My Excellent Battery.....

[gavin@iow]

The BM mechanic told me that the electrics on the 1200 aren't fully isolated unless the steering lock is engaged. So I tried it and it worked. I've never had any problems since.

That's the same as i was told when i bought my 12gs, i even checked it out with a meter to see if that was right. I have not had any software updates either, and it's an 04 model. I wonder how many 'battery' problems can be attributed to not switching the bike off completely???

 

[cookie]

i even checked it out with a meter to see if that was right.

and was it?

my 07 sits for weeks without the steering lock on and starts just fine. maybe they changed the software at some point?

 

[Decster]

i never understood this trickle battery charging effect.....if i did that to my mobile phone the battery would last 10mins. In a mobile phones case batteries develop a charge point memory and have to be completely discharged a few times before starting recharging otherwise they will only recharge the battery in part.

A car battery does not need to be trickle charged.I have never put a battery on trickle recharge, i fire it up in the morning and off it goes....i dont believe in alarms and other electronic gizmos that only drain the battery and cause electrical faults.

Keep it simple chaps

my 2c

 

[wilbjr21]

and was it?

my 07 sits for weeks without the steering lock on and starts just fine. maybe they changed the software at some point?

They did ........... this was an early problem. Seems like some people need an update.

 

[BeemerBaz]

i never understood this trickle battery charging effect.....if i did that to my mobile phone the battery would last 10mins. In a mobile phones case batteries develop a charge point memory and have to be completely discharged a few times before starting recharging otherwise they will only recharge the battery in part.

my 2c

Hmmmmmm no-one told my phone that. I have my phone on charge every night and have done for 18 months with no obvious loss of power / longevity. It is now a spare phone and can be on charge constantly for a week and the charge lasts just as long.

Maybe BMW should invest in the Nokia battery/charging system !

 

[wilbjr21]

i never understood this trickle battery charging effect.....if i did that to my mobile phone the battery would last 10mins. In a mobile phones case batteries develop a charge point memory and have to be completely discharged a few times before starting recharging otherwise they will only recharge the battery in part.

A car battery does not need to be trickle charged.I have never put a battery on trickle recharge, i fire it up in the morning and off it goes....i dont believe in alarms and other electronic gizmos that only drain the battery and cause electrical faults.

Keep it simple chaps

my 2c

The R1200 does have a small quiescent current for the electronics. The BMW charger will provide a charge for the battery until it reaches the cutoff voltage then switch off. It will stay switched off until the battery voltage drops to the threshhold level then begin charging again. This will happen automatically using the accessory socket. So the BMW charger doesn't trickle charge ....... as such.

 

[John Armstrong]

i never understood this trickle battery charging effect.....if i did that to my mobile phone the battery would last 10mins. In a mobile phones case batteries develop a charge point memory and have to be completely discharged a few times before starting recharging otherwise they will only recharge the battery in part.

A car battery does not need to be trickle charged.I have never put a battery on trickle recharge, i fire it up in the morning and off it goes....i dont believe in alarms and other electronic gizmos that only drain the battery and cause electrical faults.

Ni-cad batteries have the memory effect. Later ones don't ie Li-ion etc etc.

IIRC lead acid types prefer being fully charged.

Car batteries have a massive excess of power compared to the 1200 battery.

 

[Pukmeister]

I know that this is not the thrust of this thread but changing the TomTom setttings to auto power off when no external power detected will prevent that happening.

Sorry Rong, you'd like to think so but sadly thats not the case (hence the test with the multimeter to satisfy my curiosity).

My Tomtom IS set to auto power off, but it takes its time to do so, by which time the bike has already done its shutdown routine and kept the GPS holder energised.

If stopping for a brew, fuel etc I can leave the rider in its cradle, but for the final stop of the day I am now in the habit of removing the rider from its cradle before I stop the bikes electrics to prevent battery discharge.

Apologies for the hijack but this is related to the battery discharging.