hi newbie with question

I use the optimate but sometimes I think it ruins the battery.
The battery NEEDS to be worked and the optimate puts only around 3 amps in .
Imay be wrong........................ I have quite a few dead battery`s lined up outside.

Its less than that mate,...the Optimate charges the battery at a constant 0.6 amps.Clever bit of kit tho,.....it charges the battery untill it reaches 14.5v,then goes into a kind of test mode where the battery voltage is monitored at 13.5v.Any volt drop detected over half an hour makes the charger come on again.

Optimates on sale at George

Optimate chargers on sale at George White Super Bikes of Swindon for £20 ... fookin A+ place for all sorts of clothes too by the way

The echarged battery wid blow yer bike to smithereens. Gotta look out fir them mucker.

Aldo as helpful as ever.....!

If you take the battery out, then charge it and put it back on in the spring everything will be fine as far as I am aware. The bike will revert back to km/h and the shift light to 6k rpm. That's what happened to my Gen1 anyway, I presume Gen2s are the same?

Not sure with batterys if you have to keep them trickle charged over winter though, leaving them alone would be ok surely?

Mine never reverts tae factory settings.. Guess I'm just lucky.

To continue the winter lay-up theme.

Does starting a stone cold bike ... to run until working temp achieved ... and then stopped and left to chill again risk condensation in the T's guts or electrics?

Mmmmm, wouldn't have thought so. But I wouldn't do it often. If the bikes on an optimiser it'll be ok for a long time. Mine have all been kept outside in a carport over winter, sometimes left for weeks and never had an issue.

Bruce - yes it's in the manual. Think it's hold A for 5 secs then press B on my Gen1.

need to get it on an optimate, as keith says, plug under the rear seat. When not riding it for a bit just simply plug her in and let the machine look after your battery.

newelly said:

To continue the winter lay-up theme.

Does starting a stone cold bike ... to run until working temp achieved ... and then stopped and left to chill again risk condensation in the T's guts or electrics?

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You may get a very small amount of condensation forming,especially if your garage is a fridge like mine.Nowt to worry about tho.Probably get the most condensation in the exhausts.
The T has a dry sump so you dont get the condensation issues that some other bikes suffer from.Air/oil cooled Ducati's suffer badly with condensation in the motor.The water can turn the oil into a horrible milky mess.
Personally,I think this 'starting up every two weeks' is a load of old bollox.Lets face it,many bikes sit in dealers showrooms for months on end without being fired up.

Your right Keith.
Bikes and cars sit outside in yards car parks and the like for months.
The best thing to do if lying up for some time is to take battery off and put it on the optimate charger.
DONT keep starting the bike running and revving the goolies of it to warm it up.
Leave it till a week before you need it then fit battery and start.
This gives you time then to re-place battery if needed.
Start bike and idle for a little while get on it and ride.
All the damage is done on start up, as this time is crucial cos that’s when the engine is deprived of oil.
As long as you have changed the oil regularly have semi synthetic oil in that’s the best you can do.
Buy a cheap volt meter this will aid in checking the voltage.
With ignition on, volts should be over 12V then start and check voltage and watch it drop. The chances are below 11volts it will not start just click away.
12 volt batteries when fully charged will be in excess of 13-14.5volts.
To give you some idea, put your volt meter on your car battery read volts, start car watch volts shoot up to 13-14.5v plus.

windymiller said:

Hi bruce, ive got mine sat on a datatool charger,same as an optimate just a different brand, there have been quite a few post's regarding charging issues, there are quite a few of us on here run our bikes on 14volt batts, i think they were original equipment on caponord's, i might be wrong. since i put the bigger battery on mine its been fine, when trying to start my gen 1 on the 12v bat it would only show 9.5 volts when turning the bike over. no wonder it didnt want to go..

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Did'nt think you could get 14v batteries, the standard battery is rated at 12 A/Hr but people put 14 A/Hr in, the extra capacity cannot do any harm.
The smart chargers charge at a constant current untill the battery reaches the "gassing voltage" about 2.4volts per cell then reduces current to maintain voltage below 2.4v then stops the charge, it will then give refreshing charges when it detects the battery drops below a certain level.

C-Tech chargers arnt bad and very easy to yous , theys have got a deal on them at the minit .http://www.nippynormans.com/CTEK-charger-for-BMW-motorcycles/productinfo/CTK-NIPPY/

Iff you havent got a trickle charger ,but have got a normal like car charger , you can do this to keep your batry werking , take it off the bike charge it up , then take a Damp rag like an old T'shirt , it has got to be damp ,wet it and ring it out , then lay it acrost the terminals , drop it on for obveyes reasons , uther whise it will make you jump :yes .

and just leave it for a munth this will slowley decharge your batry ,then after a munth put it back on charge agayn till charged up ,and do the same thing agayn , this stops Salvacion and the plates from carodeing across to each uther,and keeps the batry werking and in good helth .

this is what batry optimizers do they dont just charge the batry they drane and charge the batry .

Never herd of eney complaints with the C-tech chargers ,but have herd all sorts of things going rong with optimates .

As some one ells sed I persaneley dont yous one all the time , and never over the summer munths , they onley time I yous one is wen the bike will be layd up for moor than two weeks at a time , then I just charge it up then then unplug it again and just let the Imoberlizer drayn it down agayn , befor puting it back on the charger ,this way I get allmost up to 3,1/2 years yous out of a batry compaird to uthers I knoe who have them continyuasley on an optymate and need a new batry evry two years !! .:thumbup

Freestyler, not sure that discharging an automotive battery is a good idea. a bike battery is really only used to turn over the engine,after that the alternator should then replace the charge taken to start & then the regulator keeps the alternator from over charging,thats why you should never see more than 14.5 volts at the battery no matter what RPM the bike is running at, A discharged battery is prone to sulphation,that is a layer of sulphate coating the negative plates,this reduces the battery capacity and shortens battery life, Motive power batteries e.g ones found on fork lift truck & milk floats, on the other hand are designed to be discharged but only to 80% of the rated capacity & they also should be recharged as soon as possable to prevent sulphation.I think that keeping the the battery fully charged is the best option.

bruces said:

mine has reverted to km's is it easy to change back?

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hey up bruces, i take it you have the bike running now? just a quick heads up..... one thing to watch out for on the tuono is the big brown connectors can burn out in the wireing loom and can cause all sorts of mischief before failing totaly. do a thread search on here or af1 for info.

Hey Bruce,cool name by the way!!!!
Your battery should produce around 11.8 volts on a meter and around 14.5 when the bike is running.If your battery is showing less than this after a charge it it probably knackered.If it is not a sealed battery check it has plenty acid in it up to the required level mark.If it is sealed it will be a bucket job.They sell on e-bay for around £35.A good investment also is an Oxford Optimiser trickle charger which keeps your battery in top charge over the winter months.Just plug in and forget .
Good luck.
Bruce.