Batteries, chargers and replacements

ZZ10

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What kind of battery charger do you use for 800 GS?

Is there an adapter for the power outlet to charge the battery?(to use any charger you like) BMW is told to have a charger that uses the power outlet(no need to remove covers etc.), what brand/model is the BMW-charger?

CTEK are told to have good products

http://www.ctek.com/EN-GB/Buy-Charger.aspx?vehicle=mc
 
I use OptiMate. I have the instrument cover from Touratech. It came with additional power outlet. I wired it directly to the battery through a fuse.
I have DIN plug (BMW plug) for the OptiMate charger/tender that I just plug into that power outlet, so plugging the bike in is as easy as it can get.
 
hi

I bought the BMW charger for canbus bikes when I had the ST,expencive but good, cost 900 nkr

fishburger
 
Solar charger

Hi,
I have no wall plug in the garage:mad:
So, anyone tried one of these solar chargers for car/boat/caravan???

I also have the DIN plug for BMW socket.

Renato

TPS-946.jpg
 
kalli said:
I use OptiMate. I have the instrument cover from Touratech. It came with additional power outlet. I wired it directly to the battery through a fuse.
I have DIN plug (BMW plug) for the OptiMate charger/tender that I just plug into that power outlet, so plugging the bike in is as easy as it can get.
Click to expand...

So in other words you charge directly to the battery with a good quality charger that won't overcharge the battery? An run accessories, like heated gloves from the power outlet?

Does anyone out there understand BMW's insistence on some special expensive battery charger? I assume the F650/800GS has a maintenance free battery, probably a Varta (German...not all that great compared to a premium Yuasa)...I can't imagine the battery caring about who is charging it, as long as the charger is "smart" and rolls off at 13.6 volts or so to keep from boiling the battery. I CAN believe the CAN based fuseless electrical system being very particular aboutsomeone stuffing power thru it to the battery. In fact my old F650 GS Dakar had the BMW power port...and you could keep the trickle charger plugged into it, and keep the battery happy all winter.

Finally, modern engine management computers (automobile) have what's called "keep alive memory"...i.e. it learns certain things as you drive it...for example fault codes. You can delete those faults and other learned stuff by disconnecting the battery for 10 minutes. Does this happen with a CAN bus system like F650/800?
 
fishburger said:
hi

I bought the BMW charger for canbus bikes when I had the ST,expencive but good, cost 900 nkr

fishburger
Click to expand...

Is there something special to keep in mind with CANbus bikes when charging?

dealer told have to buy BMW charger for charging through poweroutlet.
 
ZZ10 said:
Is there something special to keep in mind with CANbus bikes when charging?

dealer told have to buy BMW charger for charging through poweroutlet.
Click to expand...

I did a search of this site for battery charger....scrolled thru many pages. There was a comment that said that the BMW charger somehow sends a signal into the power outlet to the CAN bus to somehow keep it open for charging. Normally the power outlet shuts off after 1 munute. I like the idea of the Touratech dashboard that has a power outlet and a wiring harness to go to the battery. Charge into it while in the garage, or while riding, suck power out to run vests, lights or whatever...as long as it is fused properly.
 
Ed@Ford said:
the BMW charger somehow sends a signal into the power outlet to the CAN bus to somehow keep it open for charging. Normally the power outlet shuts off after 1 munute. I like the idea of the Touratech dashboard
Click to expand...

thanks, is probably so.
 
My dealer told me to use a Ctek-charger (trickle-charger) wired directly to the battery. A lot cheaper than the BMW-charger and equally easy with the same result.
 
Ed@Ford said:
So in other words you charge directly to the battery with a good quality charger that won't overcharge the battery? An run accessories, like heated gloves from the power outlet?

Yes I do. Because I have used the Optimate III on my previous bikes and there are three other bikes in my garage that it is used for as well.
It is designed for bike batteries but only works when it has direct access to the battery. That's because it does not have the "intelligence" to open up the switch that cuts the power to the tank plug when the bike is switched of.
Normally I use the outlet in the Instrument cover for my Zumo and have the tank outlet free for things like phone chargers and etc. I think I would plug heated west there if I had one.
The reason I plug the Zumo instead of wiring it directly is that when I am not using it I take the whole thing of and only leave the "RAM ball".
I hope this makes sense.
Click to expand...
 
Duvskog said:
My dealer told me to use a Ctek-charger (trickle-charger) wired directly to the battery. A lot cheaper than the BMW-charger and equally easy with the same result.
Click to expand...

It can't be that easy as you would have to keep taking the faux tank cover off all the time to access the battery. Whereas a plug and play charger will be a whole lot easier even if it does cost a bit more. Having taken that cover off 4 times now for various things I'm pretty fed up with it.
 
everywherevirtually said:
It can't be that easy as you would have to keep taking the faux tank cover off all the time to access the battery. Whereas a plug and play charger will be a whole lot easier even if it does cost a bit more. Having taken that cover off 4 times now for various things I'm pretty fed up with it.
Click to expand...

With the ctek you can get a Din plug or fly lead that attaches to the battery directly and swap between the two :)

However, on my 07 GSA the ctek charger doesn't keep open the accessory socket. My £20 trickle charger does. My thoughts are that the ctek doesn't alway supply the volts needed to keep open the accessory socket, whereas the trickle charger does.
 
John Armstrong said:
With the ctek you can get a Din plug or fly lead that attaches to the battery directly and swap between the two :)

However, on my 07 GSA the ctek charger doesn't keep open the accessory socket. My £20 trickle charger does. My thoughts are that the ctek doesn't alway supply the volts needed to keep open the accessory socket, whereas the trickle charger does.
Click to expand...


My intention is to wire it directly to the battery to work around the can-bus.

With one of these :
tillb_snabbk_gummit_old.jpg
 
I had a long discussion today with the service guy at the local BMW dealer in a suburb of Detroit Michigan about battery charging. Here's the trivia:
1. If you wish to charge the battery thru the CAN bus managed power plug, you have to have the $165+ CAN bus compatible charger from BMW.
2. They have no problem with the Deltran Battery Tender Junior (a non CAN bus charger) because it never exceeds 14.4 volts or 0.8 amps, and rolls off when the battery becomes fully charged.
3. Deltran makes BMW's branded non-CAN bus charger
4. On CAN bus bikes they have no problem with direct charging the battery by adding a fused lead. They do it all the time, no problem. If you need to run accessories over 5amps you need this connection anyway. The can bus power socket shuts off slightly over 5 amps.
5. The BMW gel style batteries don't like to get overheated internally. Going over this magic 14.4 volts seems to create internal heating...especially if the amps go over 0.8.
6. Rather than leaving these chargers on for months at a time (winter), do a couple weeks charge, then a couple not charging.
7. The real good news is external charging with volts and amps as described above does not affect the ECU at all.
8. Full suggested retail in the usa is $40 for the Deltran Battery Tender Junior. Anything more expensive is a waste of $$.
 
Ed@Ford said:
I had a long discussion today with the service guy at the local BMW dealer in a suburb of Detroit Michigan about battery charging. Here's the trivia:
1. If you wish to charge the battery thru the CAN bus managed power plug, you have to have the $165+ CAN bus compatible charger from BMW.
2. They have no problem with the Deltran Battery Tender Junior (a non CAN bus charger) because it never exceeds 14.4 volts or 0.8 amps, and rolls off when the battery becomes fully charged.
8. Full suggested retail in the usa is $40 for the Deltran Battery Tender Junior. Anything more expensive is a waste of $$.
Click to expand...

How surprising they said that about their charger :eek:

I'm now on my third canbus type bike and so far on all of them, my £20 trickle charger works through the bikes accessory socket. And being a trickle charger it can't push loads of amps and cause overheating etc, and as shown by the little led on it, when it gets to 14.2 volts, stops pushing in amps :)

Deltran said to me they don't do a EU volts / frequency compatabile charger.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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