Catastrophic Battery Failure

[Bill Stevenson]

On the way home from work last night I shut the engine off for a few minutes and that was it. Because of the experiences of several of you who reported this problem here, I had a pretty good idea that it was the battery. BMW sent the roadside assistance help out, which was excellent. I just called the dealer and the bike arrived safe and sound this morning and yes it was a total failure of the battery. All covered under warranty of course. Has anyone checked to see what aftermarket batteries are holding up? If this happens again warranty or no, I would prefer to pay to have a battery that is more reliable.

Thanks,

Bill

[gremlin]

I had the Antenna ring problem on the stop-off on the way down to London. The bike was recovered home and picked up on the next working day while i was given a loan... *shudder* car to carry on my trip to London.

I asked for my bike to be recovered to Barrie Robson rather than my closest dealer (due to not trusting their service manager). Barrie Robson's mechanic told me that they checked the bike over after replacing the ring and found that battery was almost dead so they swapped it under warranty!

[Bill Stevenson]

That is interesting. I thought the battery problem was only occurring in the USA because the supplier here is having a problem. Is BMW sourcing all their batteries here? In any event it would seem from the silence that no one participating in this forum has gone to the aftermarket for a replacement battery yet. Or it is too early to know.

Bill

[mogu83]

When the battery in my R1200R dropped dead, I took the 12V14-B WestCo out of my 1999 Valkyrie and used it for a few weeks until I had time to get back to the dealer for a new battery (no charge-naturally). It dropped right in and I had no issues with the charging system, starting system or the ABS.
There are many batteries availably on the internet that will work WestCo, Panasonic and Odyssey come quickly to mine and I'm sure Yuasa is in there somewhere. Just make sure it's an AGM type battery. Most sites have a list showing application for your bike. The AGM batteries are sent through the mail charged and ready to go, you don't have to go to the dealer for a battery. Unless your getting it free under warranty.

[ShinySideUp]

I've had good results with the Odyssey PC535 battery. Fitting was a bit problematic.

If you search this forum for "battery fit" and look at the first hit (with my name on it) you can read about my experience.