R1150GSA Trickle charging & rear brake adjustment

[Bury_Dave]

More stupid questions from me showing just how little i really know about bikes still.

First ....... I was out on the bike Sunday. Started no problem. Then, whilst fitting Nippy Norman's footpeg lowering kit, i left the ignition on for a few minutes to try to sort the adjustment of the brake pedal (more of that in a minute). Then when i came to start the bike to head out for a test ride, not enough juice to turn the motor over.
Now i have a trickle charger I bought last winter but never ended up using. It's supposed to be an 'intelligent' charger. Sadly it's only as intelligent as the muppet who wants to use it. Me ! So, to use it, can i plug it into the battery whilst the battery is on the bike and wired up (only having to lift the tank a little) or do i have to remove the tank to remove the connections and then connect the charger to the battery ?

Second ...... after fitting the footpeg lowering kit and adjusting teh gear shifter no problems, I thought i had lowered the brake pedal ok too. But when i turned the ignition on, the brake warning light was on and flashing. I tried adjusting the pedal this way and that but couldn't get the light/beeper to go off. That's what drained the battery.

Any help to educate me would be most gratefully received

Dave

 

[Deleted account 250319001]

Dave,
Neither the brake light nor the ignition should reduce the battery enough to cause that. The batter must be low anyway.
The Brake lights flash on the dash until you have rode away. Your charger can either be connected directly to the battery or get the smaller Din socket and plug straight into the accessory socket.
There are hours and hours of this info here, try the search function.

 

[ahutcheon]

Neither the brake light nor the ignition should reduce the battery enough to cause that.

Sounds like the brake servo pump might be if it runs for a while with the engine off? I seem to remember BMW admitting that lots of emergency stops in quick succession (e.g. on a training course) could deplete the battery even with the engine running.

No problem charging the battery while connected to the bike - the power socket is very handy if you can be bothered to fit a plug to the charger.

 

[Steptoe]

Do you have servo brakes ?

If so and with the ignition on and your back brake being used a lot while you adjusted the lever the battery would be using a lot of power, also servo models have their lights permanantly on as well, so very easy to flatten a battery on those models.

You can charge the battery through the jump start post on the starter motor cover ( the earthing post is on the back of R/H cylinder head next to the inlet port ) , that'll save you messing about lifting the tank or trying to get the connectors in place .

The continous flashing of the warning light with the ignition switched on means the rear brake light switch isn't located correctly and is "ON".

 

[Bury_Dave]

Thanks for the info guys.

Yep, it is a servo model and i suppose it was the brake pump i could hear.

I connected up the trickle charger (wedged the tank up a little) but it beeps 'fault' after a second or two. according to the info, that means that the battery is too low to re-charge. Bugger ! The tip to change the croc' clips for the socket seems a very good idea and less hassle than removing the tank. Especially my currently near full one ! I'll be doing that.

However, it looks like the battery will need replacing, so the tank will be coming off anyways.

I'll be looking at the info on here on removing the servo function as it seems that there's many who think it serves (no pun intended) no useful purpose (rather like me ).

And i have to say that the lowered pegs work brilliantly. I'm a shorty at 5'9" and use a lowered seat. That meant having legs too drawn up and getting cramp too quickly. The lowered pegs make everything fit a good deal better.

Dave

 

[ahutcheon]

Remove the servo and you'll lose the ABS. I'm keeping mine while it works (39500 miles without problems so far). I also think the non-servo brakes need a lot of lever pressure compared to other modern bikes, but opinions vary.

I'd be tempted to try the battery on a less intelligent charger if you have easy access to one - it might well be dead, but a few seconds seems rather quick to diagnose that. Depends whether you can be bothered messing around with a battery that's likely to be past its best even if it recovers this time (they don't like being completely discharged).

 

[MattW]

However, it looks like the battery will need replacing, so the tank will be coming off anyways.

As others have said, once you've flattened a battery it's toast (you might get away with its reduced capacity in the summer but not in the depths of winter) - it's probably time to bite the bullet and get a new one. They're a consumable item anyway really, especially on bikes.

However, no need to remove the tank - just prop the tank up and you can get it out (good tip from Steptoe - remove the air intake from the airbox and you can slide it out sideways).

 

[skywalker]

you can get it out (good tip from Steptoe - and can slide it out sideways).[/QUOTE]

Fnrr Fnrr !!!