I admit that i havent studied the circuits for the bike but i dont think that the ignition key disables anything that it doesnt need to. It will disable the starter and lighting etc. Cheap battery chargers have a lot of AC in their output - they are not very well smoothed and this can damage the diode pack in the rectifier. Of course this might only apply to old cars that have the recifier built into the alternator. I ruinied one on my old Mini by charging the battery while it was still connected.
I expect modern cars and bikes are much more sophisticated.
Still if you get an optimate you can leave it connected all the time and not have to worry about overcharging etc.
25-Feb-2004, 21:36 
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