The Charger for You

Which Charger for Which Application

Customers often ask which TecMate battery charger they need or should buy. Here are some answers to these questions.

OptiMate, AccuMate, & AccuMate Pro allow the end-user, or individual professional, to regularly maintain their own batteries, & even to recover them from a degree of deep-discharge if necessary. This provides the end-user with a vehicle which is always ready to start first time, eliminates the associated stress and annoyance & provides 100% product & dealer satisfaction. This also reduces avoidable warranty claims.

OptiMate PRO-8 allows battery & vehicle dealers, car storage businesses and collectors to maintain up to 8 different sized 12V batteries simultaneously with a similar specification to OptiMate but with twice as much power.

· OptiMate is an outstanding 12V diagnostic battery charger with an advanced I-IUoU characteristic. It is intended for home-use by owners of modern motorcycles and other vehicles with similar sized batteries. The "bulk" charge constant current is 0.6A. See also OptiMate III – Additional Information.

· AccuMate charges in three stages, (IUoU-I characteristic) with 1.2A constant current during the bulk charging stage. The highly efficient charging program can be selected for 6V or 12V batteries. While fully automatic and more powerful than the OptiMate, AccuMate does not have the specific automatic detection & recovery feature for deep-discharged MF motorcycle batteries - however it will recharge batteries deep-discharged over fairly short time periods. AccuMate's special feature is it's "standby monitoring": if it detects the battery "needs" more current support than available in "float" mode, it reverts automatically to the bulk charge mode. It is ideal for charging, maintaining & monitoring 6V or 12V batteries for several months continuously. AccuMate’s internal thermal control protects against excessive temperatures whether ambient or arising from blocked ventilation or 12V charger selection on 6V batteries. AccuMate is perfect for owners of seasonally or occasionally used vehicles, with batteries from 4 Ah upwards.

· AccuMate Pro also charges in three stages, (IUoU-I characteristic) with 5A (3A @ 24V) constant current during the bulk charging stage. The charging program can be selected for 12V or 24V batteries. AccuMate Pro also features "standby monitoring" and is ideal for charging, maintaining & monitoring 12V or 24V batteries continuously. AccuMate Pro also has internal thermal control to protect against excessive temperatures. However, AccuMate Pro additionally has temperature regulated charging - An ambient temperature sensor plugs in at the rear of the housing to vary the output voltage parameters by -4mV /°C (-2.2MV /'F) per cell away from the 20 °C norm. Unplugging this sensor sets the voltage parameters to the default (20°C) settings. The standard ambient temperature sensor can be replaced by an optional plug-in 2m long external temperature probe for taping on to the battery casing for more accurate automatic charging voltage management. AccuMate Pro is perfect for operators of all vehicles with 12V batteries from 17Ah upwards (or 24V batteries from 9Ah), particularly where the vehicle is occasionally used must must be ready at all times. Examples include: military vehicles, emergency service vehicles (Fire Tenders, Ambulances, Rescue Vehicles etc.), specialist & collectable vehicles, agricultural, fairground & showman’s vehicles; the list is endless.

· OptiMate PRO-8 is an automatic 8-way charger intended for owners of several vehicles (e.g. classic car collections, fleet operators, museums etc.), or for professional use by vehicle or battery dealers. The PRO-8 automatic 3-4-stage (I-IUoU) charger allows the dealer to keep a selection of up to 8 mixed type & size 12V batteries (whether "MF" motorcycle, lead-calcium, GEL or conventional type) in perfect condition & ready for immediate delivery. PRO-8 can diagnose & recover batteries from deep-discharge; charge at 1.2A on each charging circuit; check against any self-discharge tendency when the battery is fully charged by switching off the charge current on that circuit (only!) for 45 minutes before again applying a float charge maintenance voltage until the battery is disconnected. Technical & sales people are usually kept very busy during the day, dealing with customers & other problems. The PRO-8 saves time by doing 8 jobs at once automatically! At the end of the day when things are quieter batteries stored "dry" which the dealer wants to prepare for sale can be filled with acid, left to stand for half an hour, (or even during the night), then connected to the PRO-8 together with gel or conventional batteries (&/or used discharged batteries) & left connected until sold. The sold battery can then be replaced on the PRO-8 in the same way with a similar new battery. Best-seller models can thus always be available for immediate delivery. This is especially advantageous in the case of batteries shipped "dry". The result is that the customer does not have to wait and the dealer avoids the temptation to deliver a battery which has not been correctly prepared. He saves time too, and the customer receives a "100%" battery. All the dealer has to do is check that the green LED indicates on that circuit before disconnecting the battery to hand it to the customer.

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