Battery discharging while parked

I have been having problems for about six weeks with what I believe is the battery on my 2015 R1200GS discharging while parked.

A few weeks ago I had the 42k service done at the dealer. I noticed problems starting the bike a few weeks before that. I charged the battery, which is about 6 months old, which temporarily fixed the problem. I also had the battery tested, twice. It showed as OK.

The display shows 14.1 or 14.2 V while riding, so the charging system seems to be working. Also, the bike starts fine as long as I ride every day.

The bike recently sat for 3 days, and the battery was dead (5.5 V). The GPS was not installed on the bike at the time. I am attempting to recharge the battery. If I can get it to charge, I will try to measure the current draw while shut off, although I'm not sure what good that will do me. What should the current draw on the battery be when the bike is off?

I thought I would see if anyone has any simple things I can test or replace before I haul it to the dealer for a potentially expensive service.

Thanks, Ken

I once had a relay that malfunctioned, constantly on, not shutting off when the bike was turned off. After a few days the the battery would be drained. Replaced the relay and that ended the battery problem.

I do not know if that is your issue, but your situation sounds similar to what I experienced.

Paul_F said:

I once had a relay that malfunctioned, constantly on, not shutting off when the bike was turned off. After a few days the the battery would be drained. Replaced the relay and that ended the battery problem.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion. I was able to test the starter relay. It was open when unpowered (as it should be), so that does not seem to be the problem.

It looks like some of the electronic subsystems are not being switched off after the bike is turned off. If I plug my DIN-to-USB adapter in after the bike has been powered off for an extended period, its LED lights up, which does not seem to be the behavior that I remember. I'll call the dealer tomorrow and see if I can get it in for service.

Ken

Status update

Here is an update on this problem and another request for advice.

I tried to make a service appointment at the BMW dealer in Austin (part of Woods Fun Center), but after leaving multiple messages with BMW service, they never called me back. This was very disappointing to me, as I bought bike from them in 2016 and have had virtually all of the service done there since (currently ~42k miles). I know they are busy -- it is summer and post-pandemic -- but I was willing to wait for a service appointment. All I needed from them is a few minutes to schedule an appointment.

I was able to get an appointment at BMW of the Woodlands (N side of Houston). It is a newer dealer about equally far from where I live (~2 h). They also sell Indian and Triumph. They had the bike for a day, but could not find anything wrong. Their diagnosis is either a bad battery (it is ~6 months old and passes a load test) or something to do with the Clearwater lights, which I installed myself several years ago. I never had this problem in the years since I installed the lights.

So I ordered a new battery. The battery arrived Thursday, and I installed it in the bike. I also disconnected the Clearwater lights (direct battery connection) and the light controller (CanOpener). Battery was at 12.8 V when I installed it. It is now Saturday morning (~36 h later) and the battery is already down to 11.9 V. The bike still starts, but not immediately. I will monitor it for a few more hours and then put it on the charger so as not to damage the battery.

BMW of the Woodlands measured power-off current drain of ~250 mA, which seems really high to me. That's 0.25 A. So every 4 h the energy loss would be about 1 Ah. These are only 12 Ah batteries, so it is not surprising the battery is dying in a few days. They told me that amount of power-off draw is normal.

BMW of the Woodlands suggested keeping the bike on a battery tender whenever it is parked, which is a ridiculous solution, because I would be unable to travel anywhere overnight for fear it would be dead in the morning.

My admittedly uneducated guess is that something in the bike's electronics is not completely shutting off when the bike is turned off.

My question for the group is: how do I find a service provider who is able to diagnose the problem? I am leaving for Salina, KS in two weeks for two months of remote work, and I had planned to take the bike with me on a trailer. I recall seeing good comments about Engle in Kansas City. I might be able to get an appointment with them and drop the bike off on my way to Salina. There are also dealers in Houston, but time is running short and I have never dealt with any of them.

Any other ideas?

Thanks, Ken

Really good description of the problem.

With so many looking at it and the changes made, I would look to a "clamp-on" style DC amp probe.



I am a fan of Fluke but they are expensive. If you find one, no matter what brand, I can recommend experimenting with it so as you can detect the problem. For example, clamp in on known circuits and "learn" the results.

Starting at the battery and working your way through the wiring should narrow down the places the "draw" isn't.

You may have an alternator/starter shop in the area that can do this for you.

Let us know how you make out. Good luck.

OM

kbowman said:

I am leaving for Salina, KS in two weeks for two months of remote work, and I had planned to take the bike with me on a trailer. I recall seeing good comments about Engle in Kansas City. I might be able to get an appointment with them and drop the bike off on my way to Salina. There are also dealers in Houston, but time is running short and I have never dealt with any of them.

Any other ideas?

Thanks, Ken

Click to expand...

Give Ed in the service department a call.
816-241-7554

You mention a USB adapter, and I have had issues with those drawing power continuously. And since you have one adapter, you might also have others. Finding these sorts of problems can require some careful testing. My suggestion is to use a binary search -- that is, disconnect everything from the battery, and see how the battery holds up. (maybe you think you can skip this step because you have a new battery). Then, re-attach half the stuff you disconnected, and try again. If everything is fine, then disconnect that stuff, and re-attach the other half. By using this method, you can quickly isolate the circuit that is draining the battery.

This process can be made easier if you have an auxiliary fuse block, and you can test by removing all the fuses, then half, and so forth.

Once you identify the circuit, then you can make a decision what to do about it.

Cap

I found a big voltage drain on my 640 by pulling one lead off the battery and checking to ground. I pulled fuses one at a time and found which circuit the drain was on. I chased all of the wires on that circuit looking for a rubbed wire etc. All the wiring looked good and for some odd reason after I had pulled and prodded each wire etc the voltage drain was gone. I have no idea how long it had been there but maybe it's part of why that bike went through so many batteries? Either way I was happy for the fix.

Ken,
There was an issue around the time I got my 2016 GSA where the ground switching module (buried deep inside the bike OF COURSE) was not powering down properly for one reason or another.

I know there was one person on ADVrider who had that module replaced and it resolved the issue - it's also possible there is a bike firmware update that addresses that particular issue.
I know my GSA also has quite a bit of key(less) off current drain so I DO use a tender when I'm not going to ride for a week or so.

(FOUND THREAD: https://advrider.com/f/threads/2016-gsa-parasitic-battery-drain-resolved.1173435 )



Electrical gremlins can be such a pain to find, and a costly one as well....

The reply asking you to disconnect all aftermarket electrical accessories you added is a good one as lots of dealers will instantly blame THEM.
Then add things one or two at a time as suggested...but if it IS the ground module removing all accessories won't fix it but it WILL remove them from the equation so dealers cannot blame them!


Good luck


Dave

cap said:

You mention a USB adapter, and I have had issues with those drawing power continuously. And since you have one adapter, you might also have others. Finding these sorts of problems can require some careful testing. My suggestion is to use a binary search -- that is, disconnect everything from the battery, and see how the battery holds up. (maybe you think you can skip this step because you have a new battery). Then, re-attach half the stuff you disconnected, and try again. If everything is fine, then disconnect that stuff, and re-attach the other half. By using this method, you can quickly isolate the circuit that is draining the battery.

This process can be made easier if you have an auxiliary fuse block, and you can test by removing all the fuses, then half, and so forth.
Cap

Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion. My USB adapter plugs into the OEM DIN socket ("Powerlet socket"), and I put it in my tank bag when the bike is off. The USB adapter also has an LED light when it is powered on. I can observe the LED shut off shortly after I turn off the bike (before I unplug it it).

The only other things I have added are (normally) directly connected to the battery. One is a fused SAE adapter so that I can plug in my tire pump if needed. The other is the main power for the Clearwater lights. Unfortunately, the battery discharges when both of those are disconnected.

So I don't think it is anything added to the bike, either directly connected to the battery or via the DIN plug.

Thanks, Ken

skibum69 said:

I found a big voltage drain on my 640 by pulling one lead off the battery and checking to ground. I pulled fuses one at a time and found which circuit the drain was on. I chased all of the wires on that circuit looking for a rubbed wire etc. All the wiring looked good and for some odd reason after I had pulled and prodded each wire etc the voltage drain was gone. I have no idea how long it had been there but maybe it's part of why that bike went through so many batteries? Either way I was happy for the fix.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion. As far as I can tell from my Haynes manual, there are only three fuses on the bike: a big 50 A fuse for the charging system, a 10 A fuse for instruments, alarm, ignition lock, and diagnostic socket, and a 7.5 A fuse for the left-hand switches and TPM. Once I get the battery charged back up, I'll try pulling the two smaller ones (one at a time) and see if that has an effect.

Thanks, Ken

eplerd said:

Ken,
There was an issue around the time I got my 2016 GSA where the ground switching module (buried deep inside the bike OF COURSE) was not powering down properly for one reason or another.

I know there was one person on ADVrider who had that module replaced and it resolved the issue - it's also possible there is a bike firmware update that addresses that particular issue.
I know my GSA also has quite a bit of key(less) off current drain so I DO use a tender when I'm not going to ride for a week or so.

(FOUND THREAD: https://advrider.com/f/threads/2016-gsa-parasitic-battery-drain-resolved.1173435 )

Click to expand...

Thanks for the link. I started through it, but it's a long thread and I'll have to finish later. It sounds very similar to my problem.

For the first four years I owned the bike, I could leave it parked for three to four weeks and it would start with no problems. Now I can barely get it to start after it's parked overnight. This issue started in April, I think. I usually ride at least once a week, so I would have noticed if it happened sooner.

The reply asking you to disconnect all aftermarket electrical accessories you added is a good one as lots of dealers will instantly blame THEM.
Then add things one or two at a time as suggested...but if it IS the ground module removing all accessories won't fix it but it WILL remove them from the equation so dealers cannot blame them!


Good luck


Dave

Click to expand...

The dealer's first response was to blame third-party accessories, but the problem happens when they are disconnected. I still have a few things to try that others in this thread have suggested.

Thanks, Ken

Lee said:

Give Ed in the service department a call.
816-241-7554

Click to expand...

I'll try a couple more things this weekend and then give them a call on Tuesday.

Thanks, Ken

Omega Man said:

Really good description of the problem.

With so many looking at it and the changes made, I would look to a "clamp-on" style DC amp probe.

I am a fan of Fluke but they are expensive. If you find one, no matter what brand, I can recommend experimenting with it so as you can detect the problem. For example, clamp in on known circuits and "learn" the results.

Starting at the battery and working your way through the wiring should narrow down the places the "draw" isn't.

You may have an alternator/starter shop in the area that can do this for you.

Let us know how you make out. Good luck.

OM

Click to expand...

I am always up for acquiring more tools , but even if had the right one, it would require more time, skill, and luck than I am likely to possess!

Cheers, Ken

Man, I hope you find the problem. I was going to add that my '16RT will sit for 6 weeks and start up with no fuss, but I saw that you mentioned your bike doing pretty much the same until recently. The guys who've chipped in above certainly had some good ideas to offer, the only thing left that I can think of is this: You seem to have faith in the battery because it's fairly new. I wouldn't. Perhaps I missed it, but what kind of load testing did you have done on the battery? I once had a Plymouth that had a bad alternator. 3 consecutive brand new right out of the box alternators were also bad. I drove myself crazy trying to find "the problem", because I couldn't fathom 3 consecutive bad alternators. 4th one fixed it, no other problems. Best of luck to you.

Stebe said:

Man, I hope you find the problem. I was going to add that my '16RT will sit for 6 weeks and start up with no fuss, but I saw that you mentioned your bike doing pretty much the same until recently. The guys who've chipped in above certainly had some good ideas to offer, the only thing left that I can think of is this: You seem to have faith in the battery because it's fairly new. I wouldn't. Perhaps I missed it, but what kind of load testing did you have done on the battery? I once had a Plymouth that had a bad alternator. 3 consecutive brand new right out of the box alternators were also bad. I drove myself crazy trying to find "the problem", because I couldn't fathom 3 consecutive bad alternators. 4th one fixed it, no other problems. Best of luck to you.

Click to expand...

I just got a new battery a few days ago and it's doing the same thing, so it doesn't seem to be the battery.

I was hoping it was the battery. Much easier to deal with than bike electrical parts.

Oh well, Ken

You need to measure the current flow from the battery. You have the choice of a clamp-on or in-line. A multimeter with a 10amp ammeter setting will work. So connect the ammeter in-line between the battery and the ground cable to the battery. Read the current flow. It should be only a very few milliamps.

Assuming you find a higher than normal current flow you need to find out where and why. With an old fashioned motorcycle I would say pull each fuse until the current flow drops. With a Wethead all I can say is disconnect circuits by unplugging connectors until the current flow drops to normal. When it does you have identified which circuit is drawing the current.

I would recommend a very deliberate process. Disconnect and then reconnect things one at a time. Keep notes. Good luck.

PGlaves said:

You need to measure the current flow from the battery. You have the choice of a clamp-on or in-line. A multimeter with a 10amp ammeter setting will work. So connect the ammeter in-line between the battery and the ground cable to the battery. Read the current flow. It should be only a very few milliamps.

Click to expand...

When I put an ammeter in the circuit with the battery, the reading fluctuates between about 50 and 100 mA. A tenth of an amp seems really high to me. When the dealer looked at it, they told me it was drawing 250 mA, which seems crazy high to me. They said that was normal.

Assuming you find a higher than normal current flow you need to find out where and why. With an old fashioned motorcycle I would say pull each fuse until the current flow drops. With a Wethead all I can say is disconnect circuits by unplugging connectors until the current flow drops to normal. When it does you have identified which circuit is drawing the current.

I would recommend a very deliberate process. Disconnect and then reconnect things one at a time. Keep notes. Good luck.

Click to expand...

I have no experience working on such systems. If I was retired, I would consider taking the time to acquire the necessary knowledge, although in the end I expect it would have to go to the dealer anyway to be repaired. I'm just disappointed that the two dealers I have tried so far don't seem to be interested in having me pay them to find out what's wrong.

Cheers, Ken

kbowman said:

Thanks for the suggestion. As far as I can tell from my Haynes manual, there are only three fuses on the bike: a big 50 A fuse for the charging system, a 10 A fuse for instruments, alarm, ignition lock, and diagnostic socket, and a 7.5 A fuse for the left-hand switches and TPM. Once I get the battery charged back up, I'll try pulling the two smaller ones (one at a time) and see if that has an effect.

Click to expand...

To follow up my earlier post, I charged the battery and then checked the current draw.

If I pull the 7.5 A fuse, the current continues to fluctuate between about 50 and 100 mA. If I pull the 10 A fuse, the current drops to a few mA. That narrows the problem down some, but there are quite a few things on that 10 A circuit. That's about the limit of my technical abilities, so Tuesday I'll call Engle in KC and see if they can find a time to work on my bike when I get to Kansas.

Cheers, Ken

battery discharging

I went through pretty much all of your experiences on my 2014 R1200GSA. Over several weeks, new battery etc. Also had my local dealer pick up the bike 2X, keep it as long as they wanted and dead battery issue never happened while it was with them. I trust them explicitly. End result was that I removed the "fuse block" that I had installed when the bike was purchased new and never had the problem again. That doesn't mean I found the exact problem, but it became reliable again.