Why Choose

1 - Test batteries

2 - Unique maintenance program

3 - Desulfate “dead” batteries

4 - Equalize battery cells

Test batteries• Most standard chargers include 2 or 3 lights

that simply show red or green to provide the user with information.

• In most instances this simply indicates that the charger has stopped charging and nothing about the condition of the battery.

Test batteries• OptiMate chargers test and warn the user of battery problems!

• Hourly battery condition tests monitor the battery and the current drain by the vehicle circuitry; any problem is indicated on an easy to understand light display.

• Some models also include a 10 second test at connection for a more hands on diagnosis of battery condition.

Unique maintenance program• Most standard chargers use a cycling charge when maintaining lead-acid

batteries.

• They charge the battery to full, switch off and allow the battery voltage to drop to 12.6V volts, before switching back on and charging the battery up to full. This cycle continues whilst the charger is connected.

• This process generates heat in the battery on an ongoing basis and it is common knowledge that “heat ultimately kills batteries”.

• Also should the rider want to start the maintained vehicle when the cycle is at its lowest, there might not be sufficient voltage to do that.

Unique maintenance program

Because OptiMate chargers are able to TEST a battery, they use a friendly, 30 minutes on / 30 minutes rest maintenance program.

This ensures that on an hourly basis, the battery receives only those few milliamps that went missing in that hour and no heat is generated in the battery.

The battery is always 100% ready to go and never

overcharged.

Desulfate “dead” batteries When a lead-acid battery discharges, sulfate from

the sulfuric acid combines with lead from the plates to deliver electricity.

In a discharged battery you have a high concentration of lead-sulfate flakes and water (very weak electrolyte) and the voltage is low.

If you charge the battery immediately the flakes easily combine with the water to form acid again (reversing the chemical process that occurred with the discharge).

If you don’t the sulfate flakes pack onto the plates and when thick enough prevent charge from going through. The battery keeps on losing voltage until it is ‘dead’ flat.

Desulfate “dead” batteries Standard chargers cannot recover “dead”batteries. They cannot detect the low voltage of the deep discharged

battery and they don’t have the right program to break up the sulfates.

Desulfating Optimate models start charging from as low as 2 Volt

(OptiMate 4 and 6 start at ½ a volt), then check how much desulfating the battery needs.

OptiMate then applies ‘first aid’, a higher voltage to get current flowing, then a pulsing charge for up to 2 hours, to recover the battery to a state where it can accept a charge ”normally”.

It then continues charging the battery until it is full.

Equalize battery cells• When a 12V lead-acid battery has been fully charged

with a standard charger, it does not mean each cell has exactly the same voltage !

• Once the cell with the lowest voltage is discharged the battery cannot deliver any more power even if there is still power in the other cells. It means the battery is only as strong as the weakest cell.

• Standard battery chargers are unable to equalize cells; they do not have the ‘cell balance’ program!

Equalize battery cells

• OptiMate chargers pulse charge the cells after bulk charging until they all come up to the same full level.

• Equalized cells ensure that the battery performs at 100%