British Expats - Charger

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- Spain (https://britishexpats.com/forum/spain-75/)

- - Charger (https://britishexpats.com/forum/spain-75/charger-869148/)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Longlegpete (Post 11814223)

yes the battery will spring into life if left to self discharge over a period of time and recharged, the point is it doesn't do it any good, it will shorten the working life as well as reduce its operating current and voltage.

I can appreciate your point re not happy with leaving a charger on when away for extended periods, however I have done it over a period of 15 years or so with up to 4 chargers on the go without any problems at all, .....

Leaving a battery fully charged/ on trickle charge will also damage it. Unfortunately a battery is a "moving part" that works well if it is repeatedly charged and (partially) discharged, but doesn't do well if it is allowed to flatten and remain flat, nor if it is kept fully charged for an extended period.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pulaski (Post 11814228)

Indeed, the best way to keep a battery at its top performance is to use it, the smart type chargers do a very good job, they charge the battery slowly to peak charge then stop charging allowing the battery to self discharge to a certain point then top up and stop again so are not constantly trickle charging

Quote:

Originally Posted by Longlegpete (Post 11814223)

Yes the battery will spring into life if left to self discharge over a period of time and recharged, the point is it doesn't do it any good, it will shorten the working life as well as reduce its operating current and voltage.

I can appreciate your point re not happy with leaving a charger on when away for extended periods, however I have done it over a period of 15 years or so with up to 4 chargers on the go without any problems at all, the extension of battery life however is extremely welcome, a lot of quality motorcycle batteries for example are much more expensive than car batteries so it pays dividends in the long run

Yes I understand and agree to a certain extent. I also have bikes in the UK which are not on the road through worst part of the winter and are then on an optimate. However for the scooter in Spain it has a new battery (not expensive for my model) I don't have a garage so that would mean leaving the electricity on in my house whilst unattended for months at a time. I don't feel happy with that hence how I do it. As for self discharge etc yes of course it happens but with a good battery charged before leaving this in my opinion will not cause damage. Major damage is caused when a battery goes flat especially if left flat for a period of time then charged quickly. I weigh up OK maybe over a few years if I had trickle charged battery it may last a few months longer. However if by leaving electric on in the house something untoward happened by an electrical incident? I just do it my personal way and offered my view to the OP.

Of course depending on the situation of where the scooter is left there is the option of a solar trickle charger. I have considered this and still undecided. Not the cheapo versions on eBay etc which can overcharge etc. I have seen for around Â£35/Â£40 proper solar trickle charge set ups that have proper current regulators to ensure no overcharging or drawback from the battery etc when not charging due to poor light. I personally think for trickle charging when totally unsupervised I would be happier with that than leaving the mains power on to my house.