Which all in one battery charger and desulphator?

I have recently read with great interest your battery related conversations regarding battery charging and conditioning. As I will be buying a battery charger again this year for my motorcycle, I have a question. Which all in one battery charger and desulphator is recommended? I would much rather pay a little more than I could possibly pick another charger up for on the cheap as from what I have now read, sulphation within a battery is very often the main course of degeneration. I believe a specifically sold motorcycle charger is not actually only applicable to just motorcycle batteries and would actually be usable on other batteries as well, would this be correct?

I will give this a bit more thought & come back to the thread in a bit but the only one I can think of off the top of my head is the ( - Optimate 4 - ).

Just been looking at this technology and I can't find just a desulphater below about £40 or so. That means that the optimate must be a really good buy cause they are about £45 and they are a charger as well . Davey (Mr Intruder) sorted my car battery with his desulphater which saved me a load of cash when I really didnt want to spend it thread great technology

Just found a bit of info on the Optimate 4 (Charger and Desulphator)

• Automatic self-diagnostic test: Immediately on connection, the microprocessor checks the circuit and flashes all LEDs (except charge current LEDs) to confirm correct operation.
  
• Dual-stage recovery action: If the diagnostic check determines that the battery is sulphated (deep-discharged), the first stage attempts to drive in an initial current by applying up to 16V for a brief limited period. If this is unsuccessful, the TURBO recovery stage engages (indicated by a flashing recovery LED), which increases the applied voltage to up to 22V. This action is limited to a maximum two hours.
  
• Charge current display: A thermometer style central LED column shows delivered current. This, together with the expanded charge programme status LED information provides the user with detailed insight regarding the progress of both the state of charge and the state of health of the battery.
  
• High efficiency: Despite delivering 33% more power than OptiMate 3sp, OptiMate 4 consumes less electricity, which is welcome in these days of high energy costs and eco-awareness.
  
• Enhanced battery testing: Green, yellow and red "traffic-light" LEDs indicate alone or in combinations to provide 5 possible results of the end-of-programme test for power drain, whether in the battery or due to a problem in the bike's electrical system.
  

Ken a 12v motorcycle "specific" charger will be fine on any 12v battery I believe. I will ask Do Cox to confirm that one way or the other.

Spoke with Doc Cox & he will post up an instructional thread with pictures and a walk through on how to make a desulphater yourself at some point in the future.

Seems a good charger the Optimate 4, thanks for the input. Seems to be a good way to go especially when the bike is stood up a lot over winter.

Might be worth waiting for the Doc to do a desulphater thread, might be easy but will probably be hard but its worth hanging on for just in case  :shock: 

Maybe for you Captain Crash but I would most probably be far out of my depth. I am in no real rush so I will watch and see with interest all the same.

Yep me to but we live in hope   

Evening all, A bike specific battery charger can be used on any 12 volt lead/acid battery, in fact it will be kinder to the battery as the charging current is far better regulated than a cheap one which will put a lot of current in to start with and then drop the current as the battery charges, the problem with this is if the plates are sulphated the higher current will in effect heat the plates up and possibly warp them and cause more damage, the desulphater is very simple to build, anyone can do it, but as Dave said I will be doing an instructable at a later date, this costs less than a fiver to make.

Less than a fiver, now your talking my kind of language      

I'm with you there Crash. 

That makes three of us waiting for you now Doc  

Don't forget me, that'll make four. I would like to know how he builds them as well.

Well, looks like I am going to be busy in the near future, it is surprising how simple these units are once they are broken down into simple components, will probably do a breadboard build first, my original one is still running after three years, and then a component board build with soldered parts, so please bear with me and will do it as soon as possible.