1300 GSA BMW battery maintenance

[Deleted account 251212001]

Picked my R1300GS up last week. Checked battery and it's AGM which wasn't discussed at order time and dealer is kindly offering to swap it out for the 'lightweight' option as it's put in the configurator and put in a lithium battery. What's the general consensus here? Apart from a few kg saving, google tells me Lithium charges faster and supports more charge cycles. Should I take up the offer? Any downsides?

well I have lithium and it has given me no concerns for the 12 months I have owned the bike, starts on the button after bike has been left over winter (I use an optimate 4 dual via the socket in the dash). If I were you I would take them up on the offer.

My warranty claims have been for a noisy starter motor and replacement seat, nothing battery/electrical related.

 

[pfaz]

well I have lithium and it has given me no concerns for the 12 months I have owned the bike, starts on the button after bike has been left over winter (I use an optimate 4 dual via the socket in the dash). If I were you I would take them up on the offer.

My warranty claims have been for a noisy starter motor and replacement seat, nothing battery/electrical related.

Cheers for the feedback SiRich. What was up with the seat?

 

[Deleted account 251212001]

Cheers for the feedback SiRich. What was up with the seat?

No probs

Seat - just cosmetic - the vinyl cover was not fitted properly/flush, they said they had had a few like that.

 

[matsmith749]

I'm still struggling to get my head round this.

I have the square black BMW Motorrad plus charger (says Lithium compatible).

But Lithium <> Lithium in battery tech.

On the Motorrad Plus - Lithium mode is LiPo, which is a totally different battery techniology than the bike battery, which is clearly stamped LiIon on the top casing.

I have tried the plus charger.

In standard mode (the default & incorrect mode - it does not auto sense) it charges via the socket on the right of the dash assembly, but always thinks the battery is 10% charged at 13.2v & pushes on to a full charge of 14.4V before going into maintenance mode.

I'm gonna switch it over to mode 2 (Lithium Poly mode) & see what difference it makes.

Neither mode is correct for a Lithium Ion bike battery - it may work (kindof) but will it lead a an early failure of the battery? Probably.

 

[leadfarmer]

I'm still struggling to get my head round this.

I have the square black BMW Motorrad plus charger (says Lithium compatible).

But Lithium <> Lithium in battery tech.

On the Motorrad Plus - Lithium mode is LiPo, which is a totally different battery techniology than the bike battery, which is clearly stamped LiIon on the top casing.

I have tried the plus charger.

In standard mode (the default & incorrect mode - it does not auto sense) it charges via the socket on the right of the dash assembly, but always thinks the battery is 10% charged at 13.2v & pushes on to a full charge of 14.4V before going into maintenance mode.

I'm gonna switch it over to mode 2 (Lithium Poly mode) & see what difference it makes.

Neither mode is correct for a Lithium Ion bike battery - it may work (kindof) but will it lead a an early failure of the battery? Probably.

You should have set it to lithium mode before you connected it to the battery, that is the correct mode

Mine was on over winter through the canbus socket, no problems whatsoever, does what it’s supposed to do

 

[pbbanks]

I'm still struggling to get my head round this.

I have the square black BMW Motorrad plus charger (says Lithium compatible).

But Lithium <> Lithium in battery tech.

On the Motorrad Plus - Lithium mode is LiPo, which is a totally different battery techniology than the bike battery, which is clearly stamped LiIon on the top casing.

I have tried the plus charger.

In standard mode (the default & incorrect mode - it does not auto sense) it charges via the socket on the right of the dash assembly, but always thinks the battery is 10% charged at 13.2v & pushes on to a full charge of 14.4V before going into maintenance mode.

I'm gonna switch it over to mode 2 (Lithium Poly mode) & see what difference it makes.

Neither mode is correct for a Lithium Ion bike battery - it may work (kindof) but will it lead a an early failure of the battery? Probably.

You might be overthinking it. If it's a lithium battery set the charger to lithium and let it worry about it .
Don't think the % shown when you plug the charger in is the % of charge??. It's the % the charger is through it's charge process. Even on a fully charged battery it won't go straight to 100% when you first attach the charger.

 

[TaskMule]

Battery charger manufacturers always seem to be trying to make some kind of design statement with their light and control layouts, usually just making things more confusing. Optimate is the absolute worst for this. They are plastered with so much crap, every feature seems to have it's own corporate logo and panel layouts that completely change with every device. I just hook it up and hope it does everything automatically. I can easily find my way around a 48 track sound mixing board but this Optimate Lithium charger is the most unintuitive device I've ever seen.