=item36685e424a:g:Jw0AAOSw829cmDmQ&amdata=enc%3AAQAFAAACYBaobrjLl8XobRIiIML1V4Imu%2Fn%2BzU5L90Z278x5ickkai8xCwosGKpC0NWj85e%2FBz7bsEuHFOxkch%2Faesi57QxOtCFI48DB5Vfx0%2B%2Byt13HXHVrbxh0CN%2Bll7Uuf9KOtkN65%2FrcFKh2UTLL%2BVmbrvjNaEak8zQQuEoSqQtZCZoK46dtc6FL%2Fin4I3Nd%2Bfupzuz3gJQcqIVadYyoaPrgNbmSzF%2BZAQLdVLwLZQYi5kTzQlCiO5i02mbTavLs6vYdAOfeB0sBNxxxwKIKThmPcFiSRXH7RDLLpaaPbUcMgNOKucwFQU5UuiU3D73hs9xY3GWaUDcoxxVoRqA0DZIO2MYtxswVJcb6tBpgcRUAsonz%2FQatKIwrK27hkw%2BY3NlHpdbqURiI3kP2QI5nDTrttb0ghcxP5FvcoZpvZ3vvec8jMiBpF4bJyXF9pd%2BYSLoM%2FR%2BrMVKWw1LYMd6BS7TQ%2FBCfvJI26KWSp284bydG%2F%2BaBYz7l5fjdWlPMvh5BJlh8StUh2GR%2BKA8wi3Z17GRPIZjo%2Bk5KCJfTkRhA3jmVPGuw3sLVd2zzruGtORsVYgSf7zdObIbK0pEBTxRYYX6rwHSiLVP3KB02GM%2Bs072XHfwYufPYFQguvbHfeUVl%2FzfH1csrTvtH37Nuc5AGYrlgK6iRgvGoufoqzyWtbT%2FuddBIlvWsqqHuFUINDIkKZeT7xZcq3MpXm7NqZuJc2uTBEeGVBQfxmzJWA2hKXWXEpv%2B2tysg1Qvz1U0bk3W1qu9nLL8Eybnsn2vXIof%2B7jR7PR%2B6beKH7p1zUcAJjl3JNd02|cksum%3A233679241802fb2682eced3041088c58e2be9b90caf8|ampid%3APL_CLK|clp%3A2334524

 

 

[PoppetM 16,845]

1 hour ago, Mr Toad said:

 

His wife's car stopped being used at the beginning of lock down and he removed the battery in April or May. Since then it has remained pretty much fully charged. Once a week he checks it with a voltmeter and it is always fine. 

Brilliant. Keep telling him to sort it, the tax is £500, once it’s MOT’d next week (assuming the booking is still valid) it isn’t needed for months. 
 

How is the boat, presumably being packed for winter anyway?

[Mr Toad 9,022]

3 hours ago, PoppetM said:

Brilliant. Keep telling him to sort it, the tax is £500, once it’s MOT’d next week (assuming the booking is still valid) it isn’t needed for months. 
 

How is the boat, presumably being packed for winter anyway?

 

Yes, all buttoned up. Occasional trips over to ensure all is well and deal with any problems that might have arisen. 

 

Under normal conditions we would use it through the winter for weekends and days out. We used to take fairly regular trips up to Burton to see friends, very handy after a night out round the many pubs.   No visits to friends or pubs for now.

 

Why MOT the car if it's not needed for months? I'd be tempted to SORN it then get it MOTd when needed again, that is providing it isn't parked on the street.

[PoppetM 16,845]

1 hour ago, Mr Toad said:

 

Why MOT the car if it's not needed for months? I'd be tempted to SORN it then get it MOTd when needed again, that is providing it isn't parked on the street.

I have argued that point until I am blue in the face. It’s garaged and not likely that we will need it for an airport run anytime soon . 

But he is insisting on taxing it and doing the MoT...

[davebike 943]

Noco charger   I belive very good  we just started selling them

[Reckless 945]

I’ve disconnected the mustang battery as that’s garaged, the kit car battery has been removed, they get connected to the charger once a month, both showed fully charged in less than half hour yesterday, both cars on sorn. I took the nc off the road on Saturday, why pay the tax in lockdown, the batteries are still connected on all the bikes and get a dose of optimate twice a week one hour at a time.