2010 1200GS flat battery

[Engineer]

I believe that there is an issue with the under the seat power socket on the 2010 bikes that causes the battery to drain over a few days.

There is something about the Garmin Quest cradle that confuses the bikes electronics and keeps the bike electronics 'alive' even after the bike has been switched off.

The Garmin quest cradle itself consumes almost no quiescent power from the socket when there is no sat nav in place, but if it is connected to the accessory socket when the bike is turned off then something confuses the bike's electronics.

I am guessing, but it might have something to do with the two-way nature of the accessory socket, i.e. when used with the BMW charger it acts as an input instead of an output and I assume the electronics stay 'alive' when the BMW charger is in use.

If I disconnected the Garmin cradle from the underseat accessory socket them my battery lasts for weeks of non-use, as one would expect.

My assumption is that once the bike is turned off then the accessory socket shuts down a minute or two later and then the bikes electronics go into 'sleep' mode. This does not appear to happen when the Garmin cradle is in place.

My 2005 1200GS didn't have this problem. I am sure that one of the software guys at BMW Motorrad could shed light on this but the chances of communicating with them is probably very slim.

 

[cookie]

put a fused socket in, and run the sat nav off that.

 

[solidstate100]

Er...cant you use the power supply provided by BMW for this very purpose? ie the lead that's plumbed in near the headstock?

 

[Pukmeister]

The headstock satnav connector in the bikes loom has never given me any problems with my bike-powered satnav (tomtom rider) cradle, the battery is always fully charged. Perhaps that socket works differently to the one under the seat ??

 

[Engineer]

Er...cant you use the power supply provided by BMW for this very purpose? ie the lead that's plumbed in near the headstock?

I haven't fitted the socket for the forward accessory socket. However I believe that the function of this socket is identical to the one just below the seat - so I have no reason to believe that the Garmin Quest cradle would not have the same effect if plugged into the front socket.

I would just like confirmation that the Garmin Quest cradle can do 'funny' things to the bike's electronics when the bike is switched off. It would seem that I can avoid the problem by unplugging from the accessory socket, but this should be uneccessary.

Just a thought - maybe the 12v to 5v regulator in the cradle has a big f-off capacitor on its input and maintains a voltage on the accessory socket for a while after the bike has switched off, maybe the ecu then assumes that a battery charger has been plugged into the socket and keeps the bike 'alive' - I will pull the cradle apart and take a look.

 

[Deleted account 190920001]

See my post here http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=275078 you might be right about the capacitor but its easy checked. Easy fixed as well with a 40p diode.

 

[Engineer]

See my post here http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=275078 you might be right about the capacitor but its easy checked. Easy fixed as well with a 40p diode.

Thanks - good to hear that at least one other person has had a similar issue, I was wondering about my sanity for a while.

Very interesting - I will dismantle the cradle unit and see what the regulator circuit looks like - I assume that it is a 7805 or something similar with a relatively large capacitor on the input side.

The series diode sounds like a good idea, but some of them do have a large(ish) reverse leakage especially when hot so might have to choose carefully, perhaps a bleed resistor to ground might help here too.