Dead Battery

[AidanP]

Hi,
I've been travelling for the last thirteen months (Enfield in India & Nepal) and my brother was "looking after" my bike whilst I was away. I've gone to start it up today and there is no sign of life. He told me that he started it "a couple of months ago"!

I've got a V Reg 1150gs and all my paperwork / manuals etc are somewhere in storage. I know that I can plug jump leads into the socket on the side, but does anyone know where I can buy the leads? Are they special BMW ones? Is it just a case of plugging them in and charging the battery?

Sorry for the basic questions!

Aidan

 

[Tarka]

Don`t bother with jump leads.

Spend ten minutes getting your battery out to see if it`s a 'wet' lead acid one....and checking the electrolyte level.
If it`s at or below the halfway point,scrap the battery and get a new one.

If it`s a sealed battery,try it on a standard battery charger to see what charge it`s pulling....take care that after five minutes or so the charge rate is no more than 1/10 of the Amp/Hour rating of the battery....give it half an hour on this,then put it on an Optimate and let it recover and charge up...you may be lucky and revive it.

Likewise (with the exception of the standard charger which is likely to fry it) if it`s a gel battery...but check the charging requirements are met by an Optimate.

Or just go out and get a new battery.

 

[cookie]

and you can't plug jump leads into the socket anyway, only a trickle charger.

 

[JediJase]

Which charger

is the best to get or does it not matter that much?

 

[Tarka]

is the best to get or does it not matter that much?

It depends on what battery you need to charge.

Gel batteries can very easily be fried by standard chargers and even 'wet' bike batteries can have their plates warped by high output standard chargers.

Check charger characteristics against battery requirements.

An Optimate 111 is usually pretty highly recommended....but check.

 

[AidanP]

Thanks

Thanks for the advice. I'll take the battery out at the weekend and give it a charge - hopefully that'll sort it.

Aidan