Battery Charging Question

[grumpyone]

We just got a R1100R 1996 and the battery is low and sluggish. I have not checked to see if I can find the age but I have a charging question.
I think I read somewhere if a battery on this model of bike is real low you cant charge it up properly through the acc. plug. You would have to connect it to the battery. We have an older BMW battery charger and hooked it up to the acc plug but it did not seem to do much in the way of increasing the output.
Is is necessary to bypass the electronics of the machine and hook direct?
Thanks for the info
Jim and Esther

Plays with guns for a livin:nra

1986 R 80
1996 R1100R
2 corgis

[MotorradMike]

I have a 1996 R1100RS and the accessory plug is always live through a fuse.

There is no electrical difference between charging at the battery, or via the acc. connector.

You should probably remove the battery anyway to check electrolyte level.

[will3hawks]

perhaps you should test the battery first. If it is going around the bend on you, you will just waste time and electricity by charging it.

[jcridge]

We just got a R1100R 1996 and the battery is low and sluggish. I have not checked to see if I can find the age but I have a charging question.
I think I read somewhere if a battery on this model of bike is real low you cant charge it up properly through the acc. plug. You would have to connect it to the battery. We have an older BMW battery charger and hooked it up to the acc plug but it did not seem to do much in the way of increasing the output.
Is is necessary to bypass the electronics of the machine and hook direct?
Thanks for the info
Jim and Esther

Plays with guns for a livin:nra

1986 R 80
1996 R1100R
2 corgis

You may have read that the BMW gel batteries don't charge well after they start going south for one reason or another. We now have a R1100R in our garage as well, and it too cranks very slow cold. If the ABS pump wasn't bad already the battery would throw a low voltage code. We have tried a Gel charger and our big Snap-On charger with the same results. The battery kicks off the Gel charger because of the high surface voltage...it thinks it fully charged when it really is not. The big charger will charge and float when complete, it does a better job but still the battery will return to its semi charged state after 1 day. From what the BMW dealer has said they Gel batteries are excellent batteries...yes and they are very proud of them as well, and that we should expect 5-6 years of trouble free use, if we purchased a new factory fresh battery.

Do a search here on the MOA for batteries, there is a recent thread about low cost batteries. The $40 battery sounds like a good option as it is designed for jump start packs which can withstand heavy loads of cranking.