Battery charger question

[Flying Fish]

I've bought and fitted this battery charger http://www.foundem.co.uk/M/bikes/Bat...imiser_600.jsp
Can I try starting the bike with this still plugged in?

[Johno]

Battery charger/tender

I've bought and fitted this battery charger http://www.foundem.co.uk/M/bikes/Bat...imiser_600.jsp
Can I try starting the bike with this still plugged in?

I wouldn't. It is designed as a charger/tender. That is charge the battery up to it's maximum and keep it there in a floating mode.

When you're ready to use the bike turn off the tender, unplug the the unit and your good to go.

It looks like you have a harness for permanent attachment to the battery for easy hook up of the tender.

If your bikes charging system is working to spec it would be putting 14 to 14.5 volts back to your battery. Therefore you don't want or need to be connected to the tender or all this current may cause some grief.

If your battery is fully charged and all else is OK you should have correct spark etc

[chuck hahn]

dont start the bike with the tender attatched to the battery. unplug it from the quick connector first. dont want to back feed the voltage from the bike into the tender..Not a good idea.

[Dave8338]

Yeah...I'm not a fan of using a charger on a bike unless (as means of starting) it is a "must do" situation. Even at that and as mentioned, if everything is working correctly, it isn't needed. Just one more way to create more work for yourself.

[bwringer]

It won't hurt the bike or the charger at all if it happens to be plugged in when you start the bike. This is a controlled charger so it will simply shut itself off when the bike's charging system takes over. (There's no such thing as a magical "voltage feedback" loop that would damage the charger.)

It also won't make any difference. This charger doesn't put out enough current to make any difference at all in starting the bike -- in other words, it won't have any boosting effect, if that's what you're after. There's no compelling reason to leave the charger hooked up, either.



But it is very good practice to remove a charger when starting a bike simply because it's much safer to have the cables out of the way whenever the bike is "live".

If there's some problem, such as a fuel leak or the bike is accidentally left in gear, you have a better chance of dealing with it without the added complication of the tangle of wires. Also, if you're using the clips to attach the charger, there's sometimes a spark when connecting and disconnecting, and there are times that spark could be most unwelcome.

[chuck hahn]

I put a Battery Companion brand maittainer on my bikes all winter. A battery just sitting there over long periods of inactivity looses charge every day. low electrolite levels coupled with low charge is what causes them to freeze or just go bad over the winter ..And yes once its riding season and the charging system is working correctly the tender isnt needed.

[bwringer]

True -- assuming your bike's charging system is working, if your battery goes flat during riding season, you're not riding enough!

Riding more solves a lot of problems...

[chuck hahn]

Brian..I also had forgot to mention that i top off the electrolites from time to time and ALWAYS at the end of the year. People tend to think of all the other "STUFF" and dont consider that the battery is an active sysytem 24/7. Evaporation and such is a big killer of batteries as well. Gotta check the levels from time to time too..

[Flying Fish]

Many thanks for the replies.
I guess as there's no reason to actually leave it plugged in while running the engine I shall disconnect before hand.
I did wonder whether it would give a bit of extra "boost" to help with cold starts.

[chuck hahn]

wont give any extra boost..its only 2 amps.. the best bet in cold weather is to keep a tender on it at all times.. The best cranking you will get comes directly from the battery strength. Now if you crank the battery real low and it hasnt fired then i grab my craftsman battery charger and put it on the 50 amp start assist setting.. that usually kicks her over. Now for another issue you may think about. When was the last time the valves have been set ( if your bike requires mechanical setting)? Out of adjustment valves will cause hard starting issues as well.

[Flying Fish]

wont give any extra boost..its only 2 amps.. the best bet in cold weather is to keep a tender on it at all times.. The best cranking you will get comes directly from the battery strength. Now if you crank the battery real low and it hasnt fired then i grab my craftsman battery charger and put it on the 50 amp start assist setting.. that usually kicks her over. Now for another issue you may think about. When was the last time the valves have been set ( if your bike requires mechanical setting)? Out of adjustment valves will cause hard starting issues as well.

Thanks for the info. Valves were done about 500 miles ago. I think I'm going to have to go through the whole bike very carefully.
When I bought it the original battery was shot, airbox wasn't secured, most of the nuts and bolts are mixed up and chewed heads, wiring looks to be non original.
I feel a multimeter going on the shopping list.....maybe a compression tester too

[chuck hahn]

did you replace the orings on the intake boots? good spot for air leak and rough running syptoms.

[Flying Fish]

did you replace the orings on the intake boots? good spot for air leak and rough running syptoms.

No I didn't. I suspect I'm going to end up with quite a long shopping list

[1948man]

Is it okay to hook up a 2 amp battery tender without disconnecting all other cables from the 2 terminals of the battery?

[bakalorz]

wont give any extra boost..its only 2 amps.. the best bet in cold weather is to keep a tender on it at all times.. The best cranking you will get comes directly from the battery strength. Now if you crank the battery real low and it hasnt fired then i grab my craftsman battery charger and put it on the 50 amp start assist setting.. that usually kicks her over. Now for another issue you may think about. When was the last time the valves have been set ( if your bike requires mechanical setting)? Out of adjustment valves will cause hard starting issues as well.

I wouldn't recommend that ... depending on the charger, the boost setting could raise the voltage enough to damage the R/R (similar to how you shouldn't get a jump from a RUNNING car)