Bike only 14 months old - battery problems

[Thor1340]

Hi guys, welcome any comments and thoughts. Due to work and family I had not been on the bike for two weeks.
Yesterday it was sunny and crisp, a few hours off in the afternoon so bike gear on in to garage rolled bike out and it would not go on centre stand.
Then it would not start, BMW assistance eventually called, turned out the batery was dead. Do any of you use an OPTIMATE battery conditioner? Should a battery this old (Bike has almost 11,000miles on it) be in this state. I am going out later to buy a battery charger, anything specific I should be looking for?
Thanks in advance
Stuart

[beemerlt]

Stuart - yes, I have both an OptiMate 2 and OptiMate 3. Both work well, but be aware that they have a threshold voltage (can't remember without searching but about 2V) below which they won't charge. So if you ever deep-discharge your battery you'll need to kick-start the charging with a 'normal' car-type charger. There are lots of alternatives which you'll find searching through the old site. There might also be some compatibility issues with certain BMW gel batteries requiring specific chargers, but the OptiMate works great with my Odyssey. First chance you get I'd recommend changing to an Odyssey battery - they are tough and tolerate deep-discharging well. See the FAQ (http://www.bmwlt.com/forums/faq.php?faq=k1200lt_faq_general#faq_k1200lt_faq_altbattery).

The KLT battery will discharge over time due to parasitic loads as well as internal voltage decline. The CD charger is a well-known culprit. I believe locking the steering reduces the parasitic loading, although have never tested this. Hence the 'good practice' of keeping the bike connected to a trickle charger whenever possible.

[Thor1340]

You say you have both an Optimate 2 & 3 are they much different? or do you have them on two different machines.

Thanks


Stuart

[NOGILLS2]

After many years fishing bass Tournaments, Battery care and maintenance became a science. There are many myths about batteries also ie: "never set a battery on the ground, it'll suck the power out of it." may have been true with your model T, but batteries use new plastics and other exotic materials for cases now.
The LT with all the electronics on board has a constant draw, even when the bike is parked, not much, but still there is a power draw, so if you park it for more than a few days put the charger on it.

once batteries are drawn down for several reasons they dont seem to be the same.
Also keeping fluid levels full is also important, when the lead stays exposed to air, it builds up a coating and stops the chem reaction which makes electricity. Try to use distilled water in your battery, minerals in the water build up on the lead also,

I recommend the odyssey battery because, no water to deal with, so it makes it maintenance free, really, just use the charger on it when parked.

In my thinking any 2 amp charger with automatic feature will work. I am not sure of the idea that you have to use a specific charger with certain batteries, I think this is a sales ploy. I base this on the idea that you dont change your alternator with every battery change. Just my Cajun thinking here. My son worked in the battery business, building batteries for several years, he and I have had many discussions on this subject.

ps I love the spell checker added to this site.

[Malki]

Stuart - I think the differences were mainly cosmetic with one or two wee tweaks thrown in, but basically they do the same job. The III is a little more user friendly. You can check out the differences here. http://www.optimate3.com/differences.htm

[ATFLT]

Batteries can go bad at most any age. I am still running the original battery in my 99 standard. It has never seen a battery charger. My LT regularly goes two weeks without being started. I know most have not been so lucky with batteries. I am sure that mine can't last all that much longer but I haven't decided what to get when the time comes. I am certain that I won't be putting a charger on the new battery either.

[beemerlt]

You say you have both an Optimate 2 & 3 are they much different? or do you have them on two different machines.
Yes, therein lies quite a saga. I ran an electrical cable across to the garage so that I could leave my bike's battery connected to the OptiMate 2 (it didn't previously have any functioning electrical hookup), and (as recommended) used a contact breaker at the house-end connection. What I didn't realise was how frequently there are power cuts in the area and that each power cut trips the contact breaker, cutting power to the garage. So when I came to ride the bike in the Spring the battery was stone dead - barely a flicker on the voltmeter.

At the time I didn't know anything about the OptiMate's voltage threshold, nor was I sure about the Odyssey recovering from total discharge. So I ended up buying the OptiMate 3 and another Odyssey. :( Ho hum. I now use the OptiMate 3 routinely on the bike and leave the OptiMate 2 hooked up to the spare battery and occasionally (at the moment actually) to the car battery. Both work fine.

[microdoc]

"...rolled bike out and it would not go on centre stand. Then it would not start... turned out the batery was dead. Do any of you use an OPTIMATE battery conditioner? Should a battery this old (Bike has almost 11,000miles on it) be in this state. I am going out later to buy a battery charger, anything specific I should be looking for?"

Stuart, batteries continue to generate misinformation, misunderstanding and misconception. Because you said your bike would not deploy the centerstand, I'm assuming you have a 2005 or later K1200LT with the power centerstand. If so, I believe that means you have the BMW Gel battery on the bike. For maintaining the full charge of a gel battery, you must use a FLOAT CHARGER expressly designed for gel batteries. Simply stated, that means the float charger output is limited to 14.4 volts (Not coincidently, the same as the alternator/voltage regulator output.) If you use a "conventional" battery charger or trickle charger on a gel battery, especially if the battery has been deeply discharged, there is a very high likelihood that a) the battery will be permanently damaged by the charging process. b) the battery will not recharge. If a gel battery has been deeply discharged (10.5 volts or less), an at-home float charger will not be able to start the recharging process. In that case there are two safe ways to attempt to revitalize the battery: 1- take the battery to a BMW (car or motorcycle) dealer. They have the proper charging equipment on hand for the gel batteries. 2- "jumper" the bike's battery to a healthy and fully charged car battery for an hour or so. Once the gel battery's voltage has risen above 10.5v, the float charger can take over, or the bike can be started jumpered to the car battery, after which the bike's charging system will be able to recharge the battery.

During idle times it is best to keep the bike on a proper float charger. A K1200LT can draw down its' battery in 2 weeks. I have also been told by my dealer to switch off the radio equipment before shutting down the engine. I have not verified this, but he claimed it reduces the parasitic battery draw. Park the bike with the key in the fork-lock position; I have verified that parasitic battery draw is lower then with the key in the "off" position.

I have personally tested the Battery Tender model Deltran makes for BMW. I have also tested the Battery Minder. Both products if labeled safe for gel batteries are safe and effective float chargers. If you desire to use some other device to maintain a gel battery, be sure the output is limited to 14.4 volts. If you are not sure, do not use it.

Good Luck!

[vgstef]

After many years fishing bass Tournaments, Battery care and maintenance became a science. There are many myths about batteries also ie: "never set a battery on the ground, it'll suck the power out of it." may have been true with your model T, but batteries use new plastics and other exotic materials for cases now.




This is fron Yuasa FAQ web site :

I was told by some old timers that if you leave a battery on the ground or a concrete floor it will ruin the battery. Is this true?

That is something a lot of "old timers" say. The reason they say that is in the "olden days" vehicle starting batteries used to be made with a hard rubber container. This hard rubber would eventually get mini cracks and become porous. So, when placing a battery on the ground or concrete, the battery would discharge through the ground or wet concrete. Nowadays, containers are made from a solid plastic that does not allow any current to flow through it, so the batteries do not discharge, even if they sit in a few inches of water. That is why you will not find your battery having trouble from sitting on the ground or concrete.

Stephan

[BecketMa]

Lately, I've been wondering if it might be time to change my battery.

The symptoms have been:
flashing ABS light, one time
unit drops from CD to FM while starting
the nagging feeling the starter did not seem to turning as fast as normal

I got my 00 in Sept 00.
I replaced the stock battery in Feb 03 with an sealed battery, before the onset of hot wx.

I expect to keep the charge high enough, by using a Battery Tender, until the new sealed battery I ordered arrives in a couple of weeks.

When I plugged the Battery Tender into the cigarette lighter, the Tender LED went red. I checked it a few minutes later, and saw it was neither Green, nor Red. My instant reaction was that the tender had died. But, thanks to a past thread on this site, I remember someone having a problem with their unused socket. So, I installed the regular clips onto the Tender lead, and connected it to the battery posts. It has been happily working since then.

Seems as if the Ody battery is back ordered.
Price has jumped to $85 shipped.

Hot wx here kills batteries.
Sunshine and high 70s today.

Time to start thinking about a better way to cope with the 100F summer wx. I've got a mini fridge I never use. Yank the colling system and get a voltage inverter?

Bob

[SPM]

Stuart,

I too experienced the dreaded flat battery after a 2 week lay off. I hadn't heard about a float charger being needed for 05s so as usual just plugged it in to my old optimate. 24hrs later!! I still didn't have enough charge to turn the engine over but after a swift bump start the bike fired up. That was just after our weekend in Wales and to date the bike has run fine with the green (fully charged) light on my optimate coming on after the bike is hooked up for 15mins.

Hope you and Jan are OK, see you in the spring?

[meese]

For the record, the LT's wiring diagram shows that certain power feeds (radio, etc.) stay connected even when the bike is switched Off. Turing the key to Lock disconnects those feeds and leaves the minimum parasitic draw on the bike. Just don't turn it past Lock to Park, as that will illuminate the front and rear parking lights, draining the battery rather quickly.

My '02 is always switched to Lock if I'm going to be away for more than a couple of minutes. I've never used a battery charger. The original lead acid battery was replaced under warranty in the first year, and the new BMW Gel battery has worked fine since then.

[jimboLT]

Does anyone know where to get a good manual for a 2000 LT [ie.clymer]

[fas]

I too experienced the dreaded flat battery after a 2 week lay off. I hadn't heard about a float charger being needed for 05s so as usual just plugged it in to my old optimate. 24hrs later!! I still didn't have enough charge to turn the engine over but after a swift bump start the bike fired up. That was just after our weekend in Wales and to date the bike has run fine with the green (fully charged) light on my optimate coming on after the bike is hooked up for 15mins.


SPM,

My LT consummed three batteries in four years. I used the BMW charger, still they died. We get really cold here during winter in Northern Ohio, next to Canada. My dealer replaced it FREE twice, then finally charged me for #3. See if your dealer will give you a break.

[meese]

Clymer does now offer a manual for the LT. Look here: http://www.clymerbooks.com/

My original battery also went out at 11 months. The bike was built in 01/01, and bought in 12/02, so it had been sitting for two years. The selling dealer made such a big hassle about replacing it under warranty that I never went back for any service, and found a better dealer who replaced it without question.