Hi there l had forgotten about this thread!

l've been using the Optimate "lithium" battery charger for over a year and nothing has happened so it must be OK

It was a bit confusing though, lithium, lithium ion, lithium ion phosphate.

Makes me almost wish l hadn't bothered.

Oh, and in temperatures below freezing the bike doesn't want to start, l have just read you have to turn the ignition on for a minute first to get the battery to wake up.

 

Hey lightning, got a minute?... what brand and model is your battery?

 

I see that.

But the charger claims to charge “lithium” motorcycle batteries and no motorcycle batteries are lithium

They are all lithium ion phosphate

It’s a bit like engine oil, there used to be one type for all engines, Castrol GTX.
Now there are dozens and you can spend hours online fretting about ash content and saps.

As there was once one type of battery charger and now l’ve got three different types of chargers, and nobody can tell me which one l can actually connect to the battery in my vehicle

 

Lithium ion is a different chemistry than your charger is capable of.

 

I just did some further research online and it says that “lithium” batteries are non-rechargeable while “lithium ion” batteries can be recharged hundreds of times.
So you couldn’t actually have a lithium motorcycle battery.