Hi all, On the subject of trickle chargers, I need to get one and was thinking of the Optimate 3. Seems a reasonable price at around £50 off fleabay or Amazon, and they say they condition the battery , not just constantly charge it. Anyone know if they are any good. I have a normal 12v car battery charger but am worried about using that constantly on the bike. Thanks
All the Optimate products are good. However I bought one from Aldi recently for about £13 which if anything is better. Really cracking bit of kit. It's the sort that you can leave permanently connected (when not riding) and keeps batteries in tip-top shape.
I've used an optimate for years,i leave it plugged in all the time..adds years to the life of your battery
Totally agree with Dave, had 3 cheap ones from Aldi / Lidl and all of them have outlasted the 2 Optimate's I've had. 2 of them are still going strong after 4 years year round use.
I have a Aldi charger for my car but when battery ran flat on my bike my Oxford charger would not charge battery but the Aldi one did,once a I got some charge into the battery I switched to Oxford charger and have not had any problems with battery or charger since.
Had optimate a couple of years, works great. Bought after my gixxer reg/rec went and cooked the battery a wee bit !!! Managed to bring it back to life with no problems after. Wired the plug up to the America and pop it on if bike is going to be stood for a while.
I've got the Triumph one. It's a rebranded optimate. I leave it on whenever the bike is in the garage. Works without any problems.
thanks guys for the fast responses. Aldi sounds good but I don't know when they have them in stock as I don't suppose its something they carry all of the time. Think it will have to be the Optimate - will have to order one online.
I've not got any experience of Aldi's charger (I run an optimate), but if it's anything like the tools that Aldi and Lidl sell, they're usually top quality. People can be a bit sniffy about these budget supermarkets, but any of the tools I've got from them are excellent, meet TuV standards and are a fraction of the price the usual outlets sell similar items for. Keep your eyes open for Lidls ratchet combination spanners - a set in the most popular sizes was half of what Halfords were knocking them out for and I've used and abused them without a problem. The most recent offer (they might still have some in the stores) were rechargeable 10W LED worklights - I got one for the garage and it is VERY bright - like the punter blinders they used to put on in the pubs at kicking out time years ago.
Yes I agree about Aldi s have brought loads of their specials before. Problem is availability as I could do with the charger pretty quickly as the bike isn't ridden every day and I need to keep a trickle charge going into the battery. Aldi and Lidl only seem to have these things from time to time.
Just so I look as though I've got some opinions of my own.... If you wait to save £30 ish on the charger your battery could go kaput which would result in £50 + outlay so is the wait worth it??
Here's the one I use although overpricsed at what the cheap supermarkets knock them out for: Ultimate-Speed-Car-Battery-Charger
Hi huys, just a thought I have three different chargers which are plugged into my bikes when not in use. However when I had my BMW r1200s I was told that due to the bike having can-bus electrics it would have to have the relevant charger (not cheap but still going strong) I believe that the latest optimate works with can bus plus gel and lithium batteries. Don't forget life's to short to grow up, regards to all Lou
I don't know for certain but as long as you use charger with out ignition on and take off surface charge voltage you will be ok but you do need to check this with supplier of charger before purchase, Lidl and Aldi will not have this information.
