Lithium battery maintenance advice needed

[user 2637]

My new gen 4 has a lithium battery fitted and the garage I bought it from suggested I keep the bike on trickle charge due to the tracker constantly feeds off the battery.
I thought you couldn?t trickle charge a lithium battery?
Im getting mixed information from my google search.
Could anyone shed some light? If I need a trickle charger, does anyone have any good suggestions which one to buy, preferably one that comes with a plug for easy charging.

Thanks in advance

 

[alex]

I've been trickle charging my Shido for years...seems fine. But you must use an appropriate charger.

I use this but there are less dear options out there.
https://www.optimate.co.uk/products/optimate-lithium-5a

 

[Pedro3178]

Like above, never had any issues although as mentioned , make sure it?s suitable of charging a lithium battery as not all will. Also , I know it sounds daft but some of the more basic ones say lithium as well as standard but you physically have to tell the charger you are using a lithium battery via a push button or it will think it?s a standard battery.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[fast_ryan]

Lithium Battery

I?ve owned my track only Gen 4 (with OEM Lithium battery) for a couple of years now. To date I?ve never used a trickle charger and I?ve not had any issues at all.

 

[bananaman]

what I have, does both types and inexpensive.

 

[Reaperman]

Yup....I have the NOCO 5 and leave it on the Lithium setting all the time....happiness is a full charged battery LOL

 

[user 2637]

Thanks for the replies. Much appreciated.
Ive ordered a optimate lithium charger. It was for a good price so I?m happy enough.
Im not happy that it?s all due to having a tracker fitted, a tracker that did very little when it came to getting insured. I thought it would make a good dent on my quote........ nope
But atleast my battery will see the winter out ok with its trickle charge

 

[pauly]

The ?50 optimate I bought last year for my 2015 1299 states for 12.8V LITHIUM (LIFEP04) It looks like Optimate also sell a charger for around ?100, that has LITHIUM in large letters on it. BMW only recommend their own charger, make of that what you will.

 

[Wull]

Another Noco user here, can?t remember the exact one that I have.

 

[pauly]

My new gen 4 has a lithium battery fitted and the garage I bought it from suggested I keep the bike on trickle charge due to the tracker constantly feeds off the battery.
I thought you couldn?t trickle charge a lithium battery?
Im getting mixed information from my google search.
Could anyone shed some light? If I need a trickle charger, does anyone have any good suggestions which one to buy, preferably one that comes with a plug for easy charging.

Thanks in advance

Do you have the M lightweight battery, that is Lithium. In my Riders Manual it states the standard battery is an AGM.

 

[Gouldy]

Thanks for the replies. Much appreciated.
Ive ordered a optimate lithium charger. It was for a good price so I?m happy enough.
Im not happy that it?s all due to having a tracker fitted, a tracker that did very little when it came to getting insured. I thought it would make a good dent on my quote........ nope
But atleast my battery will see the winter out ok with its trickle charge

My bike came with a tracker fittted from BMW, 2021 Gen 4. it caused nothing but issues, starting problems, random warnings on the dash etc. After running out of patience and the tracker telling me that my bike was in Ghana when it was sat on my driveway, i took the back of the bike apart and removed the tracker with its wiring. i've had zero issues since. I advise binning the tracker.

 

[JamieMac]

As long as your charger doesn’t have a desulphate function it’ll be fine. Lithium batteries don’t like the +|~ switching that function does. Optimate Duo ie does both acid and lithium are great. Lithium batteries don’t like over charging ie 14.7+v and weirdly if it’s cold, they need warming up ie turn on ignition and lights for a minute and that will give much more starting power. J

 

[JamieMac]

I swear by these… they do a specific Lithium but I find that one a little too fussy/alarmist. Saved me so many times. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/20060917...Nq_2dmRQuu&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

[JamieMac]

FYI…. This is the biggest lithium battery that fits a Gen4. Performance Parts doing a £100 off at the moment.

 

[Ajj]

Trackers are a nuissance with regards to draining your battery. I would advise in buying a middle of the range battery charger and not go for the cheapest one.
I personally would not use a trickle charger as I do not trust the lipo/li-ion batteries, they do have a higher fire risk compared to traditional batteries. A rule of thumb in the RC world is never charge your batteries unattended.
My process would be if the bike was going to be stored, remove li-ion battery and charge to storage charge. Job done.

 

[AhmedKhan]

You can trickle charge a lithium battery, but you need a charger specifically designed for lithium batteries; any recommendations for such chargers?

 

[Ajj]

You can trickle charge a lithium battery, but you need a charger specifically designed for lithium batteries; any recommendations for such chargers?

I know you can. I just don't trust the battery chemistry to leave unattended trickle charging.
I use chargers from the RC hobby.

 

[RickS1K]

All the major brands do one, they're all fine. I think the bmw charger can do both traditional and lithium batteries. I know BMW assistance cars use the same CTEK I use. Plenty of threads on here about experience of them all. I have ctek and bmw motorrad chargers for lead batteries, the bmw has a display for showing voltage and current which can be useful.

 

[Damien Smith]

Trackers are a nuissance with regards to draining your battery. I would advise in buying a middle of the range battery charger and not go for the cheapest one.
I personally would not use a trickle charger as I do not trust the lipo/li-ion batteries, they do have a higher fire risk compared to traditional batteries. A rule of thumb in the RC world is never charge your batteries unattended.
My process would be if the bike was going to be stored, remove li-ion battery and charge to storage charge. Job done.

Yeah I’m in to Rc and agree with what you say about not charging your battery unattended so I just take of the lithium battery on my s1000rr over winter