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New F800GT Owner - Need Battery Charging Info

jcooksey

New member
Relatively new to the F800 GT world and with winter here I was wondering what equipment and how best to keep the battery charged and ready to go when a warm day comes along
 
Welcome to the forum! I can't help much with your questions...others will be along, though. I'm going to change the title of this thread so it's a little more obvious what you're interested in. Hope that helps!!
 
The accessory socket on the F800GT isn't always on to the battery, so on the F800GT my wife has, I installed a Powerlet socket on the left side of the fairing, on the black bit nearer to the steering head, and connected directly to the battery (fused of course). This bypasses the CANBUS issue of charging - never found a charger, BMW or otherwise, that would keep the CANBUS circuit active. Added bonus is you now have and accessible plug for accessories like heated jacket liner, or charging the phone at a rally. Some folks will just use the SAE cable directly to the battery, but this method gives you the outlet.

We use a Battery Tender multiple battery charger to keep all of the bikes charged up. I can post a picture tomorrow if you want to see where I put it on the bike in better detail.

Cheers and welcome!
 
Where are you located? Your winter might not be the same as mine....

There are a couple options what I did for my F800GS & GT:
1) Take the battery out, place it on the kitchen counter, and periodically hook it up to the charger. Once actual warm(er) temps arrive reinstall battery. Hey, the batteries don't take up *that* much space on the counter!

2) Hook up an extender line to the battery, run it under the top cover to the seat area. That will allow you to plug in a Battery Tender (or whatever charger you use). I'm not sure I described that "extender line" correctly, this is what I referred to: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NCOKZQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
 
The "extender" as others have called it, is very handy. Use it for the battery charger during the winter, then buy one of these USB adapter plugs to power things like your cell phone the rest of the year. Here's an example. https://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tend...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=Y36CBJVXGZEZNNB7R151

Running it under the seat is a good option. I run mine forward in front of the "tank". When not in use, it is out of the way and not even visible usually. When I want to use it, I simply lift it out of the area by the forks and run a USB cord to whatever I'm charging. I find a tank bag so handy, that it is on there all the time, so the USB cable just runs into the tank bag and the cell phone or whatever I'm powering.

Chris
 
If you connect the SAE plug directly to the battery, you not only have a cold weather charger access to the battery, you also can run a accessory (cellphone), you can run some heated gear (like a jacket liner) and extend you riding season.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
2015 f800gt

I’ve had my f800 hooked up to a Battery Tender Junior since I bought it. I use the pigtail that came with the bike. I made no modifications to the pigtail. Bike starts first time every time even after just going through a move to near Knoxville TN and not touching the bike for over two months. Rode it last Sunday in 20 degree weather and it started first time. Sure didn’t ride for long, but “needed” to ride. Heated grips worked great - rest of me froze. :)
 
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