Battery conditioners
Discussion
There was a thread about these recently that I cannot see at the moment. Advice seemed to be to go for the Accumate as sold by Eliseparts. I was about to go for it when I noticed that it looks identical to the Datatool conditioner that I have for my motorcycle. Also the technical specs that I could glean from the ads look the same, other than the Accumate can be switched to 6V which we don't need anyway. But the Datatool info says the charger is specifically for bikes and does not mention smaller car batteries. Can anyone tell me if there is any fundamental difference between bike and car batteries, and the conditioners that are made for them ? or does anyone use a 'bike' conditioner on their Elise ?
Thanks
Thanks
You should be ok with your accumate set at 12v the only downside is it will be a "trickle" so don't expect it to charge the battery enough to start the car after half an hours charging.
I have had several accumates, all have failed.
I now use C-tek 3600, it gives enough charge in half an our to start the car from a flat battery (they are standard equipment with Fezza's now)and seems reliable so far.
F.C.
I have had several accumates, all have failed.
I now use C-tek 3600, it gives enough charge in half an our to start the car from a flat battery (they are standard equipment with Fezza's now)and seems reliable so far.
F.C.
He hasn't got an Accumate but a Datatool Bike Conditioner - I can't see why it won't work (I'm not a sparky though!), but will probably take longer to charge to full strength?
The unit should have it's own protection devices to stop it overheating etc, but will probably take a bit longer to charge the car, simply down to the increase in capacity, which is significant over a car battery?
The unit should have it's own protection devices to stop it overheating etc, but will probably take a bit longer to charge the car, simply down to the increase in capacity, which is significant over a car battery?
PS I use the Optimate on my Elise without problem.
The only difference is it charges at 0.5 amps (the Accumate is 1.0) which means it is quite slow (around 2 days if you let the battery get very low) and the 'desulphate' or recovery item struggles a lot - understandably as it was made to recover dead(ish) bike batteries, so it is not throwing out enough power to recover the car battery.
If the Datatool, as I suspect, turns itself off when the battery is charged (but still float charges while connected) then all you have to do is wire it up....if it says 'charging' then all is swell....it will simply keep doing so until it reaches it cut off point....abouty 13.6 volts, I think.
The only difference is it charges at 0.5 amps (the Accumate is 1.0) which means it is quite slow (around 2 days if you let the battery get very low) and the 'desulphate' or recovery item struggles a lot - understandably as it was made to recover dead(ish) bike batteries, so it is not throwing out enough power to recover the car battery.
If the Datatool, as I suspect, turns itself off when the battery is charged (but still float charges while connected) then all you have to do is wire it up....if it says 'charging' then all is swell....it will simply keep doing so until it reaches it cut off point....abouty 13.6 volts, I think.
According to the Datatool unit instructions here:
http://www.datatool.co.uk/pdfs/battery_conditioner...
The unit can be used for anything up to a 'touring car, boat, tractor' battery of 56-75 amp-hours (see table at end of document).
That suggests to me you will be okay.
http://www.datatool.co.uk/pdfs/battery_conditioner...
The unit can be used for anything up to a 'touring car, boat, tractor' battery of 56-75 amp-hours (see table at end of document).
That suggests to me you will be okay.
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