A lot of people think 10 amps is too much for motorcycle batteries, but with the average touring motorcycle engine headed towards 1900cc (115 c.i.) and increased demand for power from accessories (such as entertainment, route finding, routing, heating, seat and screen adjustment etc), battery sizes have already been creeping up to 20Ah and over.
Modern AGM lead-acid technology has advanced rapidly, making it possible to accept high current charge. The OptiMate 7 Select is the ideal companion for those larger batteries as well as the entire range of smaller batteries.
“OptiMate 7 Select has a number of features that make it one of the smartest chargers out there,” says TecMate CEO Martin Human. “Starting with the Ampmatic charge control that adjusts charge current to match the condition and size of the connected battery, so a small battery gets less amps than a large one. It also adjusts output voltage according to ambient temperature - a lesser known fact is that in hot weather a battery should be charged at a lower voltage, otherwise you risk losing that power giving electrolyte acid that cannot be replaced in modern AGM batteries.”
There are, of course, high-power AGM batteries now available that can deliver more than the stock battery, but they demand a higher charge voltage of 14.7 V to get the most out of them – “so the OptiMate 7 Select has an additional hi-performance 14.7 V charge mode.
“Then there’s the diagnostic power supply mode that provides a stable 13.6 V with 8 amps of power available, ideal for modern motorcycles that cannot be tuned without special diagnostic tools – and those tools need a fully charged battery to diagnose and update without interruption.”
Martin reckons that the battery save mode on the OptiMate 7 “has the best one out there, as it can save a ‘dead’ lead-acid battery from as low as ½ a volt (0.5 volt). One characteristic of many chargers is that the more powerful and feature-rich they get, with faster charge rates, the greater becomes their own power requirement.
“In fact, the OptiMate 7 has efficient conversion technology not typically found in battery chargers – technology such as its on-board power factor correction and synchronous rectifying, reducing power consumption to less than half than that of other 10 amp chargers, and also less than many 5 amp chargers.
“Also, always check into the versatility of any charger you are considering – the OptiMate 7 runs on any voltage from 100 V to 240 V. Plus, available OptiMate 7 models for modern AGM motorcycle batteries come with different plugs - TM-250 (EU), TM-251 (NA), TM-252 (UK).”
TECMATE
www.optimate1.com
