Battery help / advice please...

[knucklemoto]

One for my learned 1150 brothers...

My year 2000 1150 gs has 4 HID lights fitted to main, dip and two spots. Last week the dip started flickering and was very slow to finally come up to full power, the spots were fine and the main fine too... ran it like this for a couple of trips and thought battery may be struggling so popped it on charge ( pretty new optimate ) for an afternoon and didn't ride it for a couple of days.

Today the dip won't come on at all, so a bit of differential diagnosis thinking - swap the dip and main power leads... now the dip comes on and the main flickers, but the dip is at 50% brightness... tried unplugging the main ( as I'm now using the high beam switch on the bars to turn the dip on...) and same slug to turn on and low power.

I've checked all connections, and no evidence of corrosion, no crimped wires, nothing loose / dangling...

All lights work, but now either flickering or low output or not at all. The battery is just over two years old, a "BMW Gel battery original equipment 19amp/hr | ELA59014" according to Motorworks:

http://www.motorworks.co.uk/vlive/Shop/Parts.php?T=5&NU=15&M=30&Ct=IA&SbCt=BA_15_30_IA_10

I'm guessing the problem is:
A - the battery no longer having enough oomph to get the lights started, the alternator is fine after that with maintaining the current draw whilst riding.

B - the ballast box is on its last legs... I'm no sparky, but a confident and experienced home mechanic and freely admit my limitations when it comes to vehicles... I don't fully get how an electrical component can only partly perform its designed function..

More info - the bike has BMW heated grips so puts out the (slightly) higher elasticktrickery wattage, I often ride with the grips on setting one, very rarely make a trip under 20 minutes or more, the battery is two years old, the bike runs fine, clocks not resetting on start up.

Any pointers / thoughts and usual abuse very welcome...

Also if anyone has a known good / healthy battery that will fit an 1150 can I please try it to see if that eliminates the issues? I'll come to you with my own tools and promise to not make a mess (!) and to replace the battery if I bust it... I'm in surrey, but willing to travel and am flexible with time, but it will need to be daylight for safe riding obviously...

I love this bike, coming up for 110,000 miles and I do all servicing myself. This has been a difficult (read shit) year and tough financially so I'm in no position to buy a new battery on the off chance... hope you understand.

Thanks in advance and here's some photos for amusement / info...

 

[wessie]

It's usually the systems added to the standard set up that causes a problem. Isolate anything non-standard and see if the problem is still apparent.

If that does not fix the fault then use a jump lead from the battery to the earth of the headlamp unit. A poor earth connection will be a high probability on a 15 year old bike.

 

[JJH]

Might I suggest a very simple test as you seem to want to swap/test battery? Just simply hook up to a 12v system via jump leads and if that eliminates the problem bingo. If not..... Good luck. JJH

 

[markyt]

.

mate i took a good battery off mine the other week you can check with, Im in Essex though, I thought it was knackered so brought a new one but it was my immobilizer so i know the battery's ok (been in shed for a couple of weeks). if thats any good let me know.

 

[Ian J Hartley]

If your battery starts your bike and you have no other electrical issues other than your HIDs then your battery is good.

HID's draw far less current than conventional bulbs so it sounds to me as though you have issues with your HID's. It's OK to wire in the HID's directly into your convention light wiring. So unless you or someone has hacked the original wiring to fit the HID's you could convert back to conventional bulbs. If that works, then I would look to replacing the HID's

Ian

 

[knucklemoto]

Thanks all for the thoughts and advice... much appreciated...

Markyt - thanks very much for the offer, it's a bit of a punt to you as you're the other side of London, but I may take you up on the offer, if nothing closer crops up.

However going on the advice put forward so far, it seems my HID set up is faulty... The bike came with the main and dip fitted, and the ballast boxes are old - they look aged, and are an earlier 35 watt (off the top of my head) type that take a minute or two to get up to full power. That's ok on the dip, but a nuisance on the main unless I'm heading back from my folks very late at night through the B roads with no-one about.

The spots came with the bike but the wiring had been butchered and there were loose ends and cut sections throughout the headstock area... I went through and tidied it all up shortly after getting the bike, as I was getting blown indicators which turned out to be poor connections, corrosion and shitty wiring. 40 000 miles later I'm still on the same indicator bulbs so I did something right...

I took the spots apart and bought a 50 or 55 watt set up, painstakingly fitting all the wires through the rubber housing and making it tidy, then getting Chris (Tunneruk here on the forum) to do the final fit to the loom and fit a switch. His top class work was a joy to watch, and that all works 100%, they fire up and run perfectly. Thanks Chris...

I understand that I can remove the HID kit and use the original bulb fitment, so I'm going to have a look over the next couple of days to see what butchery lies around the headstock and under the tank... Hopefully the original loom is salvageable and I can get some cheapo old school bulbs in to keep me on the road until I nail down the problem here...

If it's the battery I'll get a Motobatt and sleep easy, if it's the HID's I'll be on to Les Wassell for a pair of his fast bright 55 watt kit...

http://www.hid50.com/FastBright.html

Thanks again all, and Ian for the fact about HID's drawing less current - I thought they drew more on start up and then less when operating, hence why it is recommended to start the bike with them off then turn them on when the engine is running...

I'll post more once I've dug in and had a play. Keep the thoughts / tips coming, all learning is appreciated and shared here...

Matt.

 

[Ian J Hartley]

Thanks again all, and Ian for the fact about HID's drawing less current - I thought they drew more on start up and then less when operating, hence why it is recommended to start the bike with them off then turn them on when the engine is running

I think you will find that you whether you have your HID's on or off. The power to the low and high beam light circuit (presumably where your HIDs are wired) is cut off when you press the start button. The load relief relay chops power to all non essential circuits when you press the start button so max power is available from the battery to turn the starter and operate the motronic. For safety reasons the tail and side light should remain on during the start cycle.

Ian

 

[Robh1664]

Good to hear you have sorted out your lights Knuck. L.

I like your photo of your bike, the one with the horse in the background. It's sort of black and white with a hint of colour............nice !