Looking good so far, it works with four stages of constant current, charges initially at constant 4 Amps (spec says 3.8) then steps down to 3.24A then 0.86A
I’m not too sure about the way it does float mode though. Rather than a constant voltage variable current which I would prefer, it is another constant current (88mA) stage.
Tests so far indicate that (depending on the parasitic load) the float voltage can drift up and down between 12.8V up to 14.9V . As long as the parasitic load is less than 88mA this may not turn out to be a problem. It will settle down somewhere. I will update this post when it does.
Update - It does not settle it just continues to drift up to 14.8V and then switches off, allowing the battery to decline to 12.75V when the charger starts again with the 88 mA stage.
The cycle time depends on the parasitic load, if the load was high say close to 80mA the voltage could rise to 14.8V and stay there for a long time perhaps continuously. If there is no load then it will work very well, the cycle time will be several days while the voltage drops to 12.75V.
Conclusion - It’s a fine 3.8/4 Amp constant current charger with a poor float mode.
I bought myself the Ultimate today , looks well made and should do what I want. However I, m not sure if I should disconnect the battery before connecting it up!!
Can anyone enlighten me ? Just want to maintain the battery as the car is not used so much during the winter months.
Thanks for the tip off Eric–£13.99p well spent.
I’m not sure about the LIDL one but my similar CETEK unit connects directly to the battery while it is in place in the car. It came with a small connecting wire that attaches to the battery terminals and then terminates in a small plug that the charger can then connect to. The wire is thin and can easily pass through the gap between the boot lid and rear valance when the boot lid is shut. Its designed to work this way.
Thanks for your reply Zimmerframe, I took the bull by the horns and connected up direct to the battery (without disconnecting). Charger behaved as per instructions and all seems ok. The instructions with the Ultimate were not totally clear regarding disconnecting the battery and I dont know what damage it could do, but what the heck it, s done now.
By the way I did change my slave cylinder and like you all was well.
Regards Brundallted(Ted Bruley)
I think Griifin must have been having you on either that or they don’t know much about batteries lol.
I have my optimate fitted to everyone on the 30 odd bikes I had over the last 8 years and not a single one failed. In addition to the standard optimate I have had two carcoons, the one my 5 lives in now and one specificly for my last bike (ZZR1400) and both of these come with a battery conditioner as standard.
Further more if you go into most New car showrooms today you will see nearly all of them have a cable with flashing LEDs at the base of the windscreen, the LED’s show the condition of the battery and cwhen they run down they plug an optimate into it. As others have plugging in a quick charge charger will wreck you battery but trickle charger are fine especially for summer cars that spend the winter in damp garages.
Always found them very reasonable. Not ‘professional’ quality but easily good enough for DIY use. There is usually a three year warranty just in case you get a bad one.
Have Parkside cordless impact wrench and driver. A very reasonable £105 for two power tools and an interchangeable battery. The last two years of the warranty require you to post back to manufacturer; you can’t just drop it off at Lidl.
