[LittleJoe]

Went out to garage to get the liner for my jacket tonight before riding to work. Opened top box , got jacket, and back inside.
10 MIN later my wife goes out to garage for something and comes in saying, were you doing something in garage.....it smells really bad.

I go out and it is immediately apparent that something electrical is melting. Truck, Concours and LT are in garage. Since only thing I touched 10 min before was opening top box on LT , I opened to check light.....seems okay. Lifted seat, don't smell anything. Turn on key, all seems normal. Look at battery tender(that is plugged into passenger receptacle). Light is out?? hmmmm. pick up tender and it is HOT and readily apparent , where smell is coming from.
Not sure what/why it happened(had been plugged in for a few days(factory BMW tender)as not riding bike lately)

I'm thinking this was close to being a fire and I got lucky.....bike seems fine and accessory plug works fine.

Guess I need a new battery tender

 

[K100Dennis]

Not good, potentially serious I would think. Given that these devices are intended for use over long, unattended periods, I would think this not to be accepatble. Have you considered taking the toasted tender to a dealer for his opinion after explaining your concern ? If it shorted internally one would think it should have tripped the power supply to prevent overheating etc. Mine is a Battery Fighter brand, 1.25 amp, 4 stage electronic, but I note that even when running on "maintenance" (green LED) it is still warm. I would have thought it should be cold except when it kicks in.

 

[Cochinosucio]

Yikes! Glad everything is OK! I would ask BMW why, and how often this happens.... Hopefully rare, and they will just replace it.
Any chance of worn/chafed wires after the tender, or on the bike?

 

[lesn]

....and it didn't even trip a fuse? Unbelievable ! Now you got me worried-I got two of them going in my garage.

 

[Dick]

Steve - I don't have my service books handy; butt, you've used the 'passenger receptacle' to hookup the Battery Tender before? And all went well? For some reason, I thought the passenger receptacle couldn't/shouldn't be used for charging - the receptacle is not hot if the ignition key is in the 'off' position? If in fact it shouldn't be used if the ignition is 'off' - and your's wuz - then I wonder if that had something to do with the meltdown? Hopefully, a battery or tender guru will jump in here.

 

[ez_rdr55]

Not a BMW but http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=793405

 

[mreuter]

OK it should not happen but it did and this is no good. Dick said before never use the passenger receptacle for charging only the right or left down on the motor fairing is connected to the Battery.
But you have to find out why it didn't trip your fuse either on the House circuit or on the charger.

Manfred

 

[LTFan]

is there a right bottom side fairing powerlet socket? i have a 99 lt and seem to be missing it.

 

[Cochinosucio]

is there a right bottom side fairing powerlet socket? i have a 99 lt and seem to be missing it.

It has the power cord, but I believe the socket was an option on the right side. You should have one on the left.

 

[gary45]

breaker or fuse will not blow until it's current rating is reached, a fuse will go sooner than a breaker, in buildings we take infra red pictures of panels and breakers at least once a year looking for hotspots, failing breakers and contactors

high resistance short can cook for quite awhile

 

[C-A-D]

Steve - I don't have my service books handy; butt, you've used the 'passenger receptacle' to hookup the Battery Tender before? And all went well? For some reason, I thought the passenger receptacle couldn't/shouldn't be used for charging - the receptacle is not hot if the ignition key is in the 'off' position? If in fact it shouldn't be used if the ignition is 'off' - and your's wuz - then I wonder if that had something to do with the meltdown? Hopefully, a battery or tender guru will jump in here.

Good point. In my -99LT the power outlet / socket in the rear trunk is controlled by ignition switch but the socket is switched off by ignition switch IN STEERING LOCKED-position. BUT even though the ignition switch would be on "garage" position (not locked) my trickle charger goes to "error mode" at some point of charging. If / when I connect the charger in the socket down by the left footrest everything work OK.

 

[mwnahas]

My guess is it has thermal protection got real hot and shutdown. Shouldn't have happened but it sacrificed itself to prevent an even worse outcome. What caused it? We may never know unless you want to dig into it. Let us know if you find out anything.

 

[Bones1955]

Not for nothing I noticed if I use my old type charger on 6 amp it will not back down any amps as the agm battery comes up..like it does with acid cell batteries.

If I use my new fully auto charger it only charges like 3 mins and shuts off ..even though I know the batt is down some.

Agm's are great batts(slow discharge rate sitting) but seem temperamental about charging.
I know when you "charge" a wet cell it removes something from the plates so the batt can produce power..I have no idea how a agm works..must be similar?

 

[wardenross]

About 8 years ago (or so) there was a rash of Battery Tenders burning up. They make the BMW chargers.

If you call their 1-800 number, they will replace your Battery Tender. At least they did mine. I just had to pay return shipping on the new unit.

http://batterytender.com/

 

[dfinazzo]

From "my" experience Battery Tenders are junk - I had three they all burned up or should I
say stopped working and the factory was ready to replace them each time of course I had to
pay $15 freight for the replacement each and every time . . .

 

[DanDiver]

From "my" experience Battery Tenders are junk - I had three they all burned up or should I
say stopped working and the factory was ready to replace them each time of course I had to
pay $15 freight for the replacement each and every time . . .

I have had one that is now at least 8-9 years old and I think it still works great. I probably use it about once a month and it seems to work as advertised.

When I use it on my K1600, I connect it directly to the battery with a pigtail. On my K1200LT I plugged it into the front power connection. My batteries seemed to last about 3 or 4 years.

 

[11862]

I have 4 of the 750 ma Battery tenders for about t he last three years. Never any trouble.

 

[LittleJoe]

The battery charger was the original tender that came with bike when new (according to original owner)It is a BMW emblem on it.
It has been charged by the rear plug for years without issue till now.

As of right now I have another tender on battery directly.

The breaker did not trip and I believe fire was not far away.

 

[LittleJoe]

Battery is a gel cell and is 2005 model. It is getting weaker and should be replaced.....but still does the job fine if bike driven every couple of days.

Cranking rpm is a touch slower if sits for a few days with tender on but nothing to be alarmed at.

The batteries in my diesel truck are original at 8yrs and still going strong.

I know.......I need to get preventive and buy new ones