CTEK Battery Optimizer Question
 

I have recently purchased a CTEK Multi XS 3600 battery optimizer, which has three settings, Bike, Car and Frost (below 5 degrees), as I do not use the bike so much in winter and it tends to sit in the garage unused for peiods of time.

After leaving this on the bike for about 7-8 weeks, today I tried to start the bike just to run it for a few minutes, and found that the battery did not seem to be fully charged. The bike would turn over and then I would get a clicking sound from under the right hand side cover. So I plugged in my normal car charger and after a couple of minutes tried starting the bike again, and this time it was fine.

Does anybody else on here use this battery optimizer ?
Anybody any idea why mu bike would not start the first time ?
Also, can you use the Frost (below 5C) setting on a bike battery ?

Thanks for any help on this.

I have the same charger and also had cold conditions, but I had it on "bike" and it worked fine...not an answer really..I know

My thoughts are either the CTEK isnt working properly or the battery is already duff but my money is on the battery being old/knackered so how old is the battery? .
Note that once a battery is abused/worn out not all of them can be "recovered" even by Smart chargers as their capacity to hold current is reduced /lost. It could just be that your car charger gave it a big enough boost, as these often provide high current charges, to "kick start" your dead battery (for a short time).
PS not a good idea to try to regularly boost charge bike batteries as they can overheat/boil dry/ warp plates etc.. long slow trickle charging of a good battery is the better bet.
PS measurement of voltages when on charge and when not may also help the diagnosis but how much effort versus getting a new battery are you prepared to expend?

Re.: Thanks
 

I have not had any problems with the battery before buying this charger, and 'Yes' it was powered on :-)

I have now attached the adapter to the battery, as opposed to using the crocodile clips and will try and see if this fixes the problem ?

Thanks for all your answers.

I have 3 of these CTEK chargers (I used to have 2 Optimates but they died after a few years intense use) and I find them fantastic. My bikes are all left attached in the winter months and I find that the battery life is almost doubled (I only buy Yuasa batteries). Also I recently used the CTEK when my van would not start and on the car setting it even bought the van battery back to life!!. Great devices in my experience.