I’m using an Optimate 3 for charging and maintaining my OEM battery but I note from the handbook that it say not to use a normal charger on this type of battery. Is my optimate ok?
The motor seems to crank very slowly when starting (but never fails) I’m guessing this is down to it being a big high compression twin a bit like my Harley’s use to.
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It is not OK to use the Optimate3 on Li-Ion and can lead to fire from an overcharge.
One of the worst things that you can do to a Li-Ion battery is overcharge it, because the cell will accept the voltage until breaking down the electrolyte and finding the weakest point in the plastic separator membrane. At that point an internal thermal runaway results and cascades because the cell contains fuel, oxygen, and now a source of increasing heat to ignite it.
Lead acid batteries can grow crystals and desulfidation is an attempt to dissolve them. The way a charger does this is by pulsing the battery with short bursts of 15-16V. A lead aside battery can only take so much charge, where a lithium will gladly keep taking more until it is destroyed. The typical charge for LiFePo4 is 3.6V/cell or 14.4V/battery, and bad things happen at around 4.2/cell or more (16.8/battery). With a very slightly flawed cell or desulfating charger that is slightly out of tolerance, there is just no safety margin.
Another problem with high amperage chargers and ones with desulfidation circuits is that the little lithium ions are forced into the coating so hard and fast that the ions can not be absorbed. They build up on the surface of the internal coatings and the battery life can be massively shortened.