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2007 1200GS with Garmin problem

155767

the-oz-slider
Hello all,
As winter approaches in the True North Strong and Free, and riding to work at -6 starts to get less enjoyable, I broke out my Gerbings heated vest and plugged everything in, and headed off through the fog and mist.......
Then my Garmin 660 announced that it was ruunning on battery power, not off the cradle which is hard wired into the bikes harness.
next day same thing occurred, and on the third day, the Garmin battery was flat.........
As a test I disconnected my Gerbings and magically the Garmin battery started charging again from the cradle......So I did it again yesterday, same result with both options.
So what gives?
Is the BMW charging system not able to handle the heated vest and the GPS? The battery is one year old and appears to act normally in every other respect. The gps is hard wiried into what I believe is the GPS circuit which was a small two pin plug up behind the steering head. I used (shame) waterproof Japanese connectors....
Comments, opinion, advice please.....
Al in partially frozen Edmonton
 
Did your Gerbings continue to heat when the Garmin reported it was running off battery power?

Bet not - I'd bet the GPS shares the same circuit as the auxiliary plug on the side of the bike - which is rated a 5A max current draw. A Gerbing jacket liner draws something like 8-9A. The excess draw will turn that circuit off, and if as I suspect the GPS is powered off that output of the ZFE, you'll lose GPS power.

The fix - add a separate fused outlet just for the heated gear..
 
Howdy fellow Edmontonian

Hi

That is an interesting issue. I had and 08 rt..... see my article in Crash chronicles for what happened....sigh.

Either way got time to read and give opinions lately from me hospital room. As such I had a hard mounted 660 zumo using the BMW GPS power plug already on the bike. I also have a heated jacket same brand. Never had the problem you describe and had a lot of long rides with heat on and the GPS is always on. I am pretty sure the plug configurations are the same as I peeked under the front of the GS to see and sure enough the same plug exists that I use exists.

So sounds like something is not right......as it should work with the current draws as again...same set up. Canbus current limits are the same too irregardless of GS or RT I am pretty sure.

Would like to know what you find out. I'm currently Beemerless but not for long think I am awaiting the 2014 RT........

Yammer
 
Hi

That is an interesting issue. I had and 08 rt..... see my article in Crash chronicles for what happened....sigh.

Either way got time to read and give opinions lately from me hospital room. As such I had a hard mounted 660 zumo using the BMW GPS power plug already on the bike. I also have a heated jacket same brand. Never had the problem you describe and had a lot of long rides with heat on and the GPS is always on. I am pretty sure the plug configurations are the same as I peeked under the front of the GS to see and sure enough the same plug exists that I use exists.

So sounds like something is not right......as it should work with the current draws as again...same set up. Canbus current limits are the same too irregardless of GS or RT I am pretty sure.

Would like to know what you find out. I'm currently Beemerless but not for long think I am awaiting the 2014 RT........

Yammer
Actually - not. The auxiliary plug was upped to 10A rating around 2010 model year but it was already 10A on the RT (not sure when they upped it on the RT.) So you had a different setup. From '05-07 it was 5A on the GS and R12R.
 
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