K11 Owners Group

[Jim Brotherton]

Need some advice/recommendations concerning my battery:

Twice I've been riding in the city to the extent that the cooling fan kicks in, maybe even a few times. I'm also wearing a kidney belt with a heating element. When I'v stopped the motor and then tried to start again, the battery is too low. the first time it happened I took it to the dealer to have the battery checked. He started and stopped the motor several times and said the battery is good.

Is the battery going? Is it only just over taxed and require a bigger battery? Any recommendations to solve this situation? I don't drive in the city very often but I do want to be able to leave when I want.
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1995 K1100RS
2004 R1150RT

[chopper_harris]

Do you ride with low beam on during the day ?

I found that short runs with lights on would cause regular ABS failures - this is a precursor of low voltage syndrome and battery failure.

So, I always ensure that lights are off before starting, and when I get to my destination, I switch off again and let the motor run at 2,000 rpm for a couple of minutes to put a little juice back into the battery.

Works for me, but YMMV
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C1 200 (2001)
R100 RS (1990)
NSU Quickly N (1964)
Honda 400/4 F1 (1977)
MotoGuzzi 1000C (1978)
Suzuki TL 1000 R (1999)
Kawasaki KLV1000 (2005)
K12R Sport (2007) - Wifeys

[K11Martin]

With your bike being a '95, it'll have the smaller capacity battery and thus always be susceptible to low voltage complaints, particularly with MkII ABS and especially with the drain you impose on it each time you ride.

For a dealer to test your battery in such an off-hand way is stupid and meaningless. Go to a specialist battery dealer (Yellow pages) and have it tested there, then if it's pronounced OK, charge it fully (important) and go to an autoelectrician (with as little drain on the electrical system as possible while riding) and have the alternator output tested.

The battery must be the first to be checked, then the alternator, not the other way round.

If you have a multimeter there is a way of testing the alternator but it's only a vague check and can only tell you if it's actually charging, not whether or not it's producing it's rated current.

My money's on the battery being at fault.
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Currently riding a '93 K1100LT (ABS1) decked out with lights and aerials (Ex 70's Vespa rider)

Why not join the UK owners club at http://forum.bmw-club.org.uk/

[hockeyshifter]

well it dose sound like a weak battery... most charging system are minimal at best and are really designed as generators to run the electrial system with the extra going back to the battery. but if you exceed a threshold you start to drain the battery. a battery is really only a giant capasitor and when the generator can not put out enough to run all the systems it will pull from the battery.

i would do the following
1- install a volt meter ( simple one that can be seen at nite)
after the install load up the system and see how much is being pulled then one by one unplug the items.
2- find a battery that is one size up from yours. or look for a battery that has more amps than what is required for the bike ( http://www.odysseybatteries.com/ )
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fix the problem not the blame ; fix what is messed up ; NO one is to blame.

[Flying Duck]

There's actually a lot of current leftover from the 50W alternator. I run a 90W low beam(100W at night), a pair of 55W driving lights, heated grips on high and a heated vest in the winter. Don't know how old the battery is - it was on the bike when I bought it a little over a year ago.

When my LT still had the 32A alternator, it had enough extra juice for the heated grips, a 90/100 headlight and a pair of 35W fog lights. When I swapped in the 55W lamps on that bike it drained the battery(odyssey PC680) in a few hours of running errands. That's when I upgraded that bike to a 50A alternator.
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93 LT (x2)
94 RS
86-97 K75F(K75/100/1100 Frankenbrick)
86 K75C w/paralever, hi perf cams,TURBO!
91 & 92 K75Ss
91 K1
86 custom K100
14 WR250R
IBA #17739 (SS1K, BBG, 50CC)
Buy parts HERE

[Geoff]

When my (fully charged) battery started cranking my motor somewhat slowly, I replaced it with a new sealed battery. I completed a 3K mile trip to Ontario, Canada earler this summer and didn't want to take any chances.
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2000 R1100RT
2008 H-D Electra Glide Ultra Classic