I have a 939SP that is always connected to a ctek charger when not in use. Came to use is this morning and the red warning light is on and the bike won't start. Is the battery a regular lead acid or is it a gel filled or other new technology? I ask because I started it with my booster pack, rode it 15 miles and it's still dead flat and I need to charge it
How old is the battery, optimates shouldn't be connected all the time as they burn out batteries. Not that a c-tek is the same brand but once a fortnight connected for 4-6 hours should be plenty.
You should have no problem setting this battery charger and leaving it for months on end, unattended. The CTEK Battery Chargers work very differently than the old, traditional battery tenders. The old tenders used a trickle charge. Basically they constantly applied a little bit of power. This wastes electricity and can lead to some lead acid batteries overflowing, which is a big problem. The CTEKs do not trickle. Instead they detect that the battery has lost some charge. Then the charger kicks on, tops off the battery charge, then kicks over. Not a constant trickle like the old style tenders. The CTEKs internal circuitry also detects over-heating and shorts, and in the event of those, it would shut itself off to prevent fires or electrical damage. These charges are very popular among car collectors that have antique or high end cars that spend most of their time in a garage. They hook the charger up to the car and let it sit. That way on those particularly nice days, or special occasions their treasured car fires right up and the battery is kept in good condition.
Sounds like a dead battery. Have you checked the batt voltage when running to make sure the charging system on the bike is good? Your CTEK might be faulty as this shouldn't happen as you've said above.
Charging is good when its running. I charged the bike up at work with a regular battery charger. I'll see how it goes for the next few days and I'll try the ctek on another battery. I did have my sat nav on the bike and I'm thinking it might have been in sleep rather than shut down fully although the ctek should be ok with alarms etc.
Never used a ctek (optimate for me) but as GunZemBomZ said i only keep mine on a short top up every now and again..
I mentioned the charging issue when using a ctek to the service manager when it went in for its annual service. He just turned his nose up at the fact I was using a ctek.
