Battery and/or charger problems

[Greenman14]

My bike is just over a year old and I bought an Optimate 4 to keep the battery charged. I don't leave it connected all the time, maybe for a day or two every couple of weeks. Anyway, the bike has not been used for over a week and now the battery is completely flat.

I left it with the ignition key in, but switched off, and my TomTom cradle plugged into the socket just behind the oil cooler. Maybe the TomTom has flattened my battery? Doing a search opinion seems divided on whether this can happen; the socket behind the oil cooler should only be live when the ignition is on.

I plugged the Optimate into the aux socket like I usually do and it seemed to start charging, but after an hour had only reached 11.7v. When I set the charger to "normal" mode, I.e. non-canbus, I get zero volts from it. Is there something clever about the charger that makes it do this? Seems to me the charger is faulty. And maybe the battery as well.

My old, non-canbus, charger is quite happily charging the disconnected battery at 12.4v.

Any ideas?

 

[G5RJO]

Two things here really...

1. The TOMTOM, I had an issue with a Garmin plugged into the connector you mention. It would not always power down and would, on occasions flat the battery. There is seemingly something in the mount that causes the canbus socket to stay live. Don't see why the TOMTOM couldn't do the same. I now power my Garmin via a relay and it consistently shuts down properly.

2. Your charger, Unless it is a charger that will cause the canbus controlled socket to stay live and thus enable a charge, the charger will be doing nothing at all as it will not be connected to the battery. Wire in a constantly live socket somewhere (via a fuse to be safe) attached directly to the battery and that will be a safe charging point and probably more useful for powering things like tyre pumps etc as it will not have the 5 amp canbus trip out issue.

It 'may' be that the TOMTOM is draining the battery and the charger is doing nothing at all to help...

Hope that helps,

Roger.

 

[Deleted account 210516001]

Your TomTom cradle can continue to draw power. The give away is the sat nav powers up when you put it in the cradle before you switch on the ignition. A slightly less scientific test is to switch off the bike and leave it for about 30 mins when the canbus should have shut down then stick your tongue on the pins in the cradle and see if you get a tingle. It does not keep the canbus open every time but when it does a week is enough to flatten the battery. I have wired a switch into the lead to my cradle now just because of this problem.

 

[Bendy toy]

When batteries go absolutely flat they often refuse to hold a charge.

Connect the charger direct to the battery and disconnect the battery +ve lead. The Optimate will then run its diagnostic routine without canbus interference and attempt to recover the battery.

In future use the Optimate battery connector and avoid the accessory socket for charging.

 

[morty]

got to disagree with you partly bendy,if your optimate 4 is the dual charging type theres no problem using the socket thats what its been designed for & i've never had a problem using it.connecting your optimate willy nilly a day here and there negates the point of having it.it is designed to be connected for long periods of time conditioning your battery.the only time i would connect directly is if your battery is totally flat & requires desulphating, that requires a load your canbus cannot take & as bendy stated you need to connect directly to the battery & switch modes on your optimate or it will not recover your battery from dead as it will be in the wrong mode.
hope this helps.(read the manual)

 

[Bendy toy]

It looks like the accessories have discharged the system faster than the optimate can top it up or the canbus confused the optimate.

Im a great fan of optimates, but all sorts of strange things happen when the voltage drops too far, so prefer to keep it simple.

 

[juddadredd]

I've got an optimate 4 - Used it for about a year + a bit and I can tell you one thing - DON'T USE THE FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT THROUGH CANBUS if you have ANYTHING that is NON BMW fitted kit on the bike.

The bloody thing is calibrated to charge ust the STANDARD BIKE when in CANBUS mode and NOT to anything drawing current, so over time you get a NEGATIVE charge - found that out the hard way and cost me a new battery.

Get the supplied battery connection lead connect it and then thread it through the seat area and out just under the frame so you don't have to take off the seat to charge it, then connect it that way it takes the EXACT same amount of time to connect the charger to is as it does for the canbus socket.

It's the way I do it now and have ZERO problems.

 

[davegs]

Your TomTom cradle can continue to draw power. The give away is the sat nav powers up when you put it in the cradle before you switch on the ignition. A slightly less scientific test is to switch off the bike and leave it for about 30 mins when the canbus should have shut down then stick your tongue on the pins in the cradle and see if you get a tingle. It does not keep the canbus open every time but when it does a week is enough to flatten the battery. I have wired a switch into the lead to my cradle now just because of this problem.

This test only works ONCE on ht leads!.

 

[Bendy toy]

An automatic do it all software/electronics pack of cards will almost always do something unexpected or just fall over. Expecting more than one (can bus and optimate) to cooperate is a waste of time. The charger has more electronic than an Apollo moon lander so keep it simple and plug it direct to the battery as described by @juddadredd.

 

[Greenman14]

Thanks for the replies, I did charge the battery ok with it disconnected, using a different charger. Now it seems to respond to the Optimate ok, though I have removed the TomTom cradle. My multimeter has a minimum range of 2.0ma and even on that showed no current with the cradle connected.

Basically I don't trust the canbus system and will take the advice to wire my Optimate direct to the battery.

Funny, but before the battery went fully flat I thought it was a bit sluggish to turn over. Lesson learnt, take not and don't ignore this. Also take jump leads on trip to the Alps in June!

 

[davegs]

Charging

Just wire the socket on thwe bike directly to the battery via a fuse then you can charge without worrying about the canbus. Do a search this has come up many times before, waste of time changing the can bus fluid mas it makes no difference.

 

[juddadredd]

The lead that Dave we are trying to get you to fit came with your optimate its the one without the croc clips on it, just make sure that you route it out of the way BUT have it accessible for when you charge the bike, as I've seen people have to remove the set to charge theirs.

Mine poking out middle of the frame on the right hand side of the bike.

 

[Bendy toy]

Neutrix plug systems intended for PA systems are tough and wont shake loose like ordinary ciggy lighter sockets. Have a look at these by

http://www.neutrik.com/en/?q=speakon

Maplin sell a few basics
http://www.maplin.co.uk/productsearch?criteria=Speakon