strataj Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 I've been trying to find after market battery for the 14-15 R1200RT, even the OEM manufacture Exide doesn't list one. I know it's 12V/16Ah, the positive is on the right, do you know the dimensions? If the battery wasn't such a pain to get out I wouldn't have to asked. Jay Link to comment
AndyS Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 You need a battery already! So BMW part# is 61218531121 I wonder if an email is needed to Exide / Yuasa / Bosch etc. Link to comment
mneblett Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 Why aren't you looking to your dealer for a warranty replacement? BMW's OE batteries are notorious for premature death syndrome. Link to comment
strataj Posted June 17, 2015 Author Share Posted June 17, 2015 You need a battery already! So BMW part# is 61218531121 I wonder if an email is needed to Exide / Yuasa / Bosch etc. Nope I don't need a new battery, but I'm not sure how long this one will last, The charging system seems to be fine but after a ride over 50 miles when connected to a Battery Tender it now takes a while to go into the float mode, it could be an hour or more. I have no other signs of a weak or problem battery but I don't understand why such a long time for the tender to go into the float mode. I think I'll switch tenders and see if I get the same result. Thanks for you help Andy Jay Link to comment
Ponch Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 a 16AH battery is such a pissy little battery for a bike like that with all the electronics. Link to comment
mneblett Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 a 16AH battery is such a pissy little battery for a bike like that with all the electronics. ??? It has enough to start the engine (even when cold). The electronics take a tiny fraction of the current and energy required for starting the engine. The electrical load is not significantly greater than (and in some conditions, less than) the load in your '09. 16Ah isn't appreciably smaller than the 18 Ah or 19 Ah battery in your '09. So what's the problem??? Link to comment
Ponch Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 I can tell you that with the original battery, if the temps got below 40, it didn't have confidence inspiring cranking. It's better with the replacement, but if I don't ride often enough, it gets weaker. Never had that problem with my last bike, but it was a simpler bike and could go a couple months without a float charger. Not this bike. Link to comment
strataj Posted June 17, 2015 Author Share Posted June 17, 2015 You have parasitic draw, that's the difference. Some you can control some you can't. Jay Link to comment
Alfred02 Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 Why aren't you looking to your dealer for a warranty replacement? BMW's OE batteries are notorious for premature death syndrome. Rubbish They are no more prone to fail then in any other bike. These are manufactured by a leading battery manufacturer. My 2004 had a 4 year old BMW battery in it that was still going strong when trading in the bike a couple of years later and my 2005 had a 7 year old BMW battery in it, which I replaced with a very expensive Odyssey version and it made no difference. The bike appeared to be turning over just a touch slow since I got it. Cleaning and re-lubricating the starter was the real fix. I still have that battery that is now performing duties in my Ride on Lawn mower. Link to comment
mneblett Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 Why aren't you looking to your dealer for a warranty replacement? BMW's OE batteries are notorious for premature death syndrome. Rubbish They are no more prone to fail then in any other bike. These are manufactured by a leading battery manufacturer. NOT rubbish. I personally, and several others I know, have had new OE Exides drop a cell (fractured intercell connector) within weeks to months of bike purchase. Defective battery from the supplier. An issue well known enough to dealer service depts. that when mine went, it was an "oh, another one" sort of thing. At this point, when I encounter a new BMW with battery issues, the *first* thing I check is the battery health. FWIW, I normally get excellent life out of my batteries, using tenders and routine maintenance. That said, defects happen. One of my R12RTs. My C6 Corvette, which has a case leak at the positive terminal penetration. My empirical experience over the last few decades of batteries in more a couple dozen vehicles is things have become more of a cr@p-shoot as to early life failures. Obviously not a statistically-significant sample size, but certainly consistent with what I've read here and elsewhere. BTW, this is not a BMW-unique issue. In addition to Exide, Yuasa and others have also have had periods with quality issues. Westco used to re-label Panasonic batteries for resale; when they changed suppliers there were more reports of Westco failures. The price pressure in the market is intense, and quality control has definitely taken a hit. Link to comment
AndyS Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 Well, I'm with Alfred on this. My '04 RT OEM battery lasted 10 years before I decided to change it to an odyssey. Also following various forums, I have no reason to lack faith in the OEM battery. Sure things occasionally go wrong, but overall they seem pretty reliable. Certainly there are many more things i'd gripe about first! Link to comment
dirtrider Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 Morning____ This thread started out as a battery question on the BMW Wethead bikes & has migrated into battery life on the oilheads. It's comparing apples to oranges or pears. The BMW Wetheads use different OEM battery technology than the (late 1150's) & all Hexheads did. The Wethead uses AGM (Glass Mat) type batteries, the Hexhead used Gel batteries as well as some of the late 1150 used Gel batteries. I have seen a large number of Hexhead OEM (GEL) battery's fail at under 2 years of life with some failing at well under a year. It was so bad in the mid 1200RT era that about every long weekend camping trip we would have to deal with at least one Hexhead that failed an OEM Excide 12v/19Ah/170A battery. Some would fail on cool morning failure-to-crank & some would fail while riding after a hot engine stall in traffic then a failure to re-crank in the middle of traffic. The Excide Gel battery failure problem was bad enough in the late 1150/early 1200 era that BMW issued a service bulletin on OEM Excide battery sudden battery failure. One of the problems with the early Excide Gel battery failures was they would suddenly quit-- be fine one start then not have enough oomph to start the bike the next try. Even worse was a great number of the early BMW Excide Gel batteries would pass the dealer hand-held battery tester test then fail within a short time. Now to be fair, Gel batteries are easy to ruin with improper charging techniques or improper maintainer charger selection so some were probably ruined by owners selecting or using the incorrect battery chargers. (once a Gel battery is charged incorrectly it can put bubbles in the Gel so that part of the Gel no longer contacts the plates). This keeps reducing the battery output until it just doesn't have enough output to start a Boxer correctly. BMW no longer uses the troublesome GEL battery in the new Wetheads (it is AGM now) so any comparison to the older GEL battery is pretty useless. Link to comment
mneblett Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 Excellent post, D.R. -- 5 facts are better than 5000 opinions. Also learned something -- I haven't pulled my RTW battery out yet, so I was unaware of the change. Link to comment
Ponch Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 My stocker was never a strong battery, although I got almost 4 years out of it. When it quit, it quit. I got an AGM replacement, 310CCA. Much better...so as long as my 10 year old doesn't turn on the ignition and leave it on...That learned me from leaving the keys in the ignition. O'Reillys gave me a new replacement. Link to comment
Paul In Australia Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 Known issue with early model wet head GS. Quite a few had battery replacements out here. Not BMW FAULT.. JUST A BAD BATCH FROM A SUPPLIER AND Ponch I am not surprised at your condemnation of battery power for the RT WETHEAD!!, Link to comment
Ponch Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 Known issue with early model wet head GS. Quite a few had battery replacements out here. Not BMW FAULT.. JUST A BAD BATCH FROM A SUPPLIER AND Ponch I am not surprised at your condemnation of battery power for the RT WETHEAD!!, With all the high tech stuff on the new one, I would think it would need at least a 19/20AH battery. My bike has one and it's not nearly high tech as yours and needs a float charger if I don't ride it more often than every 2-3 weeks, although it was worse with the stock battery. The replacement which is dimensionally like the Odyssey is better. Link to comment
Alfred02 Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 Ponch Mine unfortunate is parked for 4-6 weeks at a time, due to work commitments and then having to catch up with work around our house. So far the bike has never even come close to failing to start. Having been parked for 5 weeks now and me heading out in the field for a week work wise, I hooked up the BMW tender/charger. It took around 20 seconds for it to reach 14.4Vdc and less then 10 minutes for it to reach 90% of it's charge. The time it took is more related to that the BMW smart charger takes a while to check and recalculate the state of charge. I honestly don't know why users seem to have so many problems with the batteries. I must be the luckiest guy in the world, as I never had battery issues with any of my BMW bikes, going all the way back to my 1st K100RS. Link to comment
Ponch Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 I never had issues with the Kawasakis before the RT, but they were more basic bikes with lead acid batteries. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.