Battery discharging after a few days, normal or what?

[eyore]

Put a brand new battery in a few weeks ago and have noticed that the bike (R 1200S) tends to discharge the battery if sitting for 4/5 days with alarm not armed.
Just wondering if this is normal on these bikes? I know modern bikes have a small current draw even when parked up and most people these days tend to keep the battery on a permanent intelligent charger.
But how long does your bike stay at or above 12.6 v when left sitting?

[slparry]

I keep my K (which is also canbus) on a BMW charger when not used, in fact all of my bikes (and now the car) are on maintenance chargers via BMW sockets.

Perhaps your battery is failing though?

[eyore]

Perhaps your battery is failing though?

Hope not as its brand new about 4 weeks ago.

[cornishflat]

Put a brand new battery in a few weeks ago and have noticed that the bike (R 1200S) tends to discharge the battery if sitting for 4/5 days with alarm not armed.
Just wondering if this is normal on these bikes? I know modern bikes have a small current draw even when parked up and most people these days tend to keep the battery on a permanent intelligent charger.
But how long does your bike stay at or above 12.6 v when left sitting?

Although I tend to plug in the Optimate I have left the bike for 3 weeks without the Optimate plugged in and the bike alarmed to no adverse effect on the battery (that I have noticed) and it,s fired up ok. What voltage is the battery showing when the bike is running as 4/5 days does sound suspect.

[cornishflat]

Should have added mines on a 1100S.

[eyore]

[quote="cornishflat
Although I tend to plug in the Optimate I have left the bike for 3 weeks without the Optimate plugged in and the bike alarmed to no adverse effect on the battery (that I have noticed) and it,s fired up ok. What voltage is the battery showing when the bike is running as 4/5 days does sound suspect.[/quote]

Its charging fine on the alternator when the engine is running 14.6 +/-
and after a 24 hr spell on the optimate its reading 13.1v whichreduces back to 12.9 as you'd expect after a few hours, it then steadily drops back over the next few days. I am beginning to suspect the Tom Tom powered mount, but don't know as throretically its powered from the accessory blank on the loom which should not be live with the ignition switched off.
I think I will have to disconnect the charger this morning and write down the voltage every 24 hrs to try and ascertain exactly whats happening.
Thanks for the suggestions.

[slparry]

If the canbus on the r12 is similar to on my K12 then, as you say the accessory sockets should be offline when the ignition's off. They stay turned on for a while after the ignition's off but shutdown after about 5 minutes, I have however noticed that my BMW Navigator III (rebadged Garmin 2820 Streetpilot) occasionally stays "awake" if I've not physically flicked its off switch.

There's a "proper" sat nav take off on the GT, not sure if the S is similarly equipped, and it was fitted by the dealership at point of purchase, is you Tomtom fitted via that take off, near the headstock, or is it direct to the battery?

[eyore]

Yes Steve its a Tom Tom Rider add on, wired into the accessory socket in the loom, under and to the left of the headstock. Need to disconnect it and eliminate it from the equation.

[Boxered]

The accessory socket stay active for 15 mins or so after turning off the ignition, if it detects a current being drawn it can stay on permanent, I have my Garmin zumo connected to it and I have to remove the zumo from the cradle or it remains on, even turning the unit off doesn't help as it just turns itself back on if I have my BMW canbus charger plugged in.

Steve

[eyore]

The accessory socket stay active for 15 mins or so after turning off the ignition, if it detects a current being drawn it can stay on permanent, I have my Garmin zumo connected to it and I have to remove the zumo from the cradle or it remains on, even turning the unit off doesn't help as it just turns itself back on if I have my BMW canbus charger plugged in.

Steve

Thanks Steve , that's interesting. I shall start by un plugging it, and then monitor the battery voltages over a few days. My suspicions are definitely pointing to the GPS.

[cornishflat]

The accessory socket stay active for 15 mins or so after turning off the ignition, if it detects a current being drawn it can stay on permanent, I have my Garmin zumo connected to it and I have to remove the zumo from the cradle or it remains on, even turning the unit off doesn't help as it just turns itself back on if I have my BMW canbus charger plugged in.

Steve

Thanks Steve , that's interesting. I shall start by un plugging it, and then monitor the battery voltages over a few days. My suspicions are definitely pointing to the GPS.

Good plan, if no more than to define or eliminate the GPS.

[conkerman]

Can't you lob an Ammeter in line with the ignition off and pull the fuses one by one??

Does CANBUS not like that?

[slparry]

Can't you lob an Ammeter in line with the ignition off and pull the fuses one by one??

Does CANBUS not like that?

canbus has no fuses.

The computer decides if there's a fault on a circuit and if it finds one it shuts that circuit down until the fault's rectified

and other stuff, like on my KGT the rear lights are single filament 21w bulbs running at a few watts when acting as rear lights but the canbus detects the brakes being applied and increases the wattage to make them brighter for brake warning

[fatnfast]

Has this happened since you fitted the sat nav take off point or is it something thats only happened since fitting a new battery? Was this the reason a new battery was fitted?
I would consider isolating the battery and check its voltage over a few days.
Although optimates may tell you a battery is fine, this is not always the case. I had a BMW/Exide battery that would show green on the optimate, but left disconnected would not start the bike after a week. Having access to an aircraft battery capacity tester showed the battery was faulty.
good luck

[McBoxer]

Can you do a current drain test? Turn everything off as if you were parking up, disconnect the negative lead from the battery terminal and put an ammeter between the terminal and the lead, and see how much current is being drawn.
On cars this should be less than 0.03 amps - not sure about bikes, but I would expect the same or lower. Any higher than this and something on the bike is drawing current at standstill, and potentially draining the battery. You can then disconnect things / pull fuses and watch the reading to narrow down the cuplrit.
If the drain is less than this then it points to the battery.