Hi, I have a 2024 SpeedTwin 1200 and on it's first yearly service it had to have the battery changed under warranty. It was starting to lose settings etc., when started up. I don't ride in the depths of salt covered winter, but do try and ride as much as I can, and when not in use I was putting it on a trickle charger around once a week for a few hours. However, my Optimate trickle charger must be 30 years old now, is it still suitable for modern batteries? I do the same on my 2013 Bonnie 865 and get 5 or 6 years out of a battery on that. Cheers
@TonyG I use the optimate don't know how long I have had it but a fair few years now and it still works fine. Just looing a for a bit of wood to touch now
The idea of a trickle charger is to keep it connected at all times the bike is laid up and just disconnected while the bike is in use obviously as it conditions the battery as well as keeping the charge at maximum for easy starting as with some of the larger capacity machines need at least 14 volts to turn over quick enough to help firing big v twins are the main culprits here as owned a couple have first hand experience of this fact I have had my firestorm which has been permanently on an optimate for the last five years without any issues also a fact to mention is when the battery is up to maximum it takes no more than a phone charger to supply unlike if it has to put charge in after not being on charge for a while rather like an immersion heater it's cheaper to run if on permanently as it isn't heating water from cold all the time
Thanks for the replies. So, being 30+ years old doesn't matter, should just leave it charging continuously.
I would say as long as it is a battery maintainer and not a charger then you're all good. I've got a Datatool one from 20 years ago that I still use.
My optimate is around 15 years old and still doing it's job but there are some alternatives out there that you can have from around £15 upwards the Oxford oximiser depending on the model can be had for around £30 which is still around half the price of a decent battery
When I bought my Ducati in 01 I also bought an Optimate 3. The bike was connected to it all the time when not being ridden and the OE battery lasted until 2010 which I thought was good going Reviewing the space that the battery/fuse board take under the tank I was able to go for an 18 amp/hour Odyssey AGM battery (OE is 12 amp/hour) which is again on the Optimate all the time it’s not on the road. This battery is still giving sterling service which I am amazed at. Regarding Optimates my original ceased to show a power on light in 2020 so I replaced it with an Optimate 4 because it will charge at 1 amp if needed. However it turns out that it is a faulty LED indicator lamp and the thing is still working on my son’s machine. Now that I have the Striple as well I bought a Triumph branded Optimate that will do Lithium and lead acid batteries. Optimate is definitely the way to go in my opinion.
The one thing i need to add is people replace their batteries and put a new battery straight into their machines which is not the way to go. A battery may have sat on a shelf for months and inevitably has dropped in charge. I always tickle charge any new battery to full before fitting as the bike registers the battery charge and will only ever charge back to that level.
I don’t see the difference between bench charging a battery or charging it on the bike. The bike’s battery charging regime is controlled by the regulator which uses battery voltage to determine when to stop. The bike has no way of remembering a battery voltage after disconnecting.
If a battery isn't conditioned properly before use as with mobile phones etc they will not except full charge so the way to go is making sure it's fully charged before use allowed to run right down then fully charge again to allow a complete charge cycle to be achieved each time the battery is charged it's a bit different with a vehicle battery as it should never fully discharge if the electrical system is fully functional but it still needs a full charge to except full top up each time
Pretty rubbish that my 2024 SpeedTwin battery died after 1 year, although it was replaced with no questions under warranty. Still think that putting it on an old Optimate trickle charger, albeit only for 5 or 6 hours a week should have been enough to keep it serviceable.
I agree with the comments from others regarding connecting the bike to an Optimate (or similar battery maintainer) when not in use. My Speed Twin 1200, Goldwing and car are all permanently connected and I never have a problem starting and Ive experienced no battery failures. I don't use my car very often, it could sit a few weeks between use and last winter I noticed it was getting harder to start due to low battery voltage. I purchased a new Optimate (6 or 7 I think) which has fully recovered the battery. A new battery is £200 to £300 so a good investment.
A normal charger may have done what you wanted to achieve but an optimate as stated is a trickle charger which doesn't throw the same ampage as a normal charger thus maintaining and desulfurization at the same time benefits including amount of electricity usage making it much more economical to run plus on older batteries you would notice them getting warm when on charge conventionally and in some cases the caps need to be loosened for gases to escape this doesn't happen with the likes of optimates etc hope this helps
My Speedmaster usually sits unused in the depths of winter here, mid-January to mid-February. Sometimes longer if the weather is really crappy. I put a pigtail on the battery so it's easy to plug the trickle charger in for those few weeks. It's nothing fancy, just a small charger about the size of a cigarette pack. However, the bike is a 2018 model year that I bought as a leftover in 2020. That same battery has been in it since 2018 or maybe longer, depending on when the bike was put together. So, it's at least seven years old, but still going strong, no signs of weakness. My aux lights are hot wired to the battery with a switch. On a couple occasions I have come out after a stop and forgotten to switch off those lights (duh!), once for over 90 minutes. I came out, fingers crossed, but she kicked right over. All that being said, in the saddlebags carry a set of motorcycle jumper cables and a small battery booster pack that I check periodically to assure it is charged. One of the things that EFI has taken from us is the ability to get a running start, hop on and pop the clutch to get her going. I also miss kick starters. Why couldn't manufacturers have just left them on as backup?
!!! I did not know that! Thank you! I assumed that because the fuel pump was not being activated due to the dead battery that no fuel would be delivered, and the bike wouldn't start. After some interweb research I found that most agree that there has to be SOME power left in the battery to activate the fuel pump. If the battery is completely dead, the fuel pump would not deliver fuel to start the bike. So, it CAN work, but it's not a lock. You can teach an old dog new tricks!
I wouldn't be trying to bump start any new bike they are all too heavy and high maybe with a Bonneville or the likes that is low enough to get your leg over in a rush but there is no way I could run with my Tiger and hop on to start it I know what some are going to say about finding a big hill to roll down but to get to the top of said hill you have to push the bike up that hill one way or another and that's just not happening
You don’t have to get your leg over the bike during a bump start exercise. If you look at old video clips showing the start of motorcycle races you will see that all bikes and outfits started with dead engines, even the TT. The technique for a solo was to stand on the left hand side of the machine, clutch in, second gear engaged, fuel taps on, ignition on. At the drop of the flag run like hell and at the appropriate speed (learnt through much practice) leap onto the machine landing on right bum cheek, both legs still on the left hand side of the machine. At the same moment of landing on the bike you drop the clutch. This added momentum assisted in overcoming compression and spinning the motor into life. As soon as the motor caught you were underway in second gear. Only at this time did you straighten your left leg and swing your right leg over the bike.
Good luck off you go then I still stand by the weight and height of most bikes make that slightly awkward
