Finally got the bike out of the shed after 7 months. Has been on a trickle charger and covered up. On first turning the key - nothing happened. no lights, no horn. on the 50th try the fuel pump primed - still no lights on dash - nothing on the starter button. Oxford optimiser says battery is fully charged. I checked the fuses - all ok. it did prime once and after a minute of taking the key out the red immobiliser LED top right of the dash is flashing - as it normally does. Any Ideas ?
thanks for your reply, even when I had dud batteries in the past - it still light up the dash - just didn't crank. And it primed the fuel pump once...
12.4V Resting - as soon as the key is turned it drops down to 0.5V Could the battery have died over the winter even with the oxford trickle charger connected and saying its fully charged ? whilst playing with the multimeter - it shot from 0.5V to 12V and the pump primed again - then dropped down to 0.5V again
i believe theres a argument that the optimisers are not great for the battery, damned if you do damned if you don't,cos leaving them standing drains it too, i leave mine on permanently but ride at least every two weeks, but any time i know its gonna die
I usually connect a trickle charger a day or so a month over layup periods and the agm batteries seem to last longer
Never had a problem over 20 years with bikes being on trickle chargers for 6 months+ this battery was at least 6 years old. Got a new YTX14H on order
As a mater of interest I just got my SP3 back from a belt service at a "well-respected indie" in Norfolk. He said that no way would he recommend keeping a battery attached to an Optimate or similar for weeks/months at a time. A few hours now and then is quite sufficient. My battery was knackered (and leaking!) so he could have a point. On the other hand I asked Optimate a while ago and they said it's fine to leave them connected 24/7, it's what they're designed for. But they would say that wouldn't they!
