Gel Battery charging

I'm new to the BMW fold. Just got an '02 R1150 RTP. It has the dual gel batteries. I know you need like a Battery Tender Plus to charge the batteries due to voltage reguirements but do you just plug into an accessory outlet to recharge both batteries or do you hang a pig tail off of each battery and connect each up to a charger. Thanks in advance for your replies.
Tom

blackNwhite said:

I'm new to the BMW fold. Just got an '02 R1150 RTP. It has the dual gel batteries. I know you need like a Battery Tender Plus to charge the batteries due to voltage reguirements but do you just plug into an accessory outlet to recharge both batteries or do you hang a pig tail off of each battery and connect each up to a charger. Thanks in advance for your replies.
Tom

Click to expand...

Tom,
It REALLY depends on how your batteries are wired. Some of the Police bikes had totally separate electrical systems for the bike/emergency lights. There is a relay and isolator to separate the two batteries when the ignition is OFF and connect them with the ignition ON.
The acc outlet will 'probably' only charge the BIKE battery and not the aux battery.

Sounds like I will hook up a quick connector to both batteries. Thx

hello

Hello BblackNwhite,
I've got the same bike and on mine they were completely isolated. Lots of fun cleaning all the extra wiring out too. The circled fuses in the photo were the one tied in with my Aux battery. These are a great start if you want to run any additional lighting or electronic gadgets.

Welcome aboard!

bmwmick said:

Tom,
The acc outlet will 'probably' only charge the BIKE battery and not the aux battery.

Click to expand...

Mick is right, on my unit the acc outlet only charged the bikes main battery.

Mick, Anton, Orionrider and many others have been a great help to me on this forum. You've certainly come to the right place. Welcome aboard!

Here's a great link that Mick sent me last year after helping me reset my ABS sytem.

bmwmick said:

Here is a very worthwhile site for your RT-P:

http://www.myr1100rtp.netfirms.com/tech_documents.htm

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info on the fuses. I saw that last night while cleaning up the bike. Any suggestions on getting the front and rear bars as this bike didn't come with any. It does have the inner bars/frame up front under the tupperware but no crash bars. Thx. Tom

look out if you do this you may need a diod in the + line to prevent cross discharge (on the bat.tennder line) or some BIG time rewire thats my 0.02$ see you in the wind

Love the battery tender products.

blackNwhite said:

Thanks for the info on the fuses. I saw that last night while cleaning up the bike. Any suggestions on getting the front and rear bars as this bike didn't come with any. It does have the inner bars/frame up front under the tupperware but no crash bars. Thx. Tom

Click to expand...

I've seen them on ebay from time to time. Usually end at or around $100, but
http://www.beemerboneyard.com/oilheadparts.html
will have them at times as well, but I don't want to hijack this thread. so in regards to the battery charger i use a battery tender Jr. on most of my other bikes, and batter tender plus on my beemers. I keep them plug up all the time, and thus far haven't had any on the road problems with a dead battery. The optima battery in my Vmax has been going for at least five years now thanks to the battery tender. That bike seems to be hard on them. Used to have to replace them every two years.