BMW R1200R R1150R/T F800 K1200R R1100R/T R1250R RnineT Message Board

Hi all!

Last week I finally paid the $130+ (Canadian bucks) to my dealer and bought the plug in battery charger for my '03 twin spark. Question...do I leave it on all the time, with that little green light a glow?

Atleast the green light makes the garage look all festive like! After going through the hassle or removing the gas tank and stuff just to get the battery out, I finally gave in and gave BMW MORE of my money!

Thanks for any answers.

Hi! I leave mine plugged in whenever I am not riding it
Hopefully, you have the version which has a float system (keeps the charge up automaticly)

Keep it on 24/7 -

What Bill said.

I sprang for the IBM marqued charger last winter. Kept it plugged on 24/7 from November 20 to April 10. Only reason was that the only time I thought about unplugging it was always at 2:00 AM and I would be damned if I was going to get out of a nice warm bed to go unplug it. And I couldn't convince my wife to go do it for me!

Thanks for the advice guys, she's plugged in 'till April...or what I call "time to do work around the house" season.

Keep it on. If it fries the battery it will shut itself off

yeah, it almost always shuts off just before the garage will burn down.

no problems.

Well, I don't want to fly in the face of all this sage "plugged in 24/7" advice, but you might want to consider a couple of things...

Regardless of whether a charger goes into "trickle/float mode" or not, it is still applying some voltage ot the battery. Any time you are applying voltage to a battery that has reached its capacity two things are happening...

1.) You are causing the battery to generate heat. The excessive energy over the battery's capacity has to go somewhere - it does - it gets converted to heat. Remember where your battery is located on you BMW. Do you really want excess heat generated under there?

2.) You are causing the discharge of gases. Yes, even "gel cell" and AGM (absorbed glass mat) batteries have vents, and give off gases once their charge capacity is reached. Again, do you want those gases up under the tank of your bike, or even in your garage?

Something to note about gel cells and AGM batteries - They can maintain their charge voltage for up to *TWO YEARS* on the shelf (whereas a normal lead-acid battery is a maximum of about six to twelve weeks for a car-sized battery, less for a motorcycle), so if you have this type (other than a standard lead-acid) you really have no worries if the battery is off the charger a week or two.

Now you certainly leave your battery on a proper trickle/float charger "24/7" if you wish, but in the end you are only shortening its service life (optimally an eight to twelve year design life, though three to ten is more realistic) by generating excess heat.

I have a Odyssey PC680 in my R1150R, and I have one of Odyssey's recommended float chargers for it. I plug it in for 24 to 48 hours every week, but give it a rest from the charger, and from heat, for at least five days when it isn't being ridden.

Just my two volts... YMMV, and your opinion may be different, but it helps to consider everything that is going on, not just a full charge.

Dallara

I have a 2002 with the original battery (lead acid?). I always have it on the Battery Tender when I am not riding because of the ... (Dallara, avert your eyes) ... ABS.

I believe that the ABS requires a near fully charged battery when you start off, or else you might get the flashing light.

Hey, RD...

Understand, I am not telling anyone else what they should do, honestly. I was only offering up some thoughts to consider regarding battery care.

I saw a lot of cooked and destroyed batteries from sitting on trickle-chargers back when I had a motorcycle shop. Of course, I saw an awful lot of sulfated, useless batteries from sitting too long with no charge.

I have also seen entire bikes destroyed from batteries blowing their cases wide-open from sitting on a charger too long.

That's why I try to stay somewhere in the middle ground.

Like I said... Just some things to consider... and just my two volts or so. YMMV.

Dallara

Now you certainly leave your battery on a proper trickle/float charger "24/7" if you wish, but in the end you are only shortening its service life (optimally an eight to twelve year design life, though three to ten is more realistic) by generating excess heat.

My god, three to ten years! I must be a battery murdering son of a gun...

I will say that with a regular lead-acid battery, keeping a charger on 24/7 has the effect of evaporating all the fluid as electrolysis forms the gases which escape. I'd say, don't ask me how I know, but I'm sure you all can guess. I have also found that refilling batteries on BMWs is a huge pain in the patoot. So, I've gone to a regimen of plugging in the charger overnight once ever week or two for the time the bikes lay up in the winter. Which isn't long...

arkline wrote:I have also found that refilling batteries on BMWs is a huge pain in the patoot. So, I've gone to a regimen of plugging in the charger overnight once ever week or two for the time the bikes lay up in the winter. Which isn't long...

You got that right. My number one complaint about this bike is the location of the battery. My 2002 comes with a conventional lead acid battery. How ridiculous that I have to remove the fricking gas tank just to check the water in the battery. Oh, and watch those quick disconnects and O rings -- don't want to start a fire. One bad design compounds the other. I risk a catastrophic fire just by checking the battery. Then there is the time factor of removing and replacing the tank, and the fatigue on the components. I have already ruined one of those rubber-encased nuts that the side panels screw into.

deep breath

rant off

Jeebus H. Chrysler... are there still Roadster owners who go through that ridiculous battery routine on a regular basis? How can you guys stand that crap? Just chuck that lead-acid lump already, then get an Odyssey PC680 and fuggedaboutit! You'll save yourself a ton of time and lessen the wear and tear on the bike, not to mention that it's a stronger and safer battery. That HAS to be worth the measly $70 (on eBay) or so, right? My Odyssey is still as strong as ever after three years, and it just plain doesn't care whether I plug a charger in or not. It just starts the bike and asks nothing in return.

This time I'm not gonna ask you, but flat out tell you: Just do it!

Hey, I'm with you, Captain!

The stock lead-acid on my 2002 Roadster laid down, big-time, with one sulfated cell (I bought the bike used, and the seller had left it sitting up a while) not too long after I got the bike.

I didn't wait... I didn't hesitate... I didn't pass "GO" or collect $200...

I went straight to http://www.batterymart.com and bought an Odyssey PC680:

http://www.batterymart.com/battery.mv?p=ODY-PC680

Paid like $75 or $80 bucks from them at the time, and then I got one of these since*TWO* bloody Deltran chargers had gone belly-up on me:

http://www.batterymart.com/battery.mv?p=VDC-12112

This is the charger BatteryMart told me was the best for maintaining the Odyssey at the time, and they had it on sale... I think I paid $35 for it, and it has performed flawlessly on the Odyssey and two full-sized car Optima batteries, too. It is also so small you can put it in a tank bag, and it has worked great for almost two year now.

BTW, BatteryMart is a great bunch of people to do business with. They ship quick, have good stuff, and I have never had anything "backordered" from them. I have since bought quite a bit of stuff from them for myself, and for gifts, and they have never let me down... And not one thing (which includes *FOUR* different chargers - one for me and the rest I gave as gifts) I have ever gotten from them has failed.

Just FYI...

Dallara

Is Battery Mart cheaper than eBay?

I just may forget to plug that Battery Tender in come January, when it gets real cold in my garage. Ooops, need a new battery.

I am not exactly frugal, but I hate to replace something that still works fine. The original battery has served me well. I had the original battery in my car for 8 years.

Don't know if you can find Odyssey PC-680's right now on e-Bay, RD, but...

When I was shopping for one I thought about e-Bay, but then figured I wanted to get my Odyssey from a company that I could deal directly with on Odyssey's warranty if I ever had a problem. So often on e-Bay sales if you have a problem you have no recourse with the seller, and he just tells you that you have to contact the manufacturer.

Don't get me wrong... I like to save a buck like anybody else, and I buy a ton of stuff on e-Bay, but when it comes to something like a battery I want a reputable company that I know I can deal with. I maybe could have saved $5 or $10 bucks on e-Bay, but it just wasn't worth it to me. YMMV, of course.

All I can say is that BatteryMart has treated me great these past few years, and are a breeze to deal with.

Dallara

Capt. Blackadder wrote:Jeebus H. Chrysler... are there still Roadster owners who go through that ridiculous battery routine on a regular basis? How can you guys stand that crap? Just chuck that lead-acid lump already, then get an Odyssey PC680 and fuggedaboutit! You'll save yourself a ton of time and lessen the wear and tear on the bike, not to mention that it's a stronger and safer battery. That HAS to be worth the measly $70 (on eBay) or so, right? My Odyssey is still as strong as ever after three years, and it just plain doesn't care whether I plug a charger in or not. It just starts the bike and asks nothing in return.

This time I'm not gonna ask you, but flat out tell you: Just do it!

Right on Cap'n...
I can't believe a lot of manufactureres are STILL putting maintained batteries in their bikes...I mean, my last two lawn tractors came with AGM batteries, fercryinoutloud.
My last bike came w/ one...an 01 Kaw. First thing I did was ditch that sucker.....

So for some reason I am letting this thread bug me.

So I went out to the garage on unplugged the charger which has been on since November 18.

I'll let the bike sit for a while and plug back in a week or so.

I mean I would hate for the clock to lose time and all.

...sometimes you can get what ever you need from this very site. Not too long ago I sold my brand new and never installed Odyssey PC-680 to a member of this board for $50 including shipping. It pays to check out the buy/sell section...