Battery Maintenance

IMO, battery maintenance is key to a long lasting battery life. I’ve had some experience with batteries of various make-ups from simple alkaline, NiCad, NiMh, LiPoly, lead acid AGM, wet lead acid, etc. Until I got into R/C airplanes and helis, I’d be killing batteries such as NiCad’s and NiMh’s. My cordless drills out of the box performed like it was on steroids until eventually Viagra couldn’t kick start it. Then while immersed in the R/C hobby, I discovered the smart chargers. These are the kinds that monitor voltage and control current accordingly and because of their charging characteristics will rest assured provide the proper charging and maintenance of your battery which results in a longer life cycle of it. There are other variations of this charge cycle but the point is these charges are not the kind you buy at the automotive store that you plug into your battery and walk away for a few days. What happens with those types of chargers is they destroy batteries if given the chance. Now that winter has arrived and the battery is out of the bike, it needs attention while it sits on the shelf for 5 months or so. The simplest is to top charge the battery once a month to maintain a level of voltage as a sitting battery can discharge doing nothing. This doing nothing period could drop the voltage level in the battery to a point of no recovery thus destroying a perfectly good battery. I prefer not to baby sit my battery so while visiting my MC shop, I came across the CTECH smart charger. I like this one because it will start off charging the battery, if required and then move to maintenance mode afterwards to keep the battery charged like a battery tender. I’m thinking I can leave this thing on all winter and come spring, unplug it and slip it back into the bike and ride. This charger is a little pricey, but the dealership told me a new battery was over a $150, so I decided on this route. CTECh has an informative website to gleem information on battery charging.

The smartest battery chargers in the world, by CTEK Power INC.

The charger I got will also do other lead based batteries as well. What does everyone else use for a charger?

The Schumacher smart charger. 25$ @ your local walmart is what I use.

what model ctek did you buy

mikenbern said:

what model ctek did you buy

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I bought the MULTI US 3300 which can be used for everything from my bike, lawnmower, R/C field box, upto to my cagers. The other nice thing about this one is you can buy additional connection leads. They have weather-proof rubber caps over the plug. I intend to permanently wire the connection lead in the bike this spring so I can keep the battery on maintenance whenever without lifting the tank to get to the battery terminals. Also, it came with a set of connection clamps for doing the cagers.


Accessories

My dealership was also selling the US 800 charger as well for a cheaper price. It's limited in its output current so not recommend for cagers but still great for bikes. :thumbup:

I just discovered and bought a smart charger the other day as well...

I use a tender on the Harley and nothing on the FZ6. The battery is now 3 years 5 months old and it has never skipped a beat. If you are replacing the battery on an FZ6 I would highly recommend not going with the standard battery and upgrading to a Military Spec Dry Cell. Odyssey makes a dry cell that you will not kill and I wouldn't care if it got 50 below zero. They have a 12 year shelf life and go for about $130.00 USD....

i use the optimate 3 sp, seems to do the job

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