Is it best to plug the bike into the Optimate and leave it to next March or use it once or twice month for a few days or if it gets really cold. When I had a Harley I used to leave it on all winter but it did have an alarm, the mutistrada does not.
Richard, use it every couple of weeks for a few hours. The battery will last much longer (>5 years) if you don't keep it permanently connected as it does not need to be fully/overcharged all the time. Use the optimate more often if the bike is kept in an unheated garage when not in use through the frosty weather. If your battery has to be kept on the optimate all the time to keep the bike running then it is on its last legs. A rule of thumb is it should not need the optimate if it is holding 12.7v or more across the terminals for a few days through the cold weather, if it drops to 12.6v or below charge it for few hours or overnight. For more info have a loom at this http://www.yuasaeurope.com/images/uploads/uk/downloads/LRBOB-pdf.zip
Always leave mine on over winter. It has never been a problem. My Aprilia RSV R battery had been used this way for 4 years before I sold the bike and it was still good then.
question is there any advantage using canbus charging method, or the conventional white block straight of the battery
I charge mine every few weeks or so through winter. They really should not need to be on charge all the time. The problem with keeping them on charge all the time is you wont know that your battery is fooked until you take the bike for a ride somewhere and it refuses to start, most likely in the middle of nowhere just as it starts to rain.:biggrin: Its best to know the battery is on is last legs when leaving home, not when leaving for home.
My understanding on how the optimate works is that it monitors the battery, when the voltage in the battery drops the charger kicks in charges the battery then goes back to sleep till the next monitor schedule is due, so if you leave it plugged in all winter it is NOT constantly trickling a charge in to the battery. I will be leaving mine plugged in all winter.
Thought we were talking optimate chargers !! Phil, none of my current bikes have lithium batteries not sure about my next bike
Leave mine on all the time. However as ive not been using the 916 I disconnected the battery completely. The 1198 is always on the trickle as soon as i put her in the garage.
All the time for me, Optimates are designed to be used this way, plug it in and forget about it. If you are going to charge it every few weeks, you may as well have a regular charger. I revently sold my MV Agusta F4 after 6 years of ownership. It was always plugged into an Optimate and had the same battery on it the day I sold it, as the day I bought it.
