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View Full Version : Help plz - BMW F650 starting/charging issues



beanz
31st October 2009, 20:10
Hi,

This may be a matter for the bike shop, but I'm hoping someone might shed some light on my bikes issues.

I make the mistake of lending my bike to a mate. He bought it back to work, and parked it in the garage, but accidently left the key in the "leave the headlight on" position. Why on earth does BMW make it so easy to flatten the battery!!??

Anyway, I go to ride it today, and no lights, completely dead. I try to push-start it, no luck.

I go across the road to a car mechanic who lends me his portable jump-start thingy. I've jump started car many times, so just do the same. It starts fine. Normally you can immediately remove the doner battery, and the engine keeps going (alternator takes over), but in my case, the bike immediately dies. I scratch my head.

I try again, this time leaving the jump start thingy on for a minute. I remove it, and the bike keeps goin, but dies a few secs later.

I try again, this time leaving the jumper attached for 15min. Take it off, all good. So I continue my day of chores, but only get as far a the busiest street in Penrose, when it dies again.

So I guess the battery's not being charged by the alternator, and batt is slowly draining. Does anyone know what could be broken? And how I broke it? Could it be as simple as a burnt charging fuse? I hope so! Anyone know where such a fuse might live?

Thanks heaps!

gammaguy
31st October 2009, 23:24
get it running,then check the charge rate.It should be approx 14 volts across the battery with the engine running.

If it is not charging,check the battery first.A stuffed battery will not accept a charge.(you may need to take it to a specialist to get it load tested)

If the battery is not being charged but is still OK,then chances are it is your Regulator/Rectifier and/or your alternator itself.

Time to take it to the professionals if you are not competent with auto electrical functions and practices.

Good Luck!

CeeBee
5th November 2009, 07:01
If its anything like the BMW cars it might have the silicon battery in it rather than acid, if it has you need to trickle charge the battery for 24 hours otherwise the battery only receives a surface charge. Also when jumpstarting you MUST leave the slave battery connected for 20 min to even up the charge or it wont continue to run. Hope this helps.

Cheers CeeBee

CeeBee
5th November 2009, 07:46
Just anothe rclarification, if it has the BMW Gel battery fitted, it must only be charged with the BMW charger NOT a conventional 12v acid battery charger.

Cheers CeeBee

PS there are alot of garages around that do have these specialised chargers.

Dodgy1
31st January 2010, 21:01
Hi,

This may be a matter for the bike shop, but I'm hoping someone might shed some light on my bikes issues.

I make the mistake of lending my bike to a mate. He bought it back to work, and parked it in the garage, but accidentally left the key in the "leave the headlight on" position. Why on earth does BMW make it so easy to flatten the battery!!??

Anyway, I go to ride it today, and no lights, completely dead. I try to push-start it, no luck.

I go across the road to a car mechanic who lends me his portable jump-start thingy. I've jump started car many times, so just do the same. It starts fine. Normally you can immediately remove the doner battery, and the engine keeps going (alternator takes over), but in my case, the bike immediately dies. I scratch my head.

I try again, this time leaving the jump start thingy on for a minute. I remove it, and the bike keeps goin, but dies a few secs later.

I try again, this time leaving the jumper attached for 15min. Take it off, all good. So I continue my day of chores, but only get as far a the busiest street in Penrose, when it dies again.

So I guess the battery's not being charged by the alternator, and batt is slowly draining. Does anyone know what could be broken? And how I broke it? Could it be as simple as a burnt charging fuse? I hope so! Anyone know where such a fuse might live?

Thanks heaps!

Mate...I used to own one of these and did exactly the same. After a lot of head scratching I rang the BMW guys at Hamilton motorcycles and was basically told that unless my battery was holding a full 12 volts on start up it aint gonna go!! So I charged up the battery and hey presto...off she went. I then invested in one of them there battery conditioner watchamathingys and plugged her in after every ride. It also helps to get the firmware in the ecu updated as well ....amazing what a difference it makes. Hope all this is of some help :Punk: