GSA 1250 Battery Date vs 1st

[TimM]

Hi, I’ve recently purchased an Ex Demo GSA 1250, with a UK first registration date of 07/21. When I was attaching some CTEK charging leads it was a surprise to find a fairly dirty looking battery (BMW rebadged Yuasa or Bosch I assume ?) with a manufacturing date code of 23/09/19. Whilst it maybe reasonable for BMW Motoradd to hold 1-2 months of stock (JIT) plus a 2-3 month lead time to ship from country of origin to the BMW plant, is a 9 month difference reasonable or has the battery been switched out at some stage ?
Have other GS folks noticed this type of date difference or is it just in my case.
I’m awaiting the V5C from the DVLA to double check the declared date of manufacture vs 1st date of UK registration as mentioned above.

I’ve ordered the BMW Motoradd charger in addition to my normal CTEK MX5.0 charger and Din 9 plug adapter to see if it holds the CAN bus open as the bike is fitted with a Datatool tracker that will drain the battery if the bike is left standing for any time.

Would appreciate any views as BMW cars sell Re-badged CTEK’s but not BMW Motoradd.

 

[knutk]

Hi, I’ve recently purchased an Ex Demo GSA 1250, with a UK first registration date of 07/21. When I was attaching some CTEK charging leads it was a surprise to find a fairly dirty looking battery (BMW rebadged Yuasa or Bosch I assume ?) with a manufacturing date code of 23/09/19. Whilst it maybe reasonable for BMW Motoradd to hold 1-2 months of stock (JIT) plus a 2-3 month lead time to ship from country of origin to the BMW plant, is a 9 month difference reasonable or has the battery been switched out at some stage ?
Have other GS folks noticed this type of date difference or is it just in my case.
I’m awaiting the V5C from the DVLA to double check the declared date of manufacture vs 1st date of UK registration as mentioned above.

I’ve ordered the BMW Motoradd charger in addition to my normal CTEK MX5.0 charger and Din 9 plug adapter to see if it holds the CAN bus open as the bike is fitted with a Datatool tracker that will drain the battery if the bike is left standing for any time.

Would appreciate any views as BMW cars sell Re-badged CTEK’s but not BMW Motoradd.

This sounds very strange.
My 2c are that the battery has been changed for some reason, and the bike being a demo, they took a battery that had already been used for something, but in good working order.

 

[BobT]

You don't yet know the bikes manufacture date and you don't have a battery problem. Why are you worried?

 

[Neil W]

Sounds like someone else ended up with the original battery from the demo and it ended up with a used one from an older bike in stock

 

[y2blade]

Is your battery faulty?

 

[Winjar]

Hi, I’ve recently purchased an Ex Demo GSA 1250, with a UK first registration date of 07/21. When I was attaching some CTEK charging leads it was a surprise to find a fairly dirty looking battery (BMW rebadged Yuasa or Bosch I assume ?) with a manufacturing date code of 23/09/19. Whilst it maybe reasonable for BMW Motoradd to hold 1-2 months of stock (JIT) plus a 2-3 month lead time to ship from country of origin to the BMW plant, is a 9 month difference reasonable or has the battery been switched out at some stage ?
Have other GS folks noticed this type of date difference or is it just in my case.
I’m awaiting the V5C from the DVLA to double check the declared date of manufacture vs 1st date of UK registration as mentioned above.

I’ve ordered the BMW Motoradd charger in addition to my normal CTEK MX5.0 charger and Din 9 plug adapter to see if it holds the CAN bus open as the bike is fitted with a Datatool tracker that will drain the battery if the bike is left standing for any time.

Would appreciate any views as BMW cars sell Re-badged CTEK’s but not BMW Motoradd.

probably battery failed in demo bike, and they swap for one working but older, and then forget to put new battery in demo, just speak to dealer surely they will give you a newer battery.

 

[Neil W]

Is your battery faulty?

It might not be at the moment but it istill sounds like a 2 year old (used ?) battery on a new bike

 

[mrtee43]

You don't yet know the bikes manufacture date and you don't have a battery problem. Why are you worried?

Maybe because of this.


Quote "Chap that recovered the bike, says he deals with battery failures on 21 plate GSs all day!"

https://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php/567307-Bike-let-me-down-this-morning

 

[Alan R]

It might not be at the moment but it istill sounds like a 2 year old (used ?) battery on a new bike

Not new, second hand (used).
No doubt it came with a 2 year warranty so if and when it fails you will be covered.
Alan R

 

[Mr Bean]

My '67 plate bike was a year old when it was registered. My 1250 (ex-demo) was manufactured in September 2018, but not registered until the following Feb.

I guess sometimes bikes sit in the showrooms a while before being registered - they have the same warranty...

 

[TimM]

The battery is not faulty, but potentially 6-8 months older than the bike and will therefor fail or need replacing sooner than it should do normally, key will be the date of manufacture on the V5C which will indicate how long the bike was in stock before being 1st registered.

Does anyone have experience of using CTEK vs BMW Motorrad chargers with the GS CANS bus, I found this video on YouTube.

https://youtu.be/xG0OB_GfBN4

 

[Mr Bean]

They're not that expensive enough to worry about.

Enjoy the bike.

 

[Neil W]

Too many failures of batteries on almost new bikes suggest a duff batch of batteries or something that has been fitted to the bikes that are causing a parasitic drain

 

[Winjar]

The battery is not faulty, but potentially 6-8 months older than the bike and will therefor fail or need replacing sooner than it should do normally, key will be the date of manufacture on the V5C which will indicate how long the bike was in stock before being 1st registered.

Does anyone have experience of using CTEK vs BMW Motorrad chargers with the GS CANS bus, I found this video on YouTube.

https://youtu.be/xG0OB_GfBN4

work fine if you have this also for ctek

https://www.amazon.co.uk/CTEK-40-16...ywords=ctek+canbus&qid=1632905614&sr=8-8&th=1


CTEK CTX Indicator Cig Plug 12V CANBUS
CTEK CTX Indicator Cig Plug 12V CANBUS
Product no.: 272782

This INDICATOR PLUG 12V can be attached to the CT5 POWERSPORT charger to enable CANBUS charging of BMW motorcycles.

 

[richtel]

work fine if you have this also for ctek

https://www.amazon.co.uk/CTEK-40-16...ywords=ctek+canbus&qid=1632905614&sr=8-8&th=1


CTEK CTX Indicator Cig Plug 12V CANBUS
CTEK CTX Indicator Cig Plug 12V CANBUS
Product no.: 272782

This INDICATOR PLUG 12V can be attached to the CT5 POWERSPORT charger to enable CANBUS charging of BMW motorcycles.

Are you sure about that? I'm not aware of any CTEK chargers which are CANBUS-ready. I've been using CTEKs for years direct to the battery though.

 

[knutk]

The battery is not faulty, but potentially 6-8 months older than the bike and will therefor fail or need replacing sooner than it should do normally, key will be the date of manufacture on the V5C which will indicate how long the bike was in stock before being 1st registered.

Does anyone have experience of using CTEK vs BMW Motorrad chargers with the GS CANS bus, I found this video on YouTube.

https://youtu.be/xG0OB_GfBN4

CTEK as such is a highly respected company, making good quality chargers.

If your goal is to charge the bike through the AUX Din plug, this requires some extra functions built into the charger. Searching the CTEK website does not show any charger with this function built in. On top of my head, I can only recall Optimate and BMW making chargers that handles this well.

But using the AUX port to charge the bike means that the battery must have at least some power, as the bike needs power to open up the AUX port for further charging.

Thus, in my opinion, the best way to charge the bike is to install a cable directly to the battery and disregard the fancy CAN-Bus features all together.

My opinion is based on the following:
- A direct-cable allows the charger to charge the battery even if the battery is low
- Charging through the AUX port introduce a slight voltage drop when the current flows via the ZFE (The internal BMW computer controlling the AUX port). This voltage drop means that the analyzing part in the charger does not get the proper reading of the battery condition (even if it is close. This argument is a bit nit-picking, but that's my privilege).
- An external direct to battery cable may also be used to power equipment drawing more than 5A, such as a compressor etc.
- Direct connection cable allows for a large selection of quality chargers that has it all except for the CAN-bus function.

So..
If you go for the direct to battery cable, the CTEK charger in the video is a good choice, where as if using the AUX plug, even if the video shows a way to use it, will over time prove that selecting the CTEK will be a pain in the a**.

Using the AUX plug, the Optimate is the cheaper way. A functioning charger with a confusing LED indicator system, but it works fine.
The BMW charger is the more expensive choice. It is a good charger with a LCD display and is much easier to understand. It's charging functions are similar to the Optimate.
But if you just want a charger to remain plugged in, the Optimate will do just fine. The LCD display has no value if you just want to plug in the charger and leave the bike alone.

My personal choice? (For charging during storage of the bikes)
I use Optimate with a direct to battery cable. One charger for each bike. Then I have connected them all to a timer that allows for charging 4hrs once a week.