Archive of BMW Motorrad Club Cape (2006 - 2019)

Hello.

I think it might be the battery that is on its way out.

I presume the noise you are experiencing is the starter motor trying to engage the engine via the bendix solenoid but is not able to turn the motor over.

Test,or have the battery tested?

Hope this helps.Otherwise give me a call.0761138911

Thanks Jandre. I will have it tested at Motorcycle World in parow as i need to go in to get my honda rvf battery replaced as well. Me thinks its time to invest in an optimate or ctek. 

Good idea to keep batteries ready to roll anytime. 

Jacques.

Certainly sounds like the battery how old is the battery? . I have just replaced mine with a genuine BMW at a price . It is now a different bike The former was a lead acid type and the story is, You get what you pay for.

So I bought the Optimate 4 from Hendrik at http://optimate-battery-charger.co.za/

It is a BMW combo that has the beemer socket included and it can charge through the can-bus, but also connectors for direct connection to battery.

Put the charger in can-bus mode, plugged into the socket, switched on and it ran through the test cycle. Test came back as battery ok, just a bit pap.

It is on charge now (started at 7 last night) so when I get home tonight I will try and start her up and see.

Will report back.

@Cheesy, what was the price on the new BMW Battery and where did you buy? I do not know how old my battery is as it came with the bike (bought last november).

cheers

Hi.

Your Optimate charger might show you that your battery is full when infact it is only realy checking your voltage and not your Amps.

And the aftermarket batteries retail for around R 822.66.

Regards.

Raymond Alexander.

Hi OJ,

We sell the DHC fully automatic battery charger for BMW bikes which is a 5 Amp unit. Also has the direct battery connectors which you leave on the battery.

Check it out on our website. 

We deliver if in Cape Town area. Use this unit myself and it is great.

CHeck the picture on our net is of the unit on my bike.

Autotronics

021-558 7092.

http://autotronic.co.za/product/dhc-12-volt-moto-exact-5-amp-switching-p...

Regards Adrian

So i had the baterry on charge over night through the socket. Tried starting, no luck. Stillvsame aweful sound when engaging the starter.

Switch over to clamps directly on battery and charging again. Lets hope that itcharges. Will check tomorrow morning again  

O J, The price was about R1800-00 with a 2 year guarantee, from the BMW dealer. To test the battery take it to a battery dealer and let them apply a LOAD, that will tell you the condition of the battery, period. It sounds to me that the battery is toast. 

Hi O J.

What year is your GS, cause if you'd like I could come collect, repair and drop off your bike for you, as I have a bike trailer?

Regards.

Raymond Alexander.

Hi O J.

I do think that battery of yours is toast, I had a friend witch also had the same problem with his F 800ST and he couldn't understand it, cause when ever he wasn't ridding his bike he had it on charge till I fitted a battery for he and the problem was gone, the battery was holding volts but never had enough Amps to swing the motor over to start.

Regards.

Raymond Alexander.

Hi Theo.

Any luck with that flat battery yet?

Try Dixon Batteries in Bellville. Was referred to them by a former Motorad dealer. Sold bike after 3 yr with this battery and battery was still going strong.

So, another R1138.10 later and I have 2 new batteries (as my Honda RVF 400 baterry also decided it is done)

Tried charging the battery still connected to bike, no luck

Tried charging the battery outside the bike, no luck

Tried connecting another battery (the rvf one) to the bmw battery to "fake" charge, no luck

Spoke to Mark at Techmate in regards to the Optimate 4 that was suppose to "revive"/save the battery and according to him, it sounds like the BMW battery has less than 3V load and thus the charger cannot start the charge.

I am a bit sceptical about getting the old batteries to work and then it leaves me stranded somewhere so decided to buy the new ones.

Side note, it definetly is the battery on the BMW as I jump started the bike from the car battery.

**** NOTE NB WARNING READ THIS ****

1. Car is not switched on, 2. Connect both jumpers to car, 3. Connect positive (red) to bike battery, 4. Connect negative (black) to frame where there is no paint as far as possible away from battery, 5. start the bike.

So now I will keep the batteries on charge while not in use and hopefulle extend their lives.

Pleased that you are sored

Hi Oj,

Your jump starting tips are good but the most important factor is when your bike starts, then what.

Do you just disconnect the jumper cables?. That's were the fun starts excuse the pun....

Disconnect the jumper leads while both vehicles are running and you can be in for expensive repairs....like the abs pump? We know they fail for no reason....or so some people say.

So the right thing to do would be to switch off the bike you just got going, then disconnect the leads and hope the bike will restart. 

Just quickly the flat battery bikes alternator will be pushing against no resistance when you take off the jumper cables, causing a major voltage upward spike for a few milli seconds causing damage to your bike.

Remove the battery, then charge it. Then put it back. If it still does not start, then replace battery.

Check voltage on any 12 volt battery as it should measure 12.6 volts if fully charged. If 12.4 volts then it needs a charge. Easy method is put a multi meter across the battery terminals and crank the bike. If the volts fall below 9.6 volts while cranking non of the computers will operate to start the bike.

Happy tech time from me.

Adrian 0825702554

Hi Theo.

It's not a very good idea to kepp the batteries on charge all the time only if you don't use them for about 2-3 weeks then put them on charge every 2/ 3 weeks, to prolong the life spand of them I've managed to get about 10 years out of my batteries at least, before replacing them.

Morning all

Just a quick thank you for all the feedback and help. Both bikes are running again. cheers

@Adrian, 1. The car should NOT be running while doing the jump and 2. As I understand it, while the bike is running that you just got started, remove the clamps in the order you connected them and you should be fine. There is always a risk with jumping a motorcycle and should be treated as an absolute LAST resort, in an emergency type scenario

@Raymond, not sure I follow your comment. My case in the winter is that I would be riding the GS more often (heated grips, more nature protection) than the honda. That said, I intend to start the bikes once a week atleast, be that through actually using them or getting them up to temp through stationary idiling. While the bikes are in the garage (the cars sleep outside where they belong) I want to leave them on the optimate so that the batteries stay charged.

I will be speaking to the TechMate guys again to find out what their recomendation is in my specific scenario and report back.

thx again, Theo

Hi Theo.

The problem is everyone thinks that just starting and leaving a vehicle to idle is the solution but that doesn't charge the battery very well, yes pluging in the charger solves that problem but it's like your cell phone you shouldn't put it on charge every hour just because it's used one bar of energy, you need to let the battery drain down a little then charge it up, so on your bike if you keep charging the battery every day to maxiumim then you'll damage the bikes battery, so if you don't ride the bike for about 3 weeeks then I'd recomend you put the battery on charge on or after the 3rd week only at least to pro long the batteries life spand.

Thanks Raymond, that cleared it up.

I will keep it in mind over this winter period.