IXXRA......The Home Of The Superblackbird

by **Hawk** » Wed Oct 15, 2003 5:13 pm

Which is the kiddie to have??, I'm being asked what I want for xmas, and seeing as a Swedish nympho that can't say no is not on that list I'll be happy with a trickle charger.

Best place to buy it too please, unless one of you has a spare 1 for sale?

by **BirdAddict** » Wed Oct 15, 2003 6:18 pm

Get yourself that garage I told you about first. I use the optimate.
The one with the smallest trickle charge you can find is the better. You don't want to fry the battery but want to charge it very slowly.
I paid around Â£40/45 for mine and it's brilliant.

by **bezzer** » Wed Oct 15, 2003 9:40 pm

Optimate for me as well, can't remember how much but it was on offer at the NEC last year on the last day so saved a few quid.

by **Hawk** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 6:44 am

they're on e bay for about Â£35, so thats a good price then.

My friend KA is gonna lend me his garage.

by **Ladybird** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 6:47 am

Optimate here too - stick it on and forget about it !

by **Chrixx** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 7:57 am

I am a long way from home for long periods at a time.
I have used an Optimate for about 3 years with good results.
Last month I bought an Accumate to care for the battery on my son's Bandit 1200 (Sorry guys) as he has gone to India for about 5 months to find the meaning of life or something so it will be a good test. The Accumate has also the 6 volt setting for my old Brit bikes.
I will report back through the Product Evaluation "Survey" thread later.
The Accumate was 44 pounds from Byke Bitz in the south.[/b]

by **XXAndy** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 10:00 am

Optimate here too, although with the milage I do I havent really had to use it in anger. I pop it on when going away on hols or away for work just to make sure its nicely charged up for my return.
Someone once told me you are not supposed to 'jump start' motorbikes (were they talking bollox), cos I 'jumped' my bb a couple of times before I got the optimate thingy.

by **TazCBR1100XX** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 10:08 am

XXAndy wrote:Someone once told me you are not supposed to 'jump start' motorbikes (were they talking bollox), cos I 'jumped' my bb a couple of times before I got the optimate thingy.

Well, if that's correct, then perhaps that 'Someone' should have enlightened us as to how we get the fooker going when it goes flat in the middle of fookin nowhere

by **Chrixx** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 10:25 am

Its my understanding the if you try to jump-start a bike from a car, whos engine is running, it is possible to suject your bike battery to an "excessive" charge rate.
As you will know, the recommended recharge rate for the tiny sealed batteries we have to use is relatively low. To recharge a low battery using the bike's system does take time but is safer, if of course, you can get the engine running in the first place. "Bump Starting" a Blackbird is not that simple alone, it is better and safer with a "pusher" (Wife?):bigcry:

The Optimate is a worthwhile tool.

by **Shuggie** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 11:06 pm

Oxford Oximiser for me, similar to the Optimate and does exactly what it says on the box.
Never a prob with it . Bought for Â£29.99 from Infinity Luverlyjubbily

by **TazCBR1100XX** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 11:34 pm

Chrixx wrote:Its my understanding the if you try to jump-start a bike from a car, whos engine is running, it is possible to suject your bike battery to an "excessive" charge rate.
As you will know, the recommended recharge rate for the tiny sealed batteries we have to use is relatively low. To recharge a low battery using the bike's system does take time but is safer, if of course, you can get the engine running in the first place. "Bump Starting" a Blackbird is not that simple alone, it is better and safer with a "pusher" (Wife?):bigcry:

The Optimate is a worthwhile tool.

But if I got a choice between Jump starting the Bird cuz I'm stuck in the fookin middle of nowhere with a flat battery and nowhere to plug the fookin Optimate into, or walking 25 miles to the nearest electric socket with my battery in hand, I'm going to walk 25 miles to the nearest electric socket with my battery in hand aren't I :banghead)

Hmmm - think I'm likely to risk frying the battery :mrgreen:

by **numb bits** » Fri Oct 17, 2003 6:15 pm

YOU will do no damage at all jumping from a car quite the opposite the extra kick will help starting, and it aint on long enough to put any real charge into your bike battery.We offten jump stearted flooded cars in the winter with 24 volts turns the engine over faster,giving it a good kick in the arse.thus starting. lol

by **Shuggie** » Fri Oct 17, 2003 7:50 pm

Should stick the same leads on your ar*se then Numbie, that'll motivate you for Saturday

by **Trident** » Fri Oct 17, 2003 8:35 pm

As a rule of thumb, the maximum charge rate to a battery should never exceed one quarter of the capacity of the battery. If you have a 40 A/H battery then the max charge rate would be 10A.

This maximum charge rate should only be applied for a carefully monitored period which will be dependent on the battery and then a float charge should be applied which again will not only be dependent on the battery but temperature as well. If the correct float charge is applied, this can be maintained indefinitely.

The higher the charge rate, the greater the risk of heating the battery and the one thing that really causes batteries problems is heat. Excessive charge rates will be brought about by application of high voltages and this will also cause an excessive amount of gas to be produced within the battery. You can also accelerate corrosion to the positive electrodes within the battery which will reduce the batteries life. In some instances if a high charge is left on too long, thermal runaway occurs and the battery will distort or explode.

If you do need to jump the bike from a car, leave the engine off on the car. This will reduce the voltage applied to the dead bike battery and will threfore help to reduce the charging current. Start the bike in the normal fashion and as soon as the bike has started remove the jump leads from the battery with care. This reduces the risk to the bikes battery and the charging circuit. If the bike dies as you remove the jump leads, repeat the process but leave the two batteries connected for a little longer before disconnection. As Numbbits mentioned, the very short time you are likely to be doing this will do little harm. In any case, even if you do slightly reduce the batteries life, it's a lot better than leaving your 'bird at the side of the road and walking home or paying for a recovery.

I would NEVER use a 24V boost system to start a bike. The relatively small battery of a bike cannot sink/dissipate the extra energy when 24V is applied and there is a really serious risk of trashing the electronic components on the bike. If the battery has failed open circuit you will almost be guaranteed of destroying your electronics.

by **Hawk** » Fri Oct 17, 2003 8:50 pm

Okay Trident so what are you saying then mate.

Optimate is good? or optimate is bad? :mrgreen:

by **BirdAddict** » Fri Oct 17, 2003 8:52 pm

Good, as it uses a small charge to charge the battery , then a small floating charge to maintain it.

by **Trident** » Fri Oct 17, 2003 9:17 pm

Good Hawk.

Small charge, virtually no heating

or gassing and everyone stays happy :-)

by **TazCBR1100XX** » Sat Oct 18, 2003 9:18 am

You'll find that on UK Merchant ships the batteries for the Emergency Power systems which operate the radio's are charged in this way. However, due to the high importance placed on the emergency backup systems (this is the kit that sends SOS in the event of a life threatening emergency) they are checked and maintained rigourously with the SG reading of every cell being taken and recorded at regular intervals. It's a very expensive type of Optimate, so my opinion is that the Optimate or similar is GOOD for your battery - someone going to buy me one for crimbo then

by **Hawk** » Sat Oct 18, 2003 10:29 am

As always very helpful people.

Cheers.

by **Bristle Hound** » Sun Oct 19, 2003 10:46 pm

Optimate for me Hawk ! :thumbsup)

Been using 1 for about 2 years now - Excellent bit of kit !
Got mine from Tillo's for Â£20 :mrgreen:

by **Hawk** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 5:20 am

Nice tits, where's tillo's---and if thats tilsons oop norf can "the doors" get me one for that price??

by **Bristle Hound** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 9:29 pm

Hawk wrote:Nice tits, where's tillo's---and if thats tilsons oop norf can "the doors" get me one for that price??

I'm going in there next week Hawk - I'll see what I can do mate ! :thumbsup)

by **Hawk** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 5:19 am

Cool.

They are some big tits there, what would you do with them? kick em abart a bit? :mrgreen:

by **bezzer** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 11:26 am

Check out shop window BH and Hawk looks like Chef has already got one for you

by **Hawk** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 12:03 pm

Yo,

GEORGIE DOORS HAS GOT IT FOR ME.

Thanks for helping out guys, now why can't we get them for that price darn sarf??

Coz we're considerabbbly more richer than yow??

NOT

IXXRA......The Home Of The Superblackbird

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