Greetings Obi-Wan's,
As I have not had an opportunity to use my machine few a few weeks I find tonight the battery is kinda flat.
Is it safe to trickle charge in situ, and not have to disconnect pos+ terminal.
Ign is off and kill switch also

Rod

Hi Rod, I just disconnect the earth lead above the gear lever, (it's easy to get at),for the -ve and use a croc clip on the +ve battery connection.

Paul.

Hi Paul,
Yeah that's a good idea.
I'll disconnect it so.
I was just a tad worried that something might get fried if I left battery fully connected.
On another posting I saw some reference to charging via the 12v accessory socket beside the fusebox. i took a look at it earlier and its got v on even with ign off and kill switch engaged, so I guess the battery is connected to it permanently.

In any case I'll know the outcome in the morning

adios
Rod

Rod, is the bike kept in or outside? These frosty nights and low temps will kill a dodgy battery especially if it's left in a discharged state.

I have an optimate charger that desulphates plates and I've had good results with it recovering waining batteries. You're welcome to borrow it but it;s only suitable for lead acid batteries - doesn't do gel ones. PM if you want to try it I may be around in NUIM next week.

OBI WONKY KNOBBY

88

Hi there.
I recharge mine via the accessory plug, with a low speed charger.
No problems whatsoever.
Best regards
JAP

Greetings Wise One's,
Well all seems ok this am.
I gave it a blast with my usual car charger last night and then changed to the little car/bike clever one this morn.
Got the green light after a couple of mins, so I guess it ok now.
Will fire her up later if I get a mo.

And tks for that offer 88KE, I keep her garaged and warm so no worries there.
If you are around NUIM give me a shout.
Am away next Wed but apart from that should be around Ed.House (01 708 3933)
Kettle always on ;-)

bcnu
Rod

Rod, just a thought.

As your bike might stand for a while without being used, you could use a solar panel connected via the accessory socket to keep the battery topped up. I use a Maplin 1.5 watt panel for each of my Ks. With such a low output there's no danger of 'boiling' the battery or getting any electrical spikes to damage the bike's systems. Although it will never charge a flat battery, with a good charged one it will overcome most of the natural loses inherrent in lead acid batteries. The panels are pretty cheap too, Maplins often have them on offer for £9.99........free to run as well.



Paul.

Good idea Paul,
I have a couple in the workshop looking for something useful to do.
I got one originally to do just that job on Landrover and aux/light battery on the boat....and never got to use them much.
I will put one on the M20 battery now you have reminded me as it gets even less use.
Last night I soldered a plug onto one of those Aldi/Lidl bike/car chargers.Worked like a dream.
Clever idea to have those acc. sockets
While I was at it I checked to see what kind of battery I have in the K and its a "sealed lead acid"....I say that as it was replaced just before I bought the bike last year and I didn't even bother about it.
more fun for the weekend ahead

Rod

When this subject came up in the Mercedes forum one of the owners was looking for a solar panel to keep his car charged when it was parked on his drive over winter, another lister offered him a solar panel for free and said "you can have it if you want but it didn't work for me when I parked my car in the garage over winter the battery was flat in the spring". I suppose he didn't make the connection between solar and light being needed for it to work, now a solar panel that would charge in the dark would be really something.

I keep my K on a CTEK XS.8 plugged in via the power socket whenever I am not using it, that way the battery is always in tip top shape, I do that partly because I have an alarm on the bike (insurance requirement) and that has a small continuous drain and partly to offset the small steady self discharge that all batteries have.

Regards,
K-BIKE

I've just had the latest Maplins offer sheet in the post.

This month they have the 2.4 watt solar panels for £14.99 (normally £24.99) code: N59FU, if anybody wants one.

Paul.

japuentes wrote:Hi there.
I recharge mine via the accessory plug, with a low speed charger.
No problems whatsoever.
Best regards
JAP

Hello Can you tell me what type of charger that you use as I have all ways gone to the trouble of disconnecting the battery nobody ever told me that you could do it through the accessory socket will this workon all K's ?

You can run a trickle charger through the power outlet but it's recommended not to run a full on battery charger that way, you are supposed to disconnect the battery.

Hi there, I use a small charger intended for motorcycle and other small batteries.
Best regards
JAP

may need to invest in one of these

I would hate to think of the time i have spent disconnecting the battery

I swear by the Optimate chargers, I have one hooked up to my Thundercat which I hadn't started for about 4 months till yesterday, and she fired up on the second attempt!

The K also has it's own charger and I normally have her hooked up to it when I get in from a ride. Esp this time of year when I have been riding with lights on and the heated grips on fully. I would really curse if I had to take the Cat to work this time of year! just not enough wind protection and no heated grips!

Hi All,
Yes interesting comments and observations.
I like the one about trying to use solar panel in dark garage....the mind boggles.

And I take the point about disconnecting the battery, however if the charger is only trickle charging it wont cause any problems. There's not enough coming out of it to heat anything.
I have mine on now for the last 48hrs and voltage measured is 13.3v . If any of the background electrics are using anything its very small.
In any case ign and kill sw are off so apart from minute amounts going to radio etc its not causing any drain.

I got the units in Lidl or Aldi, but as I realise these are local or EU stores I imagine there must be similar items available overseas. The only problem I have found with them is if the battery voltage is too low they wont activate. however an hour on the regular car battery charger usually brings em back to life and you can change over and continue with the trickle charger.

So now I have a couple of solar units here not currently being used for anything....I could even say **what sun** as we have not seen it in a while.....but of course they work fine in daylight, though maybe not as well as in sunnier climes.

now where did I put my soldering iron....

adios
Rod

Hi Rod, the scary thing is they let people like that drive vehicles and have children! I have a couple of the CTEK chargers which are made in Sweden I believe they are switch mode chargers and very light weight, I have a 0.8 amp, a 5 amp and a 7 amp version and the benefit is they can be left permanently connected to a vehicle without damaging the battery. As I park my K in the garage I leave it permanently connected to the 0.8 CTEK via the power socket and it is not necessary to disconnect the battery when using one of their chargers, A web search for CTEK will show the web address of the country one is looking to buy one in. I initially made the mistake of buying an Oxford Maximiser which was junk and failed in 11 months much to my annoyance.
Regards,
K-BIKE