1250GSA battery replacement

[wessie]

Tracker is an insurance requirement but I have left it longer without being on the battery charger and it has been a non-issue so I don't think that needs to be changed.

the tracker power consumption can vary due to local conditions affecting the connection with the 4G network. If your local transmitter is wonky or something is affecting the connection the tracker will have to use more power to boost its signal. Something as simple as a tree in leaf over summer can do this. Then, in winter, the signal improves as the leaves drop. Vehicles parked on the drive at your place or next door? Putting a freezer in the garage might affect it, or any other device that transmits on wifi or has an RFI signature. Has anything changed in the environment?

I have never had a battery die this dead, ever, in 30 years of riding (plenty of running jump starts though), let alone dying in such a short period of time (less than 3 weeks) it was charging good on the ride as I rode with the tyre pressure screen on the dash. I could understand if it was colder weather.

Is it a known issue with these BMW OEM batteries?

not in my experience. On my 2016 BMWs (S1000XR and R1200RS) the OE batteries lasted 4 years and 5 years.

 

[R_otor]

the tracker power consumption can vary due to local conditions affecting the connection with the 4G network. If your local transmitter is wonky or something is affecting the connection the tracker will have to use more power to boost its signal. Something as simple as a tree in leaf over summer can do this. Then, in winter, the signal improves as the leaves drop. Vehicles parked on the drive at your place or next door? Putting a freezer in the garage might affect it, or any other device that transmits on wifi or has an RFI signature. Has anything changed in the environment?



not in my experience. On my 2016 BMWs (S1000XR and R1200RS) the OE batteries lasted 4 years and 5 years.

Just spoke to tracker company, queried why I never received an alert etc. Low battery alert is an option that is requested. Either way interesting information, battery dropped under 12v to 11.9v on the 16th then dropped to 4.7 on the 12th. That's off, parked and locked, definitely a battery fault.

I now have low battery alert on my app

 

[zerax9]

Just spoke to tracker company, queried why I never received an alert etc. Low battery alert is an option that is requested. Either way interesting information, battery dropped under 12v to 11.9v on the 16th then dropped to 4.7 on the 12th. That's off, parked and locked, definitely a battery fault.

I now have low battery alert on my app

It sounds like it's just been drained too much... if you can get the voltage up high enough so that a charger recognises it as a 12v battery (like pop another battery in parallel)... it'll probably be ok (ish)...

 

[siddo]

Just buy a new battery.

 

[Spook1969]

I’ve always bought the standard battery from Nippys and never had an issue.

 

[R_otor]

Again thanks for your input, as it turned out you all provided some good information.
1) I figured out the main issue was a PEBKAC error.
2) @wessie the charger indeed is a solid state charger and there was advice on the product site about this..... see point 1
3) @Pukmeister you were correct, the ctek was not entering the desulphate cycle on the bike for the reasons you noted.... back to point 1
4) @zerax9 I had not removed the battery from the bike as you correctly suggested....point 1

Removed battery yesterday, put on charge with no change from 12-9pm. Pulled it off for an hour, back on at 10pm, one last hope. Checked earlier today and it has gone to the slow charge cycle up to full charge before it runs a check to see if it can hold charge. Hopefully it does as I was planning to replace the battery anyway in the next 12/18 months before a big ride.

Thanks again. Learn something new each day.

 

[siddo]

Again thanks for your input, as it turned out you all provided some good information.
1) I figured out the main issue was a PEBKAC error.
2) @wessie the charger indeed is a solid state charger and there was advice on the product site about this..... see point 1
3) @Pukmeister you were correct, the ctek was not entering the desulphate cycle on the bike for the reasons you noted.... back to point 1
4) @zerax9 I had not removed the battery from the bike as you correctly suggested....point 1

Removed battery yesterday, put on charge with no change from 12-9pm. Pulled it off for an hour, back on at 10pm, one last hope. Checked earlier today and it has gone to the slow charge cycle up to full charge before it runs a check to see if it can hold charge. Hopefully it does as I was planning to replace the battery anyway in the next 12/18 months before a big ride.

Thanks again. Learn something new each day.

Unless you bite the bullet and replace it, you're going to get stranded. Batteries are not something you have a replacement date on. They either pass a test or don't and yours has failed.
Good luck.

 

[NeilCol]

Well I thought I would just recharge this thread with another positive for the Motobat hybrid battery.
1250GSA was 2 years old in September and had the original battery.
Save for a stupid error on my part when my mate stopped for fuel and I turned the engine off but left the ignition on the battery “had” been fine.
Was charged occasionally when left for longer than a week, but found the regular use to work of 6 miles seemed to be enough to keep it going.
Then- out of the blue last Thursday- went to work in the morning as normal- 3 hrs later had to go to another office 4 miles away, again fine. Left it there for 2 hours and set off on the 6 mile journey home again. Decided I would stop for fuel near home and that was it.
Damn thing wouldn’t start. Would not even try really just a very quick burst of about a second then nothing else.
Turned off and on and same again.

Wife came with the jump leads to get me going so row home and put it on charge overnight.
Next morning- same again.

So read these pages…and eventually bit the bullet and plumped for the Hybrid battery.

Finally arrived today- Christ on a bike- what a difference at start up. Much quicker to start and bursts into life. Feels like it’s jumping off the tarmac.

Expensive yes- but with most things you get what you pay for- an extra £80 over OE for the peace of mind feels value for money to me.

Interestingly when I tested the old one it was reading 12.75 volts- which wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. Seems that as soon as ignition goes on it must be crashing it below what the ECU is happy with.

Thanks for the recommendations.

 

[Pukmeister]

Left it there for 2 hours and set off on the 6 mile journey home again. Decided I would stop for fuel near home and that was it.
Damn thing wouldn’t start. Would not even try really just a very quick burst of about a second then nothing else.
Turned off and on and same again.

That's the frustrating thing with the 1250 model unlike all my previous bikes. You can start absolutely fine, but stop after a short journey and the bugger is unable to restart. Even the BMW recovery agent confirmed this with me, saying he has to jump start so many 1250's that have done short trips (usually stopped to fill up).

With my bike, I rode about a further two miles home after my jump start by BMW and the bugger then restarted probably four or five times sat on my driveway. Go figure ???

Fitting the Hybrid (whilst not what I call cheap) completely eliminated the issue.

Life is too short to be worrying about getting stranded by a randomly unreliable bike that on paper should be fine, but isn't, especially if you use yours to go on a bike tour far from home.

 

[NeilCol]

That's the frustrating thing with the 1250 model unlike all my previous bikes. You can start absolutely fine, but stop after a short journey and the bugger is unable to restart. Even the BMW recovery agent confirmed this with me, saying he has to jump start so many 1250's that have done short trips (usually stopped to fill up).

With my bike, I rode about a further two miles home after my jump start by BMW and the bugger then restarted probably four or five times sat on my driveway. Go figure ???

Fitting the Hybrid (whilst not what I call cheap) completely eliminated the issue.

Life is too short to be worrying about getting stranded by a randomly unreliable bike that on paper should be fine, but isn't, especially if you use yours to go on a bike tour far from home.

Exactly this- didn’t do a trip this year, but would really piss on my chips if I were abroad and something as basic as this happened. Yes I could drag a booster pack about, some might say it’s wise to do anyway, but a bike that’s serviced annually, hardly cheap, 2 yrs old with 8k on the clock and supposed to be a premium brand should be fitted with a battery capable of starting what really is a great bike. But things like this let BMW and their reputation down.

Clearly they build to a budget, but I doubt they would suffer too much from making sure the battery was the best it could be. For me, OE parts really should be up to the job.

Amazes me that in a competitive world and all other bike companies trying to steal sales from the GS that BMW haven’t done something quite loudly to fix this. Surely something so small to them would just cement their place as the number 1 selling bike in this segment?

 

[resovoir]

Yuasa YTX14H-BS every time for me.

 

[GrinningGSer]

Yuasa YTX14H-BS every time for me.

Same for me , on my aged 1200GSA . It is bigger than OEM, but just requires removal of the bike’s polystyrene base.

 

[hawkeye]

Same for me , on my aged 1200GSA . It is bigger than OEM, but just requires removal of the bike’s polystyrene base.

YTX14H-BS was the same size as the OEM battery on my R1250GS - did you perhaps have a lithium battery before, as that is smaller

 

[Stevie4scoops]

When you change the battery on modern cars, you have to plug in an electronic tool and tell the car's ECU the battery has been replaced.

Do you need to do tell the GS 1250 it's got a new battery and if it's different to the OEM capacity?

 

[Sly]

When you change the battery on modern cars, you have to plug in an electronic tool and tell the car's ECU the battery has been replaced.

Do you need to do tell the GS 1250 it's got a new battery and if it's different to the OEM capacity?

I didn't. Old battery out, new one in, done.

 

[littleade]

When you change the battery on modern cars, you have to plug in an electronic tool and tell the car's ECU the battery has been replaced.

Do you need to do tell the GS 1250 it's got a new battery and if it's different to the OEM capacity?

That's because of the stop start systems on modern cars. As the battery ages the ecu increases the amount of charge it puts into the battery, so it needs to know there's a new one in place so it can adjust the amount of charge it's putting into the new battery.

 

[Stevie4scoops]

That's because of the stop start systems on modern cars. As the battery ages the ecu increases the amount of charge it puts into the battery, so it needs to know there's a new one in place so it can adjust the amount of charge it's putting into the new battery.

Thanks for that.

 

[DrSavvy]

I just got the Motobatt MHTX16 and it works like a charm! Had some issues with previous one when bike was hot, and voltage would drop to around 11.9V after 2-3 short rides.

 

[GrinningGSer]

YTX14H-BS was the same size as the OEM battery on my R1250GS - did you perhaps have a lithium battery before, as that is smaller

No , my original was Yuasa YTZ14S OEM on my 1200 and smaller than YUASA YTX14H-BS, so needed removal of the polystyrene bulking platform . Both are lead acid AGM.

 

[Easy_Rider]

Well i have now brought one of these Motobatt MHTX16 batties for my 2019 1250RT.
Got it for £132.25 from Race it Direct eBay store.
My problem was when i go to start the bike it tries to start then the clocks reset and i have to turn the bike off and back on and try again. If this sounds like i have another problem please let me know. My GS-911 tells me all is good, but battery volts is low at 11.8v when its connected