PLease help, i think i've killed my bike

[Adamm]

after a fantasic trip to spain on my 1200 gsa i put it in my garage on wed. night with the plan to clean it on sat. On sat. morning the battery was stone dead flat. i put this down to my mp3 charger being left in the aux. socket (but upon reflection isn't that turned off with the key?). i have a battery jump pack that i connected to the battery but whilst the lights came on it did not throw the engine over. i at this stage decided to read the manual that states many times how easy it is to damage the onboard electrics. full of dread i purchased the "offical" BMW charger. the problem now is when the BM charger is plugged into the bike the charger's error light comes on if i try to charge with the igition turned off but the charge light comes on when i turn the igition on. this does not make sence to me as the charger is supposed to be left on over long periods of time. And the bottom line is i cannot charge the battery or start the bike.

After the bike done a brilliant getting to-from and around spain i feel a total tw*t (the missing letter is not a "i") for buggering it up.

On a better note, next year i am planning a trip to eastern europe , does anybody fancy it?

All the best,

Adam

 

[Shep]

after a fantasic trip to spain on my 1200 gsa i put it in my garage on wed. night with the plan to clean it on sat. On sat. morning the battery was stone dead flat. i put this down to my mp3 charger being left in the aux. socket (but upon reflection isn't that turned off with the key?). i have a battery jump pack that i connected to the battery but whilst the lights came on it did not throw the engine over. i at this stage decided to read the manual that states many times how easy it is to damage the onboard electrics. full of dread i purchased the "offical" BMW charger. the problem now is when the BM charger is plugged into the bike the charger's error light comes on if i try to charge with the igition turned off but the charge light comes on when i turn the igition on. this does not make sence to me as the charger is supposed to be left on over long periods of time. And the bottom line is i cannot charge the battery or start the bike.

After the bike done a brilliant getting to-from and around spain i feel a total tw*t (the missing letter is not a "i") for buggering it up.

On a better note, next year i am planning a trip to eastern europe , does anybody fancy it?

All the best,

Adam

Is the BMW charger just a trickle charger like an optimate? If so it may not be able to charge a battery from dead flat You may need to remove the battery and charge it on a normal battery charger

Shep

 

[LiquidLAN]

Ok, I might be showing how little I know at this point, but I thought that bike batteries are gel packs and on no account should you use a "normal" charger on them?

I dont know if it is the case with BM batteries, but I know I killed the battery in my Kawasaki using a boost charger once.

 

[Shep]

Ok, I might be showing how little I know at this point, but I thought that bike batteries are gel packs and on no account should you use a "normal" charger on them?

I dont know if it is the case with BM batteries, but I know I killed the battery in my Kawasaki using a boost charger once.

A normal charger as opposed to a trickle charger of boost charger.

Often a trickle charger hasn't enough oomphhh (technical term ) to start the reaction initially, and a boost charger designed for cars/lorries just has too much oomphh for a small battery to handle

 

[LiquidLAN]

ah... that will explain all the smoke then

 

[luke scott]

If its a 1200 GSA then its still under warranty why not call bmw assistance ?

 

[Adamm]

ive called out bmw

yep i've called them out should be here in 1 hour

 

[chasr]

but the charge light comes on when i turn the igition on. this does not make sence to me as the charger is supposed to be left on over long periods of time

There is a sequence to follow when using the BMW charger. It's in the manual but, in summary, switch ignition on, attach charger, switch on charger (at power socket), turn off ignition.

The power pack is very unlikely to burgher the electrics, as the voltage won't be high enough. The manual advises disconnecting the battery when re-charging from dead (my words), as the initial charger - whether BMW or Optimate - might be enough to fry the canbus. Again, no-one's ever reported this happening.

I suspect your battery may well be knacked. It happens. Why the power pack isn't working, I don't know.

 

[Cole]

On a better note, next year i am planning a trip to eastern europe , does anybody fancy it?

Adam

Could be .... what have you got in mind, and when?

 

[Adamm]

woo hooo praise be to BMW

the very nice chap from BMW has just been out and sorted the problem. my car booster pack was not able to put any power into the bike's battery and the BMW charger would not work becuease the batteryu was too low, the bmw fella had a charger/booster that worked. The bike and battery are fine.

thanks for all the helpfull comments.

All the best

Adam

 

[jonothan]

On a better note, next year i am planning a trip to eastern europe , does anybody fancy it?

I do, Adam - PM me.

J

 

[John Armstrong]

the very nice chap from BMW has just been out and sorted the problem. my car booster pack was not able to put any power into the bike's battery and the BMW charger would not work becuease the batteryu was too low, the bmw fella had a charger/booster that worked. The bike and battery are fine.

thanks for all the helpfull comments.

All the best

Adam

The tip from this would seem to me to be, if your batteries flat, charge it off the bike then you know the bike isn't messing you about. Otherwise you don't know if the canbus / canbus components are preventing the battery charging.

 

[ianran]

The tip from this would seem to me to be, if your batteries flat, charge it off the bike then you know the bike isn't messing you about. Otherwise you don't know if the canbus / canbus components are preventing the battery charging.

Yeah yeah, its fixed...............now eastern europe when, where, how long, campinbg, hotel? go on let us know!!!

 

[Colban]

Battery discharge problems seem common with 1200s.I recently read one of Steptoes replies saying that a software upgrade might be needed.
Try a forum search rather than taking my word for it as i don't have a 12.

 

[Pukmeister]

Dear God, not another battery problem.

Do yourself a favour, go to the motorworks web page and order a Hawker Oddysey kit with AGM cell technology , fit it and forget about battery woes for the next few years from those shite wet cell OEM batteries. If you really must, order a CTEK Multi XS3600 charger whilst you are at it.

 

[Adamm]

moving on from the dead bike to a tour of E. Europe...

Thanks for the replies about the power problem, touch wood it's ok now.

With regards to Eastern Europe I was looking at visiting Poland, Slovakia, Hungry and Croatia befor coming back via Italy and France. The trip i just got back from was a mix of camping and hotels depending on how i felt at the time, the good thing about the GS is you can carry camping kit and not worry too much about the space it takes up or the weight. In the past i've cycled through Europe, the Middle East and Africa (I was a lot fitter then) and on a push bike when you see a big hill you wonder if you really need that extra cooking pot!

Time wise, i was thinking late spring/early summer. Quite a few people seem interested in the trip, if so let me know and i'll start a thread thing in the proper section.

All the best ,

Adam

 

[darkhorse]

I had the same problem with mine within the first few weeks of buying.

Went to dealer who were very reluctant to put on the diagnostic as they said that there had been no software updates since I purchased.

I insisted that they run it past the diagostic, which they did, and found that the bike had come out of the factory with out of date software.

They sorted it, and since then have had no problems with it at all, even when left for two weeks unused and not on trickle charge, started first push of the button.

I think you can also fool the computer into thinking it is still on if you turn the bike off to say open garage door and restart to ride in, then switch off again staright away.

 

[Bert]

Battery discharge problems seem common with 1200s.I recently read one of Steptoes replies saying that a software upgrade might be needed.
Try a forum search rather than taking my word for it as i don't have a 12.

A software update should cure your problem-
on the 1200, once ignition switched on, the 'order' to the CANBUS to turn off was just not 'there', so the CDI unit kept live and that drained the battery.
Been there, had that, done upgrade- all quiet so far!!

 

[ianran]

Right, people people, move on, the lights the battery they work. Now.............the field trip, can we do it in half term summee hols coz I 'teach' for a living !!!!

 

[Adamm]

tour of Eastern Europe

hello,

as mentioned i'm looking to do bit of a trip next year if you are interested (and anyones welcome) i've started a new thread in the travel section.

All the best

Adam