GS Dead - Electrical?

[ZARINELLI]

Today, the 'Hornet' ('07 R1200GS) gave me grief...

I have it in the garage, hooked up to a battery tender (pigtail directly connected to battery terminals). It has been there for about a week.

I turn the key, and it cycles through the tests. When all is 'green,' I hit the starter - a loud click, and the MFD turns dark. I turn the key off, turn it back on, and again, the test goes through, and everything is 'green.' I hit the ignition, and, again, a click and everything turns dark.

I did test the battery, the charger shows "Full Load," and I have 12.9V (nothing on); when hooked to the battery tender, around 13.5V.

I tried my reserve/emergency key, as well the second full-size key I ordered from BMW - same result.

Not sure what to try next; will call dealership tomorrow. Anybody else ever run into this phenomenon. On the bright side, at least I'm not out on the road...

[BigAdv]

Sounds to me like a poor or loose connection somewere. Check both batt. cables for tightness and corrosion. Could also be the connection at the starter, and finally the main ground cable. if all looks/ feels OK then perform voltage drop tests on the cables and connections. Also how did you load test the batt.? Should be done with a load of half the CCA of the batt. for 15sec. and voltage should not drop below 9.6v during test. If you dont have anything to put that much load on the batt. - put your dvom across the batt. termenals and try starting the bike, observe the voltage reading if it drops down below 9.6v then the batt. is no good or your charger can not recover it. Probably sulfated. If its still under warranty(batt.) take to the dealer, they have a special charger that can recover sulfated batt. if its not too bad

Good luck

Earl

[ZARINELLI]

Thanks for the suggestion - it did not even occur to me to test the battery... I did, and on the battery tender it shows slightly over 13V. I hit the starter and it goes down to about 6.6V.

I let it recover by turning off and back on, and hit the brights (I have an HID) - everything instantly goes dark with the V-meter showing 4.46V...

Doesn't recover either, until I turn off and back on; then it shows arounf 12.3V. Guess I'll take the battery in!

... Also how did you load test the batt.? Should be done with a load of half the CCA of the batt. for 15sec. and voltage should not drop below 9.6v during test. ...
Earl

[BigAdv]

The basics

[ZARINELLI]

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea ultima culpa

The basics