❙ BATTERY MAINTENANCE
Want to know how best to look after and maintain your bike’s battery? Look no further.
Optimate help us with what to do.
Covid-19 has meant many of us are riding fewer miles, so bikes are laid up for longer: batteries lose power over time, so what should we do?
Step 1: Identify your bike battery! Lead Acid
Lead Acid batteries will be labelled with reference numbers starting with the letters YB, CB or GB (e.g. YB14L-A2); Y, C or G (e.g. Y60-N24L-A); or 12N (e.g 12N243). They often have a white/opaque plastic lower casing and a black top, which contains a row of plastic stoppers (three stoppers in a 6-volt battery and six in a 12-volt), through which the electrolyte mixture inside can be topped up with distilled water.
Maintenance Free / AGM
Maintenance Free or AGM (Absorbed Glass Mat) batteries are the most common type used in modern bikes, and have reference numbers starting with YTX, CTX or GTX (e.g. YTX9-BS). Usually they have a black case and have a stopper sunk into the top. Once filled, they do not need to have the top removed or the acid level checked or topped up; the electrolyte is suspended in fibreglass mats between the plates.
Lithium Ion
There are many different types of Lithium batteries. The type used as engine starter batteries is Lithium Iron Phosphate – otherwise known as Lithium Ferrous Phosphate or LFP. Lithium engine starter batteries will generally be marked as 'Li-ion', 'LFP' or 'LIFEPO4'. Like AGM batteries, they usually have a black case with no stoppers in the top.
Step 2. Check the condition of your battery
Using a multimeter to test your bike’s voltage is simple: with the ignition off, set the multimeter to the ‘20V DC’ (direct current) range. Connect or touch the red probe/clip to the positive terminal of your battery and the black one to the negative. The voltage should now be displayed.
A healthy 12V battery should give a reading between 12.5V and 12.9V (a Lead-acid should read 12.4V to 12.6V; an AGM should be 12.7V to 12.9V; and a Lithium will be either 12.8V or 13.2V.
Start the engine and rev to between 3000–4000rpm. This will indicate the alternator's voltage output: the range is between 14V to 14.5V, but down to 13.5V is acceptable.if you have a lithium battery, your machine's charging system should be putting out 14.4V. If it’s putting out more than that, there could be a problem. If the reading is too high the voltage regulator could be faulty, which will cause the battery to fail. If the reading is too low, the alternator is not generating sufficient current to recharge the battery.
The Optimate TS120 plug-and-play tester uses simple icons to indicate that everything is okay, or to highlight potential problems. Attach a suitable Optimate optimiser to your battery and it will test, check and assess your battery’s condition – using an easy-to-understand display to keep the user infomed – charging, repairing and even recovering deep discharged units automatically and safely.
Step 3. Charging and maintaining
Regularly charging and maintaining your battery helps it work better and can double its working life. Optimate optimisers can maintain, test, charge and even repair a bike's battery, all completely automatically.
All Optimate chargers run a unique 'connect and forget' 24-hour, seven-day-aweek, 365 days a year programme, so they can and should be connected to your bike's battery and left to do their work.
Which Optimate is best for your battery?
Optimate 3 diagnoses, charges, tests and optimally maintains all types of 12V lead-acid batteries rated from 3 to 50 Ah. It can also recover neglected batteries from as low as two Volts. For new AGM or Lithium, use the Optimate 1 Duo. It automatically determines the type of battery it’s connected to, and selects the charging programme to suit. The Optimate Lithium 0.8A is specifically designed to safely monitor and maintain older lithium batteries, and is designed to reset the internal BMS (Battery Management System) on batteries with a low voltage cut-out so that charging can begin.
For more go to: www.optimate1.com