Anyone out there got a CTEK battery charger?
Had mine for some years, great little unit, but when I went to start the GTR t'other day, cranking a bit slow, so thought better use it to charge the old girl up!
Thought I'd fitted a connector lead onto the battery previously, unfortunately not!
Must have left the spare one I had on the old GSX750 when I px'd it!
So, jump on Amazon, loads of leads available, so bought one in haste ready to use.
Issue - in haste / error bought a "Comfort" connector lead with 3 LED's, called a "comfort lead" as Green / Amber / Red - will always indicate battery status.
http://www.ctek.com/gb/en/chargers/Comfort%20Indicator%20Eyelet%20M8
Fitted it, works s treat, Red LED flashing when connected verified battery low, so charged overnight, Green LED pulsing in the morning, seems to work!
Issue I now have - will a flashing green LED continuously going kill the battery? How does the GTR stand up to low current drain, alarms etc?
Could fit a switch in line I suppose! :undecided:
Not sure if anyone has experience of these leads, nice idea as always monitoring battery, but don't want a flat / killed battery until it dies of old age! :no:
Thoughts or experience welcomed.
(http://i1077.photobucket.com/albums/w473/snowr0/comfort%20lead_zpswlstp474.jpg) (http://s1077.photobucket.com/user/snowr0/media/comfort%20lead_zpswlstp474.jpg.html)
One LED would take weeks if not more to affect the battery, but all these battery tenders such as Optimate and the others are designed to be left connected all the time. They 'optimise' the charging/monitoring of the battery all the time they are connected.
Quote from: doebag on November 22, 2016, 09:39:56 AM
One LED would take weeks if not more to affect the battery, but all these battery tenders such as Optimate and the others are designed to be left connected all the time. They 'optimise' the charging/monitoring of the battery all the time they are connected.
As doebag says they check the battery.
I found out the hard way on my 2009.
the power was accidentally turned of to the shed :wacko:
And a mixture of the alarm and the optimate charger checking I went out to a flat battery :censored:
So be warned about the power supply
Hi snowy. You have no prob with the lead because the green light is only on while the battery is charged. When a small amount of charge is lost from say an alarm or even your green led then the ctek will pick that up and your led will turn red briefly while its charged up again and then back to green led. So it does this continuously. If you stood there long enough youd see it happen 👍 But dont do that eh its very boring lol.
Snowy, how old is your battery?
Quote from: virginiajim on November 22, 2016, 12:45:28 PM
Snowy, how old is your battery?
Sure it's still on the original - 2008! Had it out once to fit in a fused supply to the fairing and all looked original.
No existing receipt either with all the stuff that came with, so expecting a failure soon.
Find new generation batteries amazing, me A3 diesel, 2009, has done 146,000 on original battery never had to charge it yet!
And the GTR's on 8 years - 27000 miles, as stated above, borrowed time me thinks! :undecided:
Quote from: Macskwak on November 22, 2016, 12:35:32 PM
If you stood there long enough youd see it happen 👍 But dont do that eh its very boring lol.
It was painfull enough trying to get a pic with the flashing LED actually lit! :sleep1:
Been 3 days since re-charge and still flashing green so hope all good.
Ye itll b fine dont stress on it. Now itll always be topped up 👍
8 years on a MC battery....methinks it isn't the charger at fault. Change it out, you'll be glad you did.
Quote from: virginiajim on November 22, 2016, 05:06:57 PM
8 years on a MC battery....methinks it isn't the charger at fault. Change it out, you'll be glad you did.
Waiting for the first failure then it'll be straight over to local supplier for a Varta or Numax!
Sub £45 for a maintenance free, seems OK.
It's funny about batteries.. I typically can go quite awhile on one whilst others are lucky to get 2 years out of them. I don't understand that.
Quote from: virginiajim on November 22, 2016, 05:52:10 PM
It's funny about batteries.. I typically can go quite awhile on one whilst others are lucky to get 2 years out of them. I don't understand that.
Really think it is down to what you pay for. If a manufacturer gives a 4 year warranty, I'll pay the extra!
Cheap batteries plates break down quicker, causes internal resistance so the battery causes itself to loose.
Just waiting for either car or bike to expire now the cold start mornings are here in the UK!
Jim get a hamster :mfr_lol:
Can you eat it?
Snowy - how did you wire your connector in to the battery? I'm looking at the same cable but it only seems to come with a 55cm length option. Was that sufficient to route all the way back to the battery? I know it isn't far in a straight line to the battery but I am always wary of wiring lengths when routing around and about!
It also looks to be a pig to route down there, which way did you take it?
Quote from: ant177 on December 19, 2016, 09:45:28 PM
Snowy - how did you wire your connector in to the battery? I'm looking at the same cable but it only seems to come with a 55cm length option. Was that sufficient to route all the way back to the battery? I know it isn't far in a straight line to the battery but I am always wary of wiring lengths when routing around and about!
It also looks to be a pig to route down there, which way did you take it?
First thing I add to any bike I have is a relay fed fuse box, this is under the nearside inner fairing panel by the ignition fed auxiliary wire, so have a live feed from the battery to the relay, that's where I tacked on the Ctek charging lead.
As for feeding the wire to there, no probs, just managed to wangle from battery tray under tank to fairing with gentle poke and hope! If you do go the same way make sure that battery live to fairing is fused as near to battery as possible in case of trap or short.