Realise I’m gonna look like a dumbass for asking this but returned to biking last year with a 1098S and simply forgot to buy a battery charger. Now I need one and I cannot find a definitive answer online as to exactly what I need and how to connect it. I have a stock 1098S apart from Termis and a slipper clutch. So what do I buy and exactly how do I connected to the battery without having to remove the fairing? Be kind, I know it’s a dumb question but the last bike I had was ridden every day and to be honest I never bothered buying a charger for it.
yep its a dumb question my friend,,but Optimate are the best chargers out there but you will have to connect a fly lead to the battery terminals that means fairing off,,good luck
Once you have a permanently attached fly lead on the batter terminals, it's easy to hide the connector end somewhere. Then you can just plug the connector from the charger without having to remove the fairings again. Doddle.
Great thanks guys, figured that was it but wanted to be sure. Never had this problem with the VFR! Vulcan dude eh?
Attach the fly lead that comes with your Optimate like the pic below (not an Optimate lead, but a C-Tek for my LiPo charger) When the bodywork is fitted, it's easily accessible to plug your lead in through the fairing vent.
Thanks guys, Oximiser 900 bought (came with fly leads), fairing off & happily charging away. Even got £10 off at Halfords because someone had torn open the box.
Bought a couple of these after last season as I left getting a couple more until last minute... Wanted Optimate 4's but couldn't find any locally so went to halfords and used my discount card on a couple of these. They don't feel the same quality as the optimates but they have done the job over winter... Popped in to the garage today to check on them and both were showing 12.6V so happy days. I must admit, I do like having the display on them rather than just the status lights on the optimate. Hopefully they'll continue performing well
If you were a Ducati forum subscriber there is a way to get a trade Halford discount card. I don't want to post how you do this as there is a separate thread and HWMBO (see below) gets very techy about anyone posting about it!
The terminal voltage isn't a very good indicator of condition or capacity, hence a Green LED is just as good. A good battery tender and a decent battery drop tester* are all the tools you need for a reliable sealed battery. *Purchased another one of these for about £12 from flea bay the other day (I've no idea where the other one got to). Heavy Duty 6V&12V 100Amp Car Van Auto Battery Load Drop & Charging System Tester http://r.ebay.com/8f2qVu When doing a drop test.... Do it once only with a stop watch, after the battery has been disconnected/off from its charging source for at least an hour (preferably over night). Make sure you read the right scale and it stays in the Green (above 11.5v) for the given capacity for the allotted time, normally 10 seconds. You cannot make a second sensible test.... As the "Test" heats up the drop tester and battery, giving an inaccurate second result. Further the battery would have reduced capacity from the first test.
I spy a Yorkshire battery lead.. Don't use Optimisers myself. I was told by a well known Ducati specialist mechanic that your battery is better off with a conventional charger used at intervals. I give my bikes a regular trickle charge about once a month. Don't know if you can do that via a fly lead. I bought an Oxford Oximiser a few years ago and I don't think its ever worked properly. The lights never change and I've no idea what charge its giving, if any. If you're going the Optimiser route I'd buy the real thing.
The fly lead is from my C-Tek charger (on the right here) for the one Lithium battery I use on the 1098R. The rest of the bikes are on Optimates for regular lead acid batteries and I leave them connected when not using the bikes. In 10 years of using them, I've never had a battery fail. The only battery failure I had was when I left a bike unplugged for a couple of months with an alarm. It flattened the battery which couldn't be recovered.
The Ducati specialist should have given you a reason for his distrust of optimisers; did he? The only logical one i can think of would be that mains spikes could make their way into the bikes electrics if the bike is connected to the battery (all the time you ain't on it). If that is a genuine worry (possibly, but not convinced*) then battery removal (total disconnection) and charge would make sense. On many bikes (749, MTS1200 etc) that's a complete pain due to access and reprogramming respectively. Optimise 4 onwards gives the battery a good work out and is recommended by me. The oxford units I've had all failed, some spectacularly. I don't like that brand. That batch of ten units I purchased recently from LIDL vary tremendously, unit to unit, by 0.6V in the charge voltage... so OK, but not brilliant. Not bad for a fifth of the price of an optimate, but you have to balance that against the price of the Ducati electrics. *I always disconnect as much as possible in the house during a lightening storm. Over the years I lost a freezer, House alarm PCB with external sounder and a TV.
