Trickle charging the r1200gs 2018LC

Alex_TE said:

Ditto.

Even asked the dealer to fit the Ctek lead to the battery on my behalf when I picked up the bike ('21 GSA).

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Double Ditto

I did the same from new.

I use a CTEK test and charge. Supposed to not damage the battery by constantly trickling it but I don’t leave it plugged in. If I haven’t used the bike for over a week in the winter I just plug it in for a while.

I use old optimate charge I have had for 15 years… direct to the battery, then fly lead serves the electric pump for tyres, heated gloves and other accessories if need be. Never let me down. 2016 LC GSA

What to do?

Micko123 said:

Ctek for me too, plugged into Keis fused heated clothing fly lead, direct to battery.

Sent from my SM-G981B using Tapatalk

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casbar said:

Optimate 4 Canbus charger here, used these on all my LC bikes. Interestingly BMW currently have a software issue with their own chargers through the can bus aux port. Now the details are a bit thin, but they are advising not to use the aux ports. This maybe only RT related, but using their own charger through the aux port is actually discharging batteries on some 1250s. Now having run tests on 3 1250 RTs we are not experiencing any issues. But allegedly the problem seems to be with bikes fitted with BMW trackers. The chargers are activating the can bus circuit and waking up the trackers. Result is the trackers are taking more out of the battery than the BMW chargers can put back in. None of our 1250s have the trackers enabled. There is no issues with 1200s though. Direct to the battery connection there are no issues.

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I’ve ordered optimate 4 canbus but have optimate 3(triumph branded) will this do the job of charging using it through my fuze block, which is what I done on my tiger.
The optimate 4 can be returned saving myself £77 (not that I’m a skin flint just careful with her indoors money )

That’s what I have, it’s just an optimate 3 with Triumph branding. As promised by GSian above, it was fine!

Doesn’t anyone ask themselves why we are expected to buy a trickle charger to keep our expensive bikes working?

Nobody suggests you have to do that with a car.

SBD said:

Doesn’t anyone ask themselves why we are expected to buy a trickle charger to keep our expensive bikes working?

Nobody suggests you have to do that with a car.

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I run my car almost daily, if I did my bike I wouldn't bother, a car parked for a few weeks would need a trickle charger, especially if it had a dash cam. And, the battery is much bigger. The bike can be weeks on end not being run, in cold conditions with a smaller battery that's more in the open. From past experience I use a trickle charger through winter. I'm not a "fair-weather" as such, but I don't go out on the bike once salt is on the roads. I you want all the electronic stuff on a bike that a car has without using the same size battery then there's got to be price to pay.

Modern electrical systems on all vehicles have a certain drain on the battery when standing,and when running require a high current draw,hence the need for high quality batteries, a battery conditioner is really handy to ensure easy starting if the vehicle isn't used daily and extend battery life.
I find the BMW version does the job,and reasonable money from e Bay. The conditioning of the battery is as important as the charging to maintain their optimum service life.
Also if jump starting is ever required it can be risky for engine operating systems that are susceptible to spiking of power supply,as in my experience a lot of them are,this applies to all modern engines big or small,and where emission related modules are involved.

SBD said:

Doesn’t anyone ask themselves why we are expected to buy a trickle charger to keep our expensive bikes working?

Nobody suggests you have to do that with a car.

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Never used one on any bike that I have owned since 1976, never had a problem.

Same here optimate 4 with SAE connection to battery, I then use the SAE plug to power my small compressor for punctures etc.


To achieve, we must first attempt.

With the quest to save weight and reduce cost. Most batteries are specified to just do the job so tolerances are quite fine.

Trickle charging with a decent charger like ctek is 100% absolutely fine, they only kick in when voltage drops. Some say trickle charging can extend the life of your battery.

It’s nothing new really, batteries have always been a weak point on bikes, as mentioned above they are just big enough to do the job without weighing too much

I’ve replaced a couple back in the day which is why I bought a trickle charger several years ago, haven’t had a problem since

Well, I guess I see a GS as a two wheel LandRover.

My Discovery 4 sits in the drive most of the week, it goes shopping perhaps once and my Mrs takes it to the station & back if she has to go into the office. It’s fully loaded with electronics, and has an adequately large battery. That said, if you turn off the engine and listen to the radio, it’ll turn it off after about 10 minutes to protect the battery.

My GS, (13 months old, no battery issues until 3 weeks ago) on the other hand, is used every day (unless it’s is pi55ing down and she’s not going to town, then I’ll take the Landy, I’m an enthusiast, not a martyr) for a 10 minute each way commute.

I’d hope ten minutes drive would replenish the battery from starting, though I guess it might be marginal if the heated grips are on. The voltage with engine running is 14.4 or 14.5 which indicates a good alternator.

The last time the bloody thing failed to start was last Wednesday - on Friday I did a 70 mile ride, I guess we all think it should be well, thoroughly, fully charged after 70 miles?

I didn’t use it over the weekend, and had to go away Monday night, so it sat unused until Wednesday. And simply would not start. In my view that is entirely unacceptable. Particularly as the weather is still pretty warm, if it’s failing now at 15C, we’ve got no hope at 5C.

The BMW tech says “you have to trickle charge it, the Tracker runs the battery down”. Well, it does, but according to Datatool, it uses just 0.4mA - that means it would take 250 hours to run the battery down 1Ah - more than 10 days.

I don’t know how much charge is needed to start the bike, I’d expect 80% should be enough. The battery is 11.8Ah so probably more than 20 days…

The other thing I don’t know is whether the Datatool is really asleep - it certainly uses more if not asleep though I don’t know how much.

The BMW website says “if you’re not using your vehicle for 4 weeks, trickle charge it”, and this seems reasonable to me - 4 days is a long weekend away, when you might not use the bike at all - and might not have anywhere to plug in a charger anyway. Perhaps they’ll start selling very long BMW extension leads to go with the BMW smart charger!

The bike is currently in Chandlers in Brighton for its 12 month service following a 77 mile ride yesterday - let’s hope it doesn’t start for them on Monday morning, and they fit a new battery under warranty. Preferably a lithium one, as I don’t think 11.8 Ah is close to adequate for three years warranty period on a large motorbike.

(My 44 year old Guzzi has a 32Ah battery, it’s bigger, heavier, and doesn’t let me down - I rate reliability much higher than the marginal performance gain of a weight saving of a kilo or so)

Will update when I know more

My regime is to plug the optimate direct to the bike battery for 24 hours once every 4 weeks if left standing. At the same time charge your BMW satnav by using your phone charger. Both will then keep serving you well