Float charger vs trickle charger

Sorry about the delay in posting something on this.

Float and trickle should mean the same thing, but over time correct terminology/meaning can get lost in marketing stuff and the application of the battery.  From my dim distant past, float charging was for "pure lead positive plate batteries"  A typical application was a telephone exchange which was normally powered off the grid, but converted to DC, so the exchange ran off DC on the battery voltage.  If the grid dropped out, the exchange would continue to run on the DC from the batteries.  These were special batteries that had very low losses and very low water loss. To maintain their capacity for the rare occasion they had to provide power (in the vent of mains failure) they were "floated" at a set voltage and the current would "trickle charge" them to overcome internal losses of capacity.

Bike and car batteries are quite different and the battery chemistry is quite different due to what bikes/cars demand of batteries.  These need to to provide high (cranking) current for a few seconds until the engine starts and the alternator takes over supplying power.

There are some pretty clever chargers out there now that will look after a bike/car battery for extended periods of non-use.  I am sure there are many other options, but the Oxford specs read well in the way they charge/maintain/float batteries.  They can do a regular test discharge to check battery condition, then decide what to do after that.

I would never use a cheapo/dumb charger for long term battery maintenance.  I would only use one of these "regular chargers" to get some charge rapidly back into the battery.  By dumb I mean they probably don't revert to a low float voltage and hence low trickle charge - i this case they keep banging in current and overcharging the battery resulting in a stuffed battery.  Many of us would be familiar with having to top up a wet battery with distilled water. This is a result of overcharging (usually by design)  The same overcharge happens eventually to a sealed battery except you can't top up the water.

The newer "smart" chargers are not that expensive and if you ride rarely are probably a good investment. They might cost 2 to 3 times a new battery but when you want to ride, you want to ride, not get in the car and find a place that has a battery ready to go, then 2 hours later the moment has gone.