I have one optimate that i use on one bike for 3 weeks then the other, again for 3 weeks and so on, Optimate always shows fully charged, green light and maintains charge, I noticed in January this year when the fairings came off that the battery fluid was half full and below the level so top up and charged as normal rotation, " not used the bike" easter weekend had a look and battery was empty so top up and charged. Went out this morning " full fluid" and started fine as normal, meet a mate stopped for fuel bit slow to restart, a tea break again slow start and again later on, Battery test, 12,5 Ignition on drops to 12,3 Start up quick drop to 10,6 Then climbs back up slowly From those readings a new battery is needed ? also is the optimate faulty ??? but shows good charging as what else is making the fluid evaporate over a period of time and damaged the battery as i don't check the levels from one charge to the next. Battery is 6 years old
I’d say you need a new battery now. When you topped up was it with distilled water or battery acid? If just the former then after filling 1/2 of it with water and then completely filling it with water I’d say your electrolytes within the battery are now too weak for the battery to function correctly. Re the battery level depleting whilst on charge, this sounds to me like the Optimate is just charging away, ie not going into its maintenance phase, and thus boiling off the acid. This could be a fault with the Optimate or with the battery. If the same Optimate is not causing any issues on the other bikes then I’d suspect the battery. Either way, it’s new battery time but then keep a close eye on how it responds to the Optimate going forwards, just in case it is the Optimate that’s at fault.
I used De ionised water, fingers crossed its the battery but will keep a good eye on the optimate or get another one.
Didn't know until you mentioned battery acid, i just thought it was always deionised water, New battery charged and fitted Now the next thing is the optimate 4 is it over charging and scrap? i could put the old battery on charge for a few weeks and see if the fluid gets hot and evaporates but could it be as mentioned the battery is knackered and doing it its self.
didn`t realise you could still get batteries for bikes that you top up. thought they were maintenance free agm. what make was the old one?
Have you got a voltmeter (or multimeter)? When charging, the voltage at the battery will be higher than when it's 'idle' (maintaining) so if it's always high, summat's up.
Thanks for the tip Keith I have a multimeter and will put it on the optimate and keep an eye on it to check when its in charging and maintaining mode,
If it’s a small amount being topped up, say between the min & max lines then deionised water is what you use. You mentioned you had to half fill yours and then almost completely fill it, for that amount you should try and get hold of some battery acid and use that. Adding that much water just dilutes the acid beyond the level required for the battery to function. When testing the Optimate measure the amp output as well as the volts, too many amps is just as bad as too many volts; just remember that to measure amps you connect the multimeter in series but to measure volts you connect it in parallel.
Been trying Keith’s suggestion, Old battery has been on charge for around 14 hrs and been checking. When charging its 13.42 consistent Maintaining 13.10 13.11 13.14 Charging is a bit higher but is that to high for maintaining
My Optimate4 is Maintaining at 13.1V on the Beemer and my low-tech 'Ducati' maintainer is at 13.2V on the Hypermotard. Of course, as neither is actively charging at present, those must be my true battery voltages until a maintenance trickle cuts in. I propose that the 13.42V charging voltage is what your battery needs to get the necessary charging current through it for however long it took to make the Optimate happy. Next time I catch them actually charging I'll measure again...
The 'Ducati' maintainer is in charging mode (after a 2hr ride earlier) and after about 30mins it's at 14.4V - it always sets itself on 'charging mode for around 24hrs unlike the much-smarter Optimate. I started the bike a few times when I got home (troubleshooting) so I expect it was a bit down before putting on charge/maintain, hence the high charge voltage now, I reckon. Hmm, need a bloody datalogger!
