Adding electrical extras to a r1200gs - Battery strengh ?

[Womble]

I've just checked the specs for my old bulletcam and it only takes 130mA. Even if the 9V regulator isn't very efficient, that's still only about 2W, so I think you can safely rule the bulletcams out of the equation, unless they aren't on a switched feed and are still drawing power with the ignition off.

 

[MattW]

I've just checked the specs for my old bulletcam and it only takes 130mA. Even if the 9V regulator isn't very efficient, that's still only about 2W, so I think you can safely rule the bulletcams out of the equation, unless they aren't on a switched feed and are still drawing power with the ignition off.

I think the answer lies here in the OP's original post:

I know when I bought it in January it ran out of electric after a week in the garage so I put it onto Optimate.

After this the battery was buggered (i.e. will have had its capacity permanently reduced) or was possibly already buggered and was further buggered by being flattened again (that's a lot of buggers in one sentence). This can not be recovered (whatever the claims made by charger manufacturers) - the charger will just charge to the new reduced capacity and as far as its concerned, everything will be reported as fine.

 

[Womble]

It doesn't say if the the regulator is switched or not

 

[JJH]

well, it might kill yours, but all mine are fine.

just how much amps draw, and for how long do you think it's going to take to "kill the battery"?

Do the maths yourself add up all the items that are on heated grips 60 watts aprox depending on setting head lamp main beam 60 watts tail light led or not
various bits of heated gear jacket pants gloves satnav radio phone very little but what about a heated seat and maby fogs and spots and a rear fog just to round off. I would say we are getting on for a kilowatt of drain. Now how long will a 20 amp hour battery supply this drain for and still be able to reliably atart a gs1200? I know I have taken a extream example but this could be real sineario and the heated kit might not be tro the igniton key. JJH

 

[MattW]

Remember the 'rule of thumb' which says that in order to keep your battery healthy, you should never deplete it to more than half its capacity (and even then charge it regularly and as soon as possible).

So your 19Ah battery only has 10Ah (at best) to give you if you want to keep it healthy.

The biggest load by far that your battery will see is starting, especially on cold days when friction and oil viscosity are at their worst (and helpfully, batteries lose quite a lot of performance). This short but high load takes a big hit out of the batteries charge which is fine unless you then turn on a load of accessories and drive five miles, then stop and do it all again..... If you're starting off with a battery which is already past its best, you're going to see problems sooner or later.

 

[andyclift]

My GSA runs Zumo, Autocom, heated grips and a heated jacket wired straight to battery as it takes too much power for the standard socket. All through winter it ran this on short works trips with 5 days of no use between work cycles.

I have never used any sort of charger and bike has always started first press of the button, even in very minus temperatures.

I tend to agree with the post that if the battery is going flat there is a constant draw on the battery when it is out of use.

 

[Brian ROSEN]

Just like us!

"...All through winter it ran this on short works trips with 5 days of no use between work cycles." and that is probably the answer to the problem....A good many difficulties , not just low batteries, occur because a bike is underused.

 

[RickG]

The alternator is huge and will easily cope with the vast array of junk some Tosser clag their bikes up with. Clearly if the bike is used for very short trips with all manner of stuff turned full-on then the balance of supply and demand will mean that the net flow of current will be from the battery and it will become discharged.

The battery in GS's is small, but adequate for the job provided it's in reasonable nick and not abused (see above), though some batteries will still fail regardless of the care they are given.

Sulphation begins to take place when the battery voltage drops below about 12.5 volts but it's not instant death, more a of a slow demise. Maintaining a charged battery will prevent this but I'm not convinced it's necessary to be paranoid as in many years of regularly used GS's running spots and stuff I've never had a battery problem, including leaving the bike parked-up for 3 week periods without charging.