BMW Gel Battery Charger

[airborne]

Does anyone know if the BMW Gel trickle charger can be used on all 12 volt batteries...safely?

[mwnahas]

Are you talking about lead-acid vrs gel batteries?
The difference between the pre-gel charger and the gel charger is they added a rest period in the charge program. So if using on a lead acid battery it would be ok it would just pause for a rest then continue on.

[harrowbmw]

Greetings all.

Hey, this is great. While I have your attention, can someone inform me on the differences between the standard lead/acid battery in my '83 K100 and the Oddysey gel thing in my LT?

I have a normal 12 volt battery charger that takes care of my lead/acid battery and will that take care of the gel thing in my LT?

Cheers to all

Paul Harrington

[mwnahas]

Greetings all.

Hey, this is great. While I have your attention, can someone inform me on the differences between the standard lead/acid battery in my '83 K100 and the Oddysey gel thing in my LT?

I have a normal 12 volt battery charger that takes care of my lead/acid battery and will that take care of the gel thing in my LT?

Cheers to all

Paul Harrington

The official word is not to use the lead acid battery on the gel cell battery. The battery maker specified the charging program and told the battery charger manufacturer to put a wait state in the charging program during the charge so as not to damage the battery with heat during the charge. You could damage the battery (to what extent not sure) if you leave the gel battery connected to a standard lead-acid charger. I bought the gel battery and also bought the gel cell battery charger to leave it on during the winter. Three winters battery is still strong. I use battery only power for lights, radio air compressor too. Bike always starts right up unless I let it sit for four weeks without the charger on it.

[Dick]

Are you talking about lead-acid vrs gel batteries?
The difference between the pre-gel charger and the gel charger is they added a rest period in the charge program. So if using on a lead acid battery it would be ok it would just pause for a rest then continue on.
In addition to what Mike said, here is some info I pulled from the LT FAQ pages.

Click here (http://www.bmwlt.net/ubbthreads/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=K1200LT&Number=185770&page=3&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=7), and reading thru the whole thread might turn up some interesting observations. The 'horse's mouth' info came from the manufacturer of the Deltran Battery Tender company.

[positanopete]

Hi There

Read your enquiry. I have a CTEK charger. It works on all lead acid batteries and has a 'pulse / maintenance' function that stops your battery drying out if left for long periods. I don't think any of the others do that. Check it out.

Good riding.

Peter

[PSYCHO]

Hi There

Read your enquiry. I have a CTEK charger. It works on all lead acid batteries and has a 'pulse / maintenance' function that stops your battery drying out if left for long periods. I don't think any of the others do that. Check it out.

Good riding.

Peter
From what I'm to understand, you will fry a Gel battery if you use a lead acid battery charger on it.

[Dick]

From what I'm to understand, you will fry a Gel battery if you use a lead acid battery charger on it.
There may be a difference between 'Gel' batteries and 'AGM' (Absorbed Glass Mat) batteries, butt having said that, I've been using a Deltran Battery Tender Plus on ole Toad with the following batteries - the original lead acid OEM for a coupla years; an Odyssey PC680 for about 5 years; and now a Panasonic LXC1220P for the last 4-5 months. Haven't toasted a battery yet.

I do, however, think that if you use a regular lead acid battery charger, such as the Battery Tender Plus, etc., that you might not get the best results on a BMW OEM Gel battery. Haven't heard of any getting toasted, butt I think most folks buy the BMW badged Deltran Battery Tender specifically recommended for that application. YMMV. :)

[positanopete]

Re Psycho's reply. Gel batteries are just another form of lead acid battery. Using a good quality switch mode or 'smart' charger like the CTEK will not 'fry' the battery but charge it safely and extend its life.

[AlaskaFish]

Like Dick, I've also been using a Deltran Battery Tender Plus on my Odyssey PC680, which is an 'AGM' (Absorbed Glass Mat) battery, not a Gel, and have had no problems for well over 5 or 6 years now.

The Gel Cell Batteries are the ones that you need to watch what you're using to charge them. Like the BMW Gel Battery. But the AGM batteries will use the same type charger/tender as the older "wet" Lead Acid batteries did.

HTH,

John

[PSYCHO]

Re Psycho's reply. Gel batteries are just another form of lead acid battery. Using a good quality switch mode or 'smart' charger like the CTEK will not 'fry' the battery but charge it safely and extend its life.
maybe the dealer was just trying to scare me :eek:

[airborne]

Thanks folks. Good information. I am going to go ahead and use the gel battery charger on a standard battery.