Battery or Alternator Issue?

[docsigmund]

Have had my 2006 K1200GT more or less stored for two yrs pending retirement. Now it is happening. Have had it on a BMW charger most all the time. Took it for the annual inspection last week. When they were checking for software updates, they indicated the battery was slightly down and put a charger on it. Afterwards I drove it for about an hour. When I returned and put it on the charger, the light was red. It fully charged over night and the light is now green. Not sure if the battery is just "worn out" from being on charge all this time or what. Have only 1300 miles on the bike to date but am fixing to go on a 2400 mile trip and dont want to breakdown due to juice issues.

[cjack]

Have had my 2006 K1200GT more or less stored for two yrs pending retirement. Now it is happening. Have had it on a BMW charger most all the time. Took it for the annual inspection last week. When they were checking for software updates, they indicated the battery was slightly down and put a charger on it. Afterwards I drove it for about an hour. When I returned and put it on the charger, the light was red. It fully charged over night and the light is now green. Not sure if the battery is just "worn out" from being on charge all this time or what. Have only 1300 miles on the bike to date but am fixing to go on a 2400 mile trip and dont want to breakdown due to juice issues.


If it charged up in what seemed like too short a time, maybe a half hour or less, I would say the battery has lost capacity. Time and an uncharged condition are hard on a battery. These new gel or agm batteries are not as robust as the wet ones from years past. For one thing, as the sulfate forms while discharged, it spreads the "plates" apart and the plate area is severely reduced. Not like the old wet ones where the sulfate simply falls to the bottom and the full plate area is still available for ion exchange in a fluid environment.
Let the bike sit for a few days without charging the battery and if it starts the bike without issue, then I would say that it is probably ok.