Your opinion matters.

[Beemer Bob]

Hello all,
I bought my R1300GS from a dealer in early September. The bike was one and a bit year used with a milage below 3k.
The bike has been superb and I truly love the thing...but!

The first day we see temperatures drop is the first day I nearly got caught out.
On said cold and frosty morn, I went to fire the bike up to get her warmed through before my 20 mile trip to work. The bike fired, but there was lag, but she fired up anyway. I left her brewing for around 10 minutes to make sure I was good to go.
I jumped on her and proceeded to climb the slight incline leaving my yard. The bike stalled and refused to fire up again. The battery had shit itself.

On checking the battery I realised I'd been lumbered with the lithium jobbie. So I broke out my Optimate 4 and left the bike charging all day and took the car instead.
After a couple of days of charging I fired the bike up and the battery responded Ok.
But now I'm paranoid the battery will crap itself when I'm on my return leg home.

I gave the dealership a ring today and asked if they would replace the battery under warranty for a lead acid. The nice lady on the other end of the phone wasn't sure and said she would find out and call back. She hasn't called back.

Am I right in thinking this should be a warranty claim? Or should I just head over to Nippy Norm and buy the battery and install it myself?

Admittedly, a long drawn out question to get to the point, but I do value your opinions on this matter and all before I call the dealership tomorrow.

Cheers,
Battered Battery Bob

 

[leadfarmer]

I believe batteries are not covered by guarantees as a rule but you may get a good will gesture

I also have a lithium battery which so far has been fine, but the day it dies I will also swap it out for a lead acid

I may be wrong but there’s a good chance the bike will need to be programmed to use the new lead acid battery, definitely have a talk to your dealer

 

[Slipperyeel]

I've read a few posts/seen some yt and got the message that the lithium batteries have been condemed by riders.

But...I fitted a lithium battery to my 2011 twin cam about 6yrs ago and it has been great. I have had numerous experiences with starting it in sub zero temps after it stood outside for some days. There is a technique to massaging them into life, almost the opposite to a lead acid battery. In short, if you try to start - it sounds like it's dead - wait a minute - try again - then wait another minute or two - try again and bingo it's all good.

Now ref the 1300. I get it that it's a computer on wheels now, so there's a possibility it just won't tolerate such a start up sequence. But in case the bike gives you more chances to try starting (which might be an ignition off and come back to it a minute or so later) then a few attempts might actually get it started. The lithium batteries get stronger with more attempts and actually gives you more attempts than a lead acid battery... It's a bit weird as we're so used to lead acid batteries declining in power as you make more attempts. Obviously the lithium batteries have an exhaustion limit too, but far longer.

This might all be totally useless info as the bike just throws a wobbly and you're stuffed



Sent from my SM-S908B using Tapatalk

 

[Nice 'n' Fat]

I'm pretty sure that even the batteries on a brand new bike only come with a 6month warranty

 

[wessie]

lithium batteries are not good in the cold, especially if has been parked outside. People often find out when wanting to ride home at 5pm on a frosty day.

the trick is to turn on the bike and some other stuff to load the battery. Eventually the battery will warm up a bit and work properly.

do the heated grips/seat work without the engine running as LED lights won't be drawing much current

 

[squibb34]

Wasn't there an issue with some of the early 1300s, where the BMS was sensing the battery was being overcharged, so shut down charging altogether. I'm not sure whether there was a service bulletin or maybe it was just left to the early adopters (aka beta testers) to complain as usual?

In the OP's case, I'm wondering how that Optimate is being connected - the manual is concise about chargers; strictly no fly leads/pig tails.

Allegedly, if the OE lithium battery appears to have bricked itself & shut down, BMW dealerships have the means to tell the BMS to allow current back into the battery.

 

[Baked Bean]

lithium batteries are not good in the cold, especially if has been parked outside. People often find out when wanting to ride home at 5pm on a frosty day.

the trick is to turn on the bike and some other stuff to load the battery. Eventually the battery will warm up a bit and work properly.

do the heated grips/seat work without the engine running as LED lights won't be drawing much current

Even in summer i turn the bike on for a minute or two before i start it. Still good after 10000 miles

 

[botus]

Wasn't there an issue with some of the early 1300s, where the BMS was sensing the battery was being overcharged, so shut down charging altogether. I'm not sure whether there was a service bulletin or maybe it was just left to the early adopters (aka beta testers) to complain as usual?

In the OP's case, I'm wondering how that Optimate is being connected - the manual is concise about chargers; strictly no fly leads/pig tails.

Allegedly, if the OE lithium battery appears to have bricked itself & shut down, BMW dealerships have the means to tell the BMS to allow current back into the battery.

there was a lot of bikes PDI'd wrongly - the batteries are never connected in the factory - they all get built and tested on a remote power supply - the dealer is meant to know what they are doing - many never followed the specific connection procedure the three wire lithium ones used - so they never charge correctly

all that said they don't supply with lithium for cold climates anymore as the BM one is a joke

I doubt they will give u a new battery - unless you pay

 

[Beemer Bob]

Thanks for the advice, Chaps!
I will give it the whole 1 minute thing before cranking.
Plus, I will change the battery to lead acid ASAP.

Appreciate the input.
Cheers,
Cold Start Bob

 

[TaffyScouser]

Thanks for the advice, Chaps!
I will give it the whole 1 minute thing before cranking.
Plus, I will change the battery to lead acid ASAP.

Appreciate the input.
Cheers,
Cold Start Bob

Will need a re set at dealers if changing battery from Lithium to AGM. Don’t think it will like being ridden to dealers with a different battery installed.

 

[Guru Gora]

Turn the ignotion on.

Put gloves helmet etc on and then fire her up.

Oh and an optimate 1 is all you need to keep it sweet.

 

[botus]

Thanks for the advice, Chaps!
I will give it the whole 1 minute thing before cranking.
Plus, I will change the battery to lead acid ASAP.

Appreciate the input.
Cheers,
Cold Start Bob

info on the battery connection and why - and coding if you swap over to another type

I re-read and finally understood the gibberish about the battery - Below info re ordered and re written so its intelligible rather then the confusion BMW typed


SIB 61 02 24
SERVICE SOLUTION: R 1300 GS Li-Ion Batteries
2024-03-25

Model Description Model Code
KA1 R 1300 GS 0M23

SITUATION
Situation 1) Li-Ion battery is discharged below 2.5 Vdc.
Situation 2) Fault stored for wrong battery.

Cause:
Situation 1) The new battery is in transportation mode and only has 2.5 Vdc of charge. Transportation mode is only relevant for new batteries.
Situation 2) The battery was not installed correctly.

PROCEDURE
Situation 1) Deactivate transportation mode by connecting the vehicle battery correctly (LIN connector and then terminals).
Situation 2) Check the battery fitted matches the vehicle order, if wrong, verify battery type and vehicle coding, and if its a Li-Ion battery, connect it correctly.

Note:
New bikes:
All have code present because the factory leave it in transport mode - during build we use an external voltage supply.

Bikes in service:
If an AGM battery is installed, option “0842 cold climate version” must be coded to the VO.
If a Li-Ion battery is installed, LIN Connector may not be plugged in, or it was plugged in after the positive terminal was connected.

 

[Beemer Bob]

Tomorrow the bike goes in for inspection.
Happy days!
Bob

 

[Mr Bean]

BTW, if you do decide to go non-BMW, consider the Motobatt hybrid.

Mine's sitting at 13.4v after not being ridden since last Wednesday, and having a tracker fitted. The 16AH YUASA AGM replacement never read above 12.7v after sitting for 24 hours in winter.

 

[Beemer Bob]

I pick my bike up on Tuesday. I bought the Optimate Quad 4 charger ready to keep things ticking over.
Am I better off using the round connecters and plumb direct to the battery or use the din socket by the TFT?
If I go direct, am I likely to receive errors post install?

Thanks in advance.
Positive Bob

 

[wessie]

I pick my bike up on Tuesday. I bought the Optimate Quad 4 charger ready to keep things ticking over.
Am I better off using the round connecters and plumb direct to the battery or use the din socket by the TFT?
If I go direct, am I likely to receive errors post install?

Thanks in advance.
Positive Bob

personally I would go direct to the battery with the supplied lead. This then allows you to use that lead with a tyre pump as most exceed the power limit of the accessory socket. My Optimate and tyre pump have the same SAE connector.

as for errors post install, very unlikely. If the bike has a jump start post, attach the red lead to this.

 

[TaffyScouser]

I bought the Optimate Quad 4 for BMW etc Canbus and go direct to socket on dash. Have a lead for battery direct with charger but if you read the manual if direct to socket you avoid the ‘de sulphate’ stage. Why buy a Canbus charger and not use it?
Waiting for vastly differing opinions

 

[wessie]

I bought the Optimate Quad 4 for BMW etc Canbus and go direct to socket on dash. Have a lead for battery direct with charger but if you read the manual if direct to socket you avoid the ‘de sulphate’ stage. Why buy a Canbus charger and not use it?
Waiting for vastly differing opinions

the Optimate will not enter desulphate (recovery) mode if the battery is connected to the bike

putting the optimate into "canbus mode" as they call it (but the anorak known as @RadioFlyer will be along shortly to chastise us for merely mentioning the term) manually disables the recovery mode and enables the comms algorithm to wake up the accessory port.

In normal mode the smarts in the Optimate will detect a load on the battery and will disable recovery mode itself.

 

[TaffyScouser]

Just sticking to manual for me.

 

[JoeBiff]

Li-ion batteries shouldn’t need to be ‘desulphated’ as they don’t suffer the same degradation process which affects lead acid batteries.