Advice/Opinions on a battery issue!

GlobalRider said:

Maybe the issue was elsewhere; maybe with the motorcycle. Maybe they didn't do a proper load test. Maybe the battery had no capacity. And if it died while riding, I have to wonder why.

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That is exactly what I thought when the battery failed while I was riding. I assumed the computer had failed, since I wasn't getting any dash lights.

I had never before had a battery on a bike or a car fail while the engine was running. It always happened when I attempted to start it. I have a couple reasons to think there was nothing at all wrong with the bike.

The first reason is that I called a BMW dealer and talked to a very experienced service manager and described exactly what happened. He immediately said he was over 99% certain that the only problem was the battery, indicating he had seen the exact symptoms many times on many models. He explained that the ignition system is driven entirely by the computer and the computer shuts itself down automatically when the voltage drops below a certain level. That explains why there were no dash lights or any other activity.

The second reason is that the bike has run without any problems at all for nearly a year and a half since that happened. It could be that they did not do a proper load test.

GlobalRider said:

This is what I have on my motorcycle...

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Can you post a link to this, I'm curious... thanks!

BetterLateThanNever said:

Can you post a link to this, I'm curious... thanks!

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That Voltmeter is a DIY.

Note that the display used in not waterproof. Use at your own risk and make sure it is kept away from direct rain.

You're looking for a low current drain LCD meter so that you can connect it directly to the battery for an always-on connection, otherwise you need to use a relay switched by the ignition.

GlobalRider said:

That Voltmeter is a DIY...

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Thanks much GlobalRider, good stuff!

GlobalRider said:

That Voltmeter is a DIY.

Note that the display used in not waterproof. Use at your own risk and make sure it is kept away from direct rain.

You're looking for a low current drain LCD meter so that you can connect it directly to the battery for an always-on connection, otherwise you need to use a relay switched by the ignition.

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Note: the Battery Bug is completely waterproof, is low drain, and includes a voltage reading in the display. After shopping around, I found that it was only a little more expensive than a simple volt meter, so I thought if the feature that predicts battery failure works at all, it is worth a little more. But the real no-brainer feature of the bug is the alarm that goes off if your voltage drops below 12volts for more than a minute. I really need that one when using the full set of Gerbing gear.

gblawler said:

Note: the Battery Bug is completely waterproof, is low drain, and includes a voltage reading in the display.

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Nowhere on their site can I find a pic of a voltage reading on their device.

Low drain? Well it could be lower. Its double the drain of my LCD meter.

gblawler said:

I thought if the feature that predicts battery failure works at all, it is worth a little more.

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That part of it I don't buy.

GlobalRider said:

Nowhere on their site can I find a pic of a voltage reading on their device.

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The picture they show on the website always shows the display with a percentage. For example, the picture shown on the link from my previous post:

Here is a link to their site for the product I have:
http://www.argusanalyzers.com/index.php?id=44

shows 45% in the picture. The percentage continuously alternates about each second between the percent and the voltage. Easy to tell the difference at a glance because of the trailing % sign and the voltage is shown with 1 decimal place, like: 14.1

GlobalRider said:

Low drain? Well it could be lower. Its double the drain of my LCD meter.

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I admit that I am not a good one to test whether the drain is low enough for everyone because I put my bike on the BMW maintenance charger every two weeks when I am riding every day and I normally leave it on the charger when I know I won't be riding for more than a day or two. But I have neglected to do that for as long as 4 or 5 days in the past, so the only thing I say is after 4 or 5 days without riding or being on the charger, the bike still starts like nothing has been draining the battery.

GlobalRider said:

That part of it I don't buy.

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I have not had the Battery Bug long enough to give an account of whether the claims about predicting a battery failure in advance actually work or not, but if all I got out the deal was the low voltage alarm feature, it was well worth the extra cost.

If anyone else has a Battery Bug and has had some experience with it predicting a battery failure, I'd like to hear about it.