1300 GSA and electrical accessories

Slipperyeel

Well-known member
UKGSer Subscriber
Joined
Jul 8, 2012
Messages
3,489
Reaction score
296
Location
London
Now a seed has been planted, I'm beginning to think of getting a new bike. 1250 maybe, 1300 maybe (GS Adventure in both cases).

A 1250 was suggested, directly because of me wanting to run heated clothing (dealer suggestion)

What accessories are people running? Anyone using heated clothing on their 1300?
 
To elaborate, below is a list of accessories I'd want to have. Some may now be native to the bike compared to my twin cam.

Heated seat - 20W - (maybe now an OEM item)
Heated jacket - 90W
Heated trousers - 48W
K7 dashcam - 7.2W
Garmin XT - 10W(max - i have stated a max here)
Phone on charge - 5K

This lot, at a max, would draw a theoretical 13A (heated clothing is a max 10A)

Can the 1300 cope with that for a short period at idle?
 
Blimey, buy a car?
Why? What is excessive on that list? Apart from the heated clothing and dashcam, most are already native on the 1300 and many other bikes (phone charger, satnav, heated grips, heated seats, tyre pressure monitors, fog lights....)

You maybe don't ride all year and long distances? Or you're just double hard 😄
 
To elaborate, below is a list of accessories I'd want to have. Some may now be native to the bike compared to my twin cam.

Heated seat - 20W - (maybe now an OEM item)
Heated jacket - 90W
Heated trousers - 48W
K7 dashcam - 7.2W
Garmin XT - 10W(max - i have stated a max here)
Phone on charge - 5K

This lot, at a max, would draw a theoretical 13A (heated clothing is a max 10A)

Can the 1300 cope with that for a short period at idle?
reads extreme but in the winter I’ve had phone on wireless charger, Garmin, heated seat and grips, heated vest all running without an issue….

Barry
 
Why? What is excessive on that list? Apart from the heated clothing and dashcam, most are already native on the 1300 and many other bikes (phone charger, satnav, heated grips, heated seats, tyre pressure monitors, fog lights....)

You maybe don't ride all year and long distances? Or you're just double hard 😄
Chill,it's not a pissing contest, yes I ride all year round 12k on average, but you do seem to worry about things.
 
A 1250 was suggested, directly because of me wanting to run heated clothing (dealer suggestion)
Haha, did he have a 1250 for sale by any chance!
Either bike should have more than enough reserve electrical power to run all your heated gear, the cause of all your woes on the other thread were probably not just down to the load you placed on the bikes` system but a combination of age, wear`n`tear, weathering and general useage. GS alternators are an oft-replaced part, are they not? They don`t last forever, your heated gear is quite a load though and may have shortened the life of a middle-aged alternator. Who knows, impossible to tell, really.

It seems a bit bizarre to choose a bike on it`s alternator output but for what it`s worth the 1250 has 500W and the 1300 has 650W, the increase on the 1300 may have been necessary to power all the extra gubbins those bikes are saddled with such as ride height motors, radars, `leccy screens and gawd knows what else. Take those loads off the total and you`re probably left with a similar surplus electrical capacity to that of the 1250.

They do seem to have upped the load you can put on `all onboard accessory sockets` from 5A on the 1250 to 12A on a 13. That may help you hook up all your gear..

How is diagnostics on the 1200 going, have you been confident enough to connect the battery up yet!
 
many 1300's are struggling with electrical load - ASA, Suspension, inoperative brake light issues all day long - many a dealer is claiming is low volts fun triggering the vastly overly complex electrical system to throw a tantrum - I forget is it 250 pages of rubbish in the user manual trying to explain all the fault codes the bike can have....

mine came with 10 stored faults the day I got it.....
 
many 1300's are struggling with electrical load - ASA, Suspension, inoperative brake light issues all day long - many a dealer is claiming is low volts fun triggering the vastly overly complex electrical system to throw a tantrum - I forget is it 250 pages of rubbish in the user manual trying to explain all the fault codes the bike can have....

mine came with 10 stored faults the day I got it.....
Hence my 1250GS was a standard model (all 4). Never had an electrical problem. Run GPS, phone, heated gear and grips. No tracker or alarm. Interesting that the battery was constantly healthy. So never connected the BMW battery.
However recently when I asked the dealer for a trade in price he said the bike will have to go to trade because he will not put it in his shop? It lacks all the features that people want…Yet the previous bikes sold immediately.
Put 90000 miles on a R45 riding all year around, in late 80’. Didn’t have any gizmos…
 
Haha, did he have a 1250 for sale by any chance!
Either bike should have more than enough reserve electrical power to run all your heated gear, the cause of all your woes on the other thread were probably not just down to the load you placed on the bikes` system but a combination of age, wear`n`tear, weathering and general useage. GS alternators are an oft-replaced part, are they not? They don`t last forever, your heated gear is quite a load though and may have shortened the life of a middle-aged alternator. Who knows, impossible to tell, really.

It seems a bit bizarre to choose a bike on it`s alternator output but for what it`s worth the 1250 has 500W and the 1300 has 650W, the increase on the 1300 may have been necessary to power all the extra gubbins those bikes are saddled with such as ride height motors, radars, `leccy screens and gawd knows what else. Take those loads off the total and you`re probably left with a similar surplus electrical capacity to that of the 1250.

They do seem to have upped the load you can put on `all onboard accessory sockets` from 5A on the 1250 to 12A on a 13. That may help you hook up all your gear..

How is diagnostics on the 1200 going, have you been confident enough to connect the battery up yet!
Thanks for the reassurance ie. that you'd reckon that what I'm asking for from the system should be within the 1250/1300s ability. I'm getting the impression though that they're might not be a lot of headroom for accessories so needs an eye on it...

Not really choosing a biker on alternator output. As you said, age of my twin cam might be a feature of my recent issue and I'm very much in agreement. It's my taxi to Italy and back quite frequently, so this could be asking a lot. Saying that, it's actually in excellent condition, despite the current fun.

My post was really just to learn a little of what other people are running (accessories) and maybe hear if there have been any issues with them.

Current diagnostics are ongoing. But I've ruled out the alternator and starter. Tested a number of switches/sensors but I'm creeping towards the headstock...so it might be a punch point (cable tie). But next up is the switchgear... Will update when I have a eureka moment 😊
 
many 1300's are struggling with electrical load - ASA, Suspension, inoperative brake light issues all day long - many a dealer is claiming is low volts fun triggering the vastly overly complex electrical system to throw a tantrum - I forget is it 250 pages of rubbish in the user manual trying to explain all the fault codes the bike can have....

mine came with 10 stored faults the day I got it.....
Absolutely, mostly when starting as the lithium battery suffers an initial voltage drop then ‘shuts other electronics’ out to ensure it can start. Hence my bike got the lithium battery taken out and replaced with an AGM foc.

Barry
 
My post was really just to learn a little of what other people are running (accessories) and maybe hear if there have been any issues with them.
I suffer from the cold so when out`n`about in the this weather i have heated feet, jacket, Mrs Hann has her jacket plugged in too and the bikes heated grips and both OEM heated seats on. Usually have the GS auxilliary lights on, too..
Bike copes absolutely fine! (1250)
 
urrent diagnostics are ongoing. But I've ruled out the alternator and starter. Tested a number of switches/sensors but I'm creeping towards the headstock...so it might be a punch point (cable tie). But next up is the switchgear... Will update when I have a eureka moment 😊
What you could do if still nervous about hooking up the battery is to place a low wattage bulb between the battery+ve post to the main battery lead and then have a good poke, prod and wiggle of all the wiring loom and hardware etc.
If the bulb lights up you will have located the short.
 
What you could do if still nervous about hooking up the battery is to place a low wattage bulb between the battery+ve post to the main battery lead and then have a good poke, prod and wiggle of all the wiring loom and hardware etc.
If the bulb lights up you will have located the short.
That is an idea I think I'm going to try! Thanks 😊
Last night I thought I'd found the issue! The sidestand switch is defo buggered. But because I've been riding bikes forever, I just never leave the sidestand out, so never noticed it wasn't working. It'll need replacing. However with it disconnected, I'm still getting a big resistance reading across the battery leads (no battery fitted, alternator disconnected, starter disconnected...)

I'll get there! But all tips are welcome! 😊
 
many 1300's are struggling with electrical load - ASA, Suspension, inoperative brake light issues all day long - many a dealer is claiming is low volts fun triggering the vastly overly complex electrical system to throw a tantrum - I forget is it 250 pages of rubbish in the user manual trying to explain all the fault codes the bike can have....

mine came with 10 stored faults the day I got it.....
….what effin claptrap.
I wouldn’t trust you to wire-up my Christmas tree.
 
I cant get the Keis jacket to stay on, on the 1300 with Lithium battery. Had the same on my GSA 1250 (non lithium) and upgraded the battery and it then worked fine. Not sure if there is such a thing as an upgrade on the Lithium battery.
 


Back
Top Bottom