Battery/charger

[talonfs]

Looking for advice :

I am gonig away for 3 weeks and want to know if I should disconnect the battery on my '04 12GS, and what to do when I get back.

As a secondary to this - I ride every day, with the cold the bike struggles to turn over in the mornings (she sleeps in a garage), hsould I get a chrger or upgrade to the apparently all singing/dancing 'Odyssey' battery which appears to have more ooomph than the oe.


Thanks.

 

[birdseye]

Does the bike start first time every time? If so, why change?

The GSs have had a chequered history of batteries running down in store. Mine would happily have coped with a 3 week lay off, but others found their bikes would not. So no one can really answer your question except to say that plugging in a maintenance charger cant worsen the situation in the short term.

Interestingly, there is one editor of a classic bike mag (classic bikers often have numerous bikes used infrequently and therefore a problem of keeping several batteries charged) who reckons that trickle chargers do no good at all long term. Got to say mine never seemed to harm the battery and it was used for 2 years.

 

[theEnglishman]

..
...there is one editor of a classic bike mag (classic bikers often have numerous bikes used infrequently and therefore a problem of keeping several batteries charged) who reckons that trickle chargers do no good at all long term. ....

This is misleading in the extreme - lead acid batteries should always be kept as close to fully charged as possible at all times to prevent sulphation.

I'd recomment getting a decent charger (Optimate/BMW or equivalent) and keep it connected while you're not using the bike.

If you really want to know from the horses mouth then call a lead acid battery manufacturer and ask them that they'd recommend. I can guarantee it won't be 'Nah - leave it half charged for as long as you want'

 

[Wapping]

An Optimate battery charger will set you back about £35 or look on Ebay.

I used one (or more) everyday on my Blackbird (7+ years) - a Pan European - a CBR 600 track bike (sitting on an Optimate now) and a FireBlade.

Dead easy to use. Just leave it plugged in 24/7/365. Mine has never missed a beat nor have I ever had to replace a battery.

Connect the Optimate straight to the battery, not via the accessory socket, it won't work. The flying lead connector (supplied) is easiest, or simply use the croc clips (supplied) straight to the terminals, if you can be arsed to take the seat off each morning and evening.

If you do feel like disconnecting the battery, when you reconnect it turn the ignition on (don't fire it up) and open / close the throttle two or three times. This will se-set the throttle position sensors. Details in the manual. Reset the clock as well.

There is an advert in this month's Bike magazine for a place doing Optimates on offer. Drop into WHS and copy down the details.

 

[wilbjr21]

An Optimate battery charger will set you back about £35 or look on Ebay.

I used one (or more) everyday on my Blackbird (7+ years) - a Pan European - a CBR 600 track bike (sitting on an Optimate now) and a FireBlade.

Dead easy to use. Just leave it plugged in 24/7/365. Mine has never missed a beat nor have I ever had to replace a battery.

Connect the Optimate straight to the battery, not via the accessory socket, it won't work. The flying lead connector (supplied) is easiest, or simply use the croc clips (supplied) straight to the terminals, if you can be arsed to take the seat off each morning and evening.

If you do feel like disconnecting the battery, when you reconnect it turn the ignition on (don't fire it up) and open / close the throttle two or three times. This will se-set the throttle position sensors. Details in the manual. Reset the clock as well.

There is an advert in this month's Bike magazine for a place doing Optimates on offer. Drop into WHS and copy down the details.

+1 - Good advice

 

[Jon P]

Three weeks should be OK - have had 10 BMWs over 20 years and never had to buy a battery.

A charger is a good investment - oh, and you spent a load of money to own a BMW in the first place so buy the proper BMW charger........then you know with confidence that you are charging / maintaining it correctly.

 

[talonfs]

thnaks for all the replies,

yes , it does start first time, but definitely takes longer to fire now than when it was warmer, it also does not turn over as quickly leaving me in anticipation of her not firing up and being stranded on the way to work. (working this week amnd next!!!!)

 

[purds]

An Optimate battery charger will set you back about £35 or look on Ebay.

I used one (or more) everyday on my Blackbird (7+ years) - a Pan European - a CBR 600 track bike (sitting on an Optimate now) and a FireBlade.

Dead easy to use. Just leave it plugged in 24/7/365. Mine has never missed a beat nor have I ever had to replace a battery.

Connect the Optimate straight to the battery, not via the accessory socket, it won't work. The flying lead connector (supplied) is easiest, or simply use the croc clips (supplied) straight to the terminals, if you can be arsed to take the seat off each morning and evening.

If you do feel like disconnecting the battery, when you reconnect it turn the ignition on (don't fire it up) and open / close the throttle two or three times. This will se-set the throttle position sensors. Details in the manual. Reset the clock as well.

There is an advert in this month's Bike magazine for a place doing Optimates on offer. Drop into WHS and copy down the details.

Agree 100% with this.
I have always used an optimate on all my bikes and never had a battery problem ever.

 

[GSmonkey]

Do what wapping says and save some grief

 

[Jon P]

Agree 100% with this.
I have always used an optimate on all my bikes and never had a battery problem ever.

Optimate are great - had two in the UK and two more over here in the US - work great............BUT, they are not the correct solution for looking after the new BMWs.

I keep banging on about this but if you get the proper BMW charger then there are no complications..............."turn this on, turn that off, take off the seat, connect straight to the battery, get the correct leads"..........or take the easy way out!

 

[Fredb51]

Optimate are great - had two in the UK and two more over here in the US - work great............BUT, they are not the correct solution for looking after the new BMWs.

I keep banging on about this but if you get the proper BMW charger then there are no complications..............."turn this on, turn that off, take off the seat, connect straight to the battery, get the correct leads"..........or take the easy way out!

You do keep banging on about it, but countless GS owners around the world will disagree with your "no complications" statement. Sometimes the correct BMW chargers work OK on GS's; sometimes they don't. Search this and many other forums. My BMW dealer confirms this. I gave up trying with my '04 GS and use an Optimate. If I didn't my battery would go flat in less than 3 weeks. And yes, I've had all the software updates and the bike has been checked thoroughly to try to find out why, to no avail.

The Odyssey batteries are excellent as are those supplied by Westco though you may have to tweak the bracket slightly. If your bike is one of the ones that flattens its own battery spontaneously (it's clear they don't all do this), then it will do it with either of these batteries anyway.

 

[JanTurn]

I use a BMW charger as recomended by Southport Superbikes - drive the GS to work and back and simply plug the charger in with no problems - leave the battery on charge overnight and off we go again the next morning. The dealer recomended to me that when using the charger for the first time to switch the ignition on and then to switch on the charger (you only need to do this the first time the charger is used) then switch the ignition off whilst charging continues, from then on the charger in switched on without the need for turning on the ignition. This ensures the the port remains open whilst the battery is charging or else the port closes after 15 minutes of use. However it does not tell you any of this in the instruction manual that is supplied with the BMW charger? Other chargers were suggested to me by the dealer I was not coherced in to buying the BMW charger! Thanks to Southport Superbikes for their advice.

 

[John Armstrong]

You do keep banging on about it, but countless GS owners around the world will disagree with your "no complications" statement. Sometimes the correct BMW chargers work OK on GS's; sometimes they don't. Search this and many other forums.

+1

I can use a £20 dumb trickle charger without any problems and not having to do the ignition on / off etc malarky. Others can't.

Find out what works for you and use it.

All IMVHO

 

[Jon P]

You do keep banging on about it.......

I do like banging on...........

 

[Gippo]

Knackered Battery???

I tried to start my GS yesterday to go for a quick blast before I became a victim of the festive over indulgence and quess what ....all I got was a loud clicking sound. Called out the recovery van man who jumped it with a booster pack...even then it sounded really sluggish. Ran it for a few minutes.. stopped
it...tried again nothing!! Put it back on charge (pukka BMW charger) overnight, green light showing on the charger this morning..tried again...nothing, except clicking!!.

The bike (07 5400 miles) has been plugged into the charger for the last 2-3 weeks and is always and kept in a garage.

I understand that this could be a common problem. But to be honest the battery has never sounded what I would call healthy...even in the summer, in my opinion it never spun the motor with ease. Did I read somewhere that bikes fitted with heated grips had more powerful batteries fitted as standard.
If so does anyone know what it should be?

Also does anyone know what should happen when you plug the BMW charger in? I have read on these pages that there should be an audible click or that the lights should flash...is this correct as mine seems to do neither?

I have had to leave a message with the local dealer, hopefully it can all be sorted straight after Christmas....untill the next problem...never got this with Hondas!!!!!

 

[theEnglishman]

Gippo - I take it you followed Jan Turn's advice in post 12 above?

 

[Gippo]

Yes I had noticed his post...Its interesting because I bought the charger from Nippy Normans and he states:

IMPORTANT CUSTOMER FEEDBACK
What is not mentioned in the otherwise brilliant instructions is that if the charger is connected more than 15 minutes after the ignition is switched off then on some models it will not work !
In other words the socket is only able to start the process within 15 minutes of the engine being switched off.

However, unless I am mistaken Jan Turn's advice is to switch the ignition on and the charger on, then the ignition off for the first cycle only. The question is..has the programming of the charger been screwed up (permanantly) by doing it the other way..

I had been out to the bike and switched it of and back on a la Jan Turn's method already...so all will be revealed...hopefully!!

 

[Gippo]

Another question...I know this may sound a stupid one....but how can you actually tell/test if its charging or that the Aux socket is active...I know thats 2 questions!!

 

[John Armstrong]

Voltmeter across the battery = 2 answers.

If it's about 12.5v charger not charging, should be about 14.4v IIRC. Or if you have a second socket, you can adapt a multimeter onto a BM plug and then it's dead easy Which is what I've done, plus added a fused BM type plug as an output of a centec panel, double BTW my charger works through either, I added the second plug for a heated jacket for SWMBO

 

[Gippo]

Have just put a meter across the terminals... voltage = 14.1

Should be ok then?

I'll leave it until Boxing Day until I have another go at waking the neigbours.

The Black Stuff beckons!!!!

Have a Good Christmas Y'all