Replaced Bsttery in helmet but yellow charging light flashes

Hi,

BMW could not supply replacement 1800ma battery so I bought the 2400ma and cut and joined the wires to the old connector plug.

All the GPS pairing works and gives navigation instructions. BUT when I plug in the charger the yellow light flashes when it should be steady on.

Are the batteries coded?

Is there a reboot option so it accepts the new battery

I see the battery has been in their stock since September 2021. Is it is likely that it has deteriorated?

Any help would be appreciated.

TurnerTech said:

Hi,

BMW could not supply replacement 1800ma battery so I bought the 2400ma and cut and joined the wires to the old connector plug.

All the GPS pairing works and gives navigation instructions. BUT when I plug in the charger the yellow light flashes when it should be steady on.

Are the batteries coded?

Is there a reboot option so it accepts the new battery

I see the battery has been in their stock since September 2021. Is it is likely that it has deteriorated?

Any help would be appreciated.

Click to expand...

What helmet / comms unit and what type of battery?

Two possible faults -

As you say, the battery could be passed its recharge point and has discharged to a very low point

or the charger may only be rated to charge an xx capacity battery, and your trying to charge a greater capacity battery


The third option is the charger is trying to recover the battery and may drop into a normal charge routine, one the battery has recovered sufficiently

Hi Santa,
Thank you for your reply.
The helmet is a Series 6 and the BME Communication System was installed two years later by a BMW retailer.
It has worked perfectly for years but recently the battery dies within a couple of hours riding.
BMW do not have any stocks of the 1800ma battery and the next delivery was quoted as May 2023.
I suspect you are correct in that it will not want to chage the new battery but how does it know what it has to deal with?
Do you know if the 3rd wire on the battery cable is a signal cable providing a battery code. If so, is it possible to swap the coding system from the old battery pack to the new battery? Or is it possible to reboot the system so it recognises the new battery?

Battery Replacement Problem Solved

TurnerTech said:

Hi,

BMW could not supply replacement 1800ma battery so I bought the 2400ma and cut and joined the wires to the old connector plug.

All the GPS pairing works and gives navigation instructions. BUT when I plug in the charger the yellow light flashes when it should be steady on.

Are the batteries coded?

Is there a reboot option so it accepts the new battery

I see the battery has been in their stock since September 2021. Is it is likely that it has deteriorated?

Any help would be appreciated.

Click to expand...

I have solved this problem:

The battery is coded. The third wire (not the red or black ones) is connected to the Negative terminal through a tinycomponent (smaller then the head of a match). This obviously dictates which battery can be connected to the Motherboard. However, as the battery pack is just three Rechargeable AA batteries connected in series, I cannot see why they need to be coded unless it is to avoid counterfeit batteries being used.

You have to remove the outer wrapping of the battery pack to access the terminals. Unsolder the three wires from the two terminals on the old battery, Do the same on the new battery and connect the wires from the old battery to the terminals on the new battery. Make up some new wrapping to ensure it is all isolated (I used Gaffer Tape) and reconnect the old connector to the Motherboard.