R & R Posted June 8, 2016 Share Posted June 8, 2016 Howdy all. Finally pulled the trigger on a new bike, well , new to me. 2012RT. Love it. It appears to have the original bmw battery in it. Seems to be working fine but 4 years is pushing it for me. Had an odyssey in the 02 And liked it. Would be my first choice for a replacement. Except. I'm new to the canbus electrics and a little nervous about it. The odyssey liked a little higher charging voltage than the 02 could provide so I was in the habit of using a ctek7002 charger to keep it topped off. Especially when short commuting. The recommended voltage for the odyssey is 14.7. However seems I read somewhere that this may be a little high for the canbus bikes. Is this an issue? The manual also warns against charging directly to the battery terminals. Is this really an Issue? Sorry so windy for a couple simple questions! Link to comment
dirtrider Posted June 8, 2016 Share Posted June 8, 2016 Howdy all. Finally pulled the trigger on a new bike, well , new to me. 2012RT. Love it. It appears to have the original bmw battery in it. Seems to be working fine but 4 years is pushing it for me. Had an odyssey in the 02 And liked it. Would be my first choice for a replacement. Except. I'm new to the canbus electrics and a little nervous about it. The odyssey liked a little higher charging voltage than the 02 could provide so I was in the habit of using a ctek7002 charger to keep it topped off. Especially when short commuting. The recommended voltage for the odyssey is 14.7. However seems I read somewhere that this may be a little high for the canbus bikes. Is this an issue? The manual also warns against charging directly to the battery terminals. Is this really an Issue? Sorry so windy for a couple simple questions! Morning R & R The good news is, the new hexhead/camhead 1200Rt's seem to function just great with the Odyssey battery. I have had an Odyssey in my 1200RT for a few years now & have never needed to put it on a battery charger. The 1200 hexhead/cam head alternator does put out a slightly higher charging voltage than the older oilheads so that helps. You can charge a battery while it is still hooked up to your camhead bike BUT the charger must not put out more than 15 volts (ever) & can not have a de-sulfation cycle on it. Link to comment
Danny caddyshack Noonan Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 Mine needed a spacer on the top to snug up the hold-down. Found a piece of wood that worked fine.....and non-conductive. Link to comment
R & R Posted June 9, 2016 Author Share Posted June 9, 2016 Thanks Dirtrider. Just what I needed to hear. I think the lawyers and engineers are fighting for the pen when writing the owners manual. Guess I need to do a little more research into my charger. In " snowflake " mode max voltage is 14.7. However, it does have a desulphation segment at the start of the cycle. I'll need to call them on that. Sounds like if I balance some longer rides with my short commute I won' have to worry about it. So Danny, is this wood shim species critical? Up here in the northwest it's going to be fir, hemlock, or cedar. Although I do have some madrona growing along the driveway. Thanks guys! Link to comment
R & R Posted June 10, 2016 Author Share Posted June 10, 2016 Called ctek today. There is a short desulphation cycle that pulses to 15.8 volts at the beginning of the two normal charging cycles. The tech. didn't think that would be a problem since it is just pulsing but he's not risking HIS bike. This is for a ctek 7002. Link to comment
Danny caddyshack Noonan Posted June 10, 2016 Share Posted June 10, 2016 Russ It's a BMW.....purpleheart or cocobolo! Link to comment
dirtrider Posted June 10, 2016 Share Posted June 10, 2016 Called ctek today. There is a short desulphation cycle that pulses to 15.8 volts at the beginning of the two normal charging cycles. The tech. didn't think that would be a problem since it is just pulsing but he's not risking HIS bike. This is for a ctek 7002. Morning R & R 15.8v (pulsed or not) is still over the 15 volt charging cap that BMW recommends. Hopefully your VERY EXPENSIVE fueling computer, dash computer, & chassis electronics computer, etc have some built in over-voltage protection but BMW says not over 15 volts so take that for what it's worth. Link to comment
6speedTi Posted June 10, 2016 Share Posted June 10, 2016 I used several trickle chargers. One charger I thought was good actually killed my original battery. I put it on charge for about 4 weeks. What this charger does and most others is it keeps a steady current flow at all times. Some chargers reduce the flow of current as it reaches a certain level. Some chargers exceed 14 volts. It may be within limits for the bikes electrics but not for the battery. The AGL batteries don't like this. A steady flow of current creates heat and eventually burned my battery out. The best one I found was the Battery Tender. It constantly monitors the voltage and applies current only when needed. It then shuts off the current flow until the voltage drops down to a predetermined level and kicks back in again. The Battery Tender works best for me. I hooked up a meter to measure voltages and current flows. I like it and recommend it. I now have a pile of useless trickle chargers. Link to comment
R & R Posted June 11, 2016 Author Share Posted June 11, 2016 I haven't used the ctek on the new bike and don't plan to. Have a battery tender junior and I'll check the output voltage on that. My commute pretty much sucks for any battery. 14 miles requiring 3 starts, two cold, unless I time the ferry just right. Both ways. Find myself making up a long way but then I just want to keep going! Cocobola? Guess I Better book a couple seats to Hawaii. Link to comment
John in VA Posted June 11, 2016 Share Posted June 11, 2016 I'd recommend biting the bullet for an Optimate 4 canbus maintainer on your old OEM battery for another season or two. 2012 isn't that old. Plugs into your 12v outlet. My 2c Link to comment
R & R Posted June 15, 2016 Author Share Posted June 15, 2016 John, do you know any particulars about this charger? Specifically bulk charge voltage and the max. pulse desulfation voltage. It looks good, with good reviews. Link to comment
John in VA Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 Yes, universally great reviews. I've had one for 3 years always attached to my RT (since new) when not riding. I'm hoping that it'll add a year or two to the normal life of its OEM AGM battery. Here's some research: http://www.webbikeworld.com/r3/motorcycle-battery-charger/optimate-4/ http://tecmate.com/products/optimate4dp/ Link to comment
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