Anyone use the Optimate series of battery chargers?

[mark...@aol.com]

http://www.tecmate.com/u_optimate_5.php

They are used by the 2-meter radio folks and lots of motorcycle people. Aircraft Spruce sells them to airplane people.

Seems like a highly versatile compact, durable charger/maintainer/diagnostic tool at a decent price.

Perhaps overkill for our needs?

They also manufacture a nice universal USP power cord that you can use to charge/operate your cell phone directly from the ship's batteries should you ever find yourself landed out with a dying cell phone.

[Michael Clarke]

I have four of the Optimate 4's for my glider batteries and a few other
Optimates for other things. They are very good indeed, absolutely no
issues.

Mike

[K]

Use caution with these. Ive found the best chargers for the AGM batteries like Power-Sonic which most of us use are the chargers sold by Power-Sonic. The Power-Sonic charger for the 12V 9AH battery (Commonly used for gliders) shows a charge rate of 800MA and this thing is 2.5A. Further, Ive tried several different chargers and the PS chargers determine peak and switch to float CONSISTENTLY (Emphasis) better than most of the chargers Ive tried. The higher the charge rate or the continuous charge past peak, The hotter the internal battery temp during charging the shorter the battery life.

[Michael Clarke]

At 11:55 16 September 2012, K wrote:

>Use caution with these. Ive found the best chargers for the AGM batteries

>l=

>ike Power-Sonic which most of us use are the chargers sold by
Power-Sonic.

>=

>The Power-Sonic charger for the 12V 9AH battery (Commonly used for

>gliders)=

> shows a charge rate of 800MA and this thing is 2.5A. Further, Ive tried

>se=

>veral different chargers and the PS chargers determine peak and switch to

>f=

>loat CONSISTENTLY (Emphasis) better than most of the chargers Ive tried.

>Th=

>e higher the charge rate or the continuous charge past peak, The hotter

>the=

> internal battery temp during charging the shorter the battery life.
>

The heading on the original post was about the Optimate series,
unfortunately the web page showed the Optimate 5. As I said, I use a bank
of Optimate 4's which is the right model for glider batteries. The maximum
charge rate is 800MA.

The manual sounds complicated, but all you need to do is plug it in and
leave it on - all winter in particular:

http://www.optimate.co.uk/Optimate%204%20Dual%20Program%20Instructions.pdf


I test the capacity of my batteries regularly, worth changing after 3 or 4
seasons and I think that goes for whatever charger you use.

Mike

[mark...@aol.com]

Which Optimate you choose is indeed dependent on battery size as a function of the C/10 formula. I use a 12 volt 14 ah battery and am contemplating a 12 volt 18 ah. The Optimate-5 is correctly sized for these batteries I believe.

The web site indicates a wide range of amp-hour sizes for each chargers. Does the charger detect the battery size and adjust the current accordingly?

[Michael Clarke]

I don't think so - from the Optimate 4 manual:

"The minimum time required for the OptiMate 4 to complete a charge and test
cycle and provide a result, even on a fully charged
battery, is 45 minutes. Charge time on a fl at but otherwise undamaged
battery is roughly equal to the battery’s Ah rating, so a 20Ah
battery should take no more than about 20 hours to progress to the
self-discharge check (§ 5). Deep-discharged batteries may take
signifi cantly longer.
If using the OptiMate 4 on a severely discharged automobile battery of
larger capacity, a full charge may not be achieved within the
48 hour charge safety limit. In this case follow the reset procedure
below."

I am not an expert, but personally I use 2 old Optimate III's and 4 new
Optimate 4's for glider batteries, and an Accumate for a car that doesn't
leaves the garage. Never had a problem with any of them. I used the III's
on an 18amp turbo battery when I had one, it was fine.

I would be inclined to use an Optimate 4 for your batteries, they will
charge and 4 does a lot of other things for you if your batteries have had
a bad day.

Mike