Battery Tender '06 R1200GS

[jlevee]

When I got my 1150 I used the accessory socket to charge (its an 04) I thought it was the best idea ever. However now it wont charge through the socket & I had thought maybe my tender had issues, so I borrowed one from a friend, turns out it wont charge through the socket either. Not sure if it is the socket itself or something else in the system yet. In talking to my dealership they said BMW no longer recommends using the accessory socket for charging, so i use pigtails on it & the RT.

[lbarbee]

The 1150 is not CANBUS.

[lbarbee]

Does it take a "special" charger such as the Optimate to charge through the accesory plugs? That is, does the CAN-bus system dictate a unique charging technology?

The answer is yes. The charger must be canbus aware and send a signal to open the circuit before charging begins. Thus "smart". A regular charger will not work thru a factory CANBUS port.

[lbarbee]

I contend that nothing is more simple than a canbus charger plugged into any factory socket. Look ma no wires. It ain't cheaper though. With my RT $50 is nothing, so I took the easy route. Of course that was after taking the other route. Luckily I needed a second charger anyway for another bike.

[lbarbee]

http://youtu.be/H0H-7YX7-7s

[AZ-J]

Battery Tender works fine on BMW batteries and the new Shorai LIPE battery. I know both from experience.

But if you have a B T older than 2007 (which is the year I got mine) Deltran will trade you up for a lower fee than new.

[lbarbee]

According to this:
http://batterytender.com/resources/i...batteries.htm/

Gel batteries (BMW) charge at a lower voltage. And it looks like they still sell a separate gel charger.

http://www.batterymart.com/p-battery...y-charger.html

I'm just not smart enough. So I just bought the BT gel version for the 1150 and the optimate for the 1200.

Does it matter? Probably like the oil debates.

[cjack]

I believe the gel charger is supposed to charge float at 13.4 volts and the agm battery at 13.6 volts. I think there is more variation in other areas like quality control on the battery manufacturing as to whether it matters one whit or not.
As to the special charger for the acc jack, i have used a BT thru that port successfully. I have always turned the key on and then off and the port stayed on until the charger went to float and beyond. Although i have seen variable behavior with that port with different model years. Sometimes it seemed that you did not have to cycle the ign key.

[b25bsaboy]

Battery Tender Junior works well and is usually under $30.

1+

[AZ-J]

The Battery Tender I have is good for up to 14.7 Volts.

[lbarbee]

From the battery tender website on gel batteries: " The recharge voltages on this type of cell are lower than the other styles of lead acid battery. This is probably the most sensitive cell in terms of adverse reactions to over-voltage charging. "

Probably why they sell the gel version with the lower charge voltage.

If the regular charger "works fine" why would they do that?

[lbarbee]

From battery stuff.com: "If the incorrect battery charger is used on a Gel Cell battery poor performance and premature failure is certain"

Are they all making this up?

I don't care what you guys use, I'm just verifying what I remember when I ordered mine.

[lbarbee]

Interesting reading here.
The deltran engineer says buy a gel specific charger.

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showt...=660892&page=3

Read Post #36

Good enough for me.

[f14rio]

battery ones or oil ones. oh yeah, winter storage ones.

also, it occurs to me that if you use a battery charger all the time you might have a battery that won't hold a charge very well and you might not know it.

no problem...just sayin'

[osbornk]

from the battery tender website on gel batteries: " the recharge voltages on this type of cell are lower than the other styles of lead acid battery. This is probably the most sensitive cell in terms of adverse reactions to over-voltage charging. "

probably why they sell the gel version with the lower charge voltage.

If the regular charger "works fine" why would they do that?

more money