Brand New Gel Battery issues

[KYchris02]

Brand New Gel Cell Battery in the Fall. Rode maybe 2,500 miles. Parked for the winter in late November. Smart charged overnight and starterd her once in December. This past weekend I hooked up the new smart charger to the accessory outlet again and the little red light never turned green.

the next day I realized that the outlet I was charging from de-activates with the light switch in the garage, so the bike sat the night with the charger hooked in and no juice. I tried again the next night and made sure the juice was on.

Battery is really dead. Turning key to on position barely (i mean barely) lights 1 indicator light in the dash.

Questions... did my overnight no juice hookup kill the gel cell? Shouldn't a new gell recover from this?

I'm dreading battery replacement and my dealership went kaput a few months back so getting the warranty (1 year) replacement will be a hassle.

Thanx for any advice or thoughts...

[rglassma]

The dead connection for your charger shouldn't do anything at all. It was probably in the same condition that it started in when you thought you were charging it. I would leave it connected for several days to see if there is any change. I am assuming that you are using the BMW Gel charger (Battery Tender). In the future, I would leave it connected when you are not using the bike so it keeps the battery constantly fresh. My battery was marginal after the original owner disconnected it and reconnected it incorrectly and discharged it totally.

Worse comes to worse, the battery carries a 1 year warranty from the dealer. Take your receipt to where you bought it and have it replaced. If you don't have it, they should be able to find out when you bought it through their system and honor the warranty. That might not be a bad thing to do anyway.

Good Luck

[justincase]

If you have the BMW GEL charger I believe the battery MUST have a minimum voltage to work (I don't remember what that voltage is 4.5 volts I believe, but am not sure). If the battery doesn't meet that minimum requirement, I don't believe the charger will charge the battery. You need to boost the battery with a different charger, and then switch to your GEL charger.

Anyway, I believe that's what I read...I don't have the paperwork with me now. Hope this helps.

Good luck.

[GoldRush]

KYchris02,

I found that the Gel battery on my '05 with Advanced BMW Battery attached, was not fully charged when I used the power Plug Outlet (Plug not all the way in, I guess). Wouldn't turn over.

Was advised to hook up alligator clips and go directly to battery, which I did and noticed additional charging that took place.

Try this since the plug doesn't always seat properly even though you think it has.

[messenger13]

Chris,

I forgot to put my Battery Tender on my LT for a couple of weeks and the BMW Gel battery went almost dead, as you're describing. The Battery Tender would not bring it back to life. http://www.bigbikeworld.com/forum/smileys/smiley7.gif So I hooked up my trusty 2-amp car charger and hooked it directly to the gel battery for about 8 to 10 hours. The gel battery came back to life and all is back to normal.

[justincase]

Chris,

I forgot to put my Battery Tender on my LT for a couple of weeks and the BMW Gel battery went almost dead, as you're describing. The Battery Tender would not bring it back to life. http://www.bigbikeworld.com/forum/smileys/smiley7.gif So I hooked up my trusty 2-amp car charger and hooked it directly to the gel battery for about 8 to 10 hours. The gel battery came back to life and all is back to normal.
That sounds right, I believe the BMW charger has clip level for the voltage, but as I stated in my other post, I'm sure what that level was. I believe that info is in the changer manual.

[munson]

The gel battery came back to life and all is back to normal.
My 2004 has a BMW Gel battery, and I have a BMW branded (from Deltran) charger. It seems like I heard the 05's on have a different battery, AGM maybe? Was 2004 the only year for the Gel?

[lovetomotor]

My 2004 has a BMW Gel battery, and I have a BMW branded (from Deltran) charger. It seems like I heard the 05's on have a different battery, AGM maybe? Was 2004 the only year for the Gel?

My '03 has the BMW factory gel battery. No problems to date.

[Fountain]

Chris,

I forgot to put my Battery Tender on my LT for a couple of weeks and the BMW Gel battery went almost dead, as you're describing. The Battery Tender would not bring it back to life. http://www.bigbikeworld.com/forum/smileys/smiley7.gif So I hooked up my trusty 2-amp car charger and hooked it directly to the gel battery for about 8 to 10 hours. The gel battery came back to life and all is back to normal.


If you can't keep your bike off the Battery Tender for more than two weeks there must be something wrong with your bike. My 2000 LT still has the original led-acid battery and will be 5 1/2 years old next month. I have never got less than 6 years from a BMW led-acid battery, I wish they still made them.

I park my bike every winter for at least 3-4 months and during that time I will use the Battery Tender about one day per month. I only have one tender and I have to rotate it around to several other cars, generator, ATV, lawn mowers, etc that I have in storage.

I never understood why people have to keep their bike hooked up all the time.

[Johnson]

The battery tender is not a battery charger, You leave the tender on when you park the to keep the battery 13.5 V. Gel is being replaced by gms a much better battery. The GMS battery is as good as the wet cell but you do'nt have to add water and no corrosion. I have 4 8D house batters plus 4 starter and 1 generater starter batteries in my motorhome. they are connected 24/7to chargers when the bus is not in use .

[retiredjj]

Keeping a battery tender or surface charger on a battery keeps the plates from sulfating. At least on lead acid types. On the gels I don't know. Recently installed a Wesco battery in my 99 but haven't had a chance to do any field testing yet due weather.

[petepeterson]

I was sick for a while last year bike set on BMW tender for the gell batt. for 7 months... Turned key on started 1st crank, like I had been starting it everyday.....Regards Pete

[KYchris02]

thanx for the info from everyone. I'm back riding and was able to do it without yanking the battery. I would have never figured out the minimum charge limit on the smart tender.

one thought: i still can't bring myself to believe keeping the tender hooked up constantly for the next month of winterizing is best for the battery.

anyway ... this site continues to amaze me and the help everyone is so willing to offer is mucho appreciato! chris