Many of us no longer ride our motorcycles every day and they sit gently using a small amount of power for the clock etc. and running the battery flat.  Come the Club ride day it won’t start!

Purpose built battery float chargers, generally the ‘Battery Tender’ are available from the motorcycle shops but at a cost of over $200-00!!  I recently stumbled across a similar device for around $45.00, in Kmart of all places; (I also saw it in Autobarn but at $50.00)

Made by Projecta (www.projecta.com.au) it is the model AC250B and is designed for wall or vehicle mounting.  I bought one and it works well and I consider it money well spent.  However there is a catch!  The supplied leads are really designed for either bench charging or vehicle mounting of the charger.  I wanted to set up a permanent plug on the bike where I could plug the wall-mounted charger into when parked in the garage.  I needed to change the supplied leads and plugs.  Well, a compatible plug and socket is available from Jaycar for around $2.95.  Jaycar Are located in most major cities and have agents in a few regional cities, check the website, (www.jaycar.com.au).  Together with a few metres of two-core cable I made up an arrangement that allows me to plug into the bike without removing the battery.

Instructions:

• Mount the charger in the desired place, it has holes to screw to a wall or board.
• Fit the short battery terminal lead to the battery and cable tie the plug in an accessible but protected place, I chose behind the side panel adjacent to the battery.
• Measure the amount of cable you need to connect the charger to the bike, include any routing etc.  A tip here if you have a problem with the lead is to route it into the rafters and down over the bike’s normal place.
• Get the cable and plug from Jaycar (Part No. PP2020) and make up the lead to connect between the charger and the bike connection.  This plug is ‘polarised’ make sure you connect the + and – correctly.
• Simply plug in and turn on the power for the charger when you park after a ride.

Warnings!

• The set-up worked for me and the charger is advertised as suitable for motorcycles but I cannot accept responsibility for individual installations, you will have to confirm yourself it’s OK for your bike.
• Check also that your bike’s electronics allow a charger to be connected to the battery.
• If you are not sure of how to change the wiring then get someone else to help!
• Always disconnect the charger before starting your bike.

You will need to check the water level in your battery more often. It will evaporate faster with the battery on permanent charge.

Horst also writes about using a cheaper trickle charger, here's how he did it!

Re 'Float charge for Aussie use' on Hints and tips.  I bought one of those cheap 'trickle chargers' but fitted an RCA plug to it and a female one on the bike so all I have to do is plug it in when I get home.  But even the trickle charge was too much so I put a cheap timer on the main and plugged the charger into that, the charger now operates for 1hr in 24 and is keeping my battery fully charged.

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