Keeping bike batteries in good order is a fairly involved process. As any proper geek will tell you, there’s a load of things to consider, from sulphated plates to deep discharge cycles, constant current charging and reverse-charged cells. Luckily for non-geeks though, Optimate has been helping folk keep on top of this nonsense since 1994, with its range of smart chargers that take much of the effort out of maintaining your bike’s battery. Microprocessor-controlled charging routines, with pulsating charge cycles and close control of voltage and current, can prevent, and even repair, damage to lead-acid batteries which have been commonly used on bikes.
Enter this lithium-specific Optimate charger. As with all the other Optimates, it’s easy as pie to use – plug into the mains, and connect to the battery, either with the supplied croc clips, or via a permanently installed connector bolted onto the terminals (also supplied). A series of lights tells you if the connections are reversed, the state of charge of the battery, and how much current the charger is supplying.
I’ve been using it for the past four or five years, whenever I’ve been riding a bike with a lithium battery. I had a ZX-6R with a Shorai unit, and then put an Ultrabatt item on a long-term Suzuki Hayabusa test bike. The Optimate kept these in good order – indeed, the Ultrabatt battery is now powering my old Burgman 650 scooter, and has performed really well, even after four years of occasional neglect.
