Dead Battery? Or something else?

[bobs_one]

I have a 2014 RT, bought new in 2015 (love the damn thing - what an awesome ride!).

It gets ridden a lot in our (Canadian) riding season and for the first two winters I had it, I had an Optimate 4 plugged into the canbus power outlet on thr fairing to keep the battery charged. No probs.

This past winter, I figured the battery was getting on in years and so I uninstalled it from the bike, put the Optimate into direction connection mode so it could do the desulphination and deep charge things, hooked it up on my workbench and left it for the winter. Glanced at it a couple of times over the winter and the indicator lights seemed to be telling me all was well.

I just reinstalled the battery (careful not to mess up the connection polarities) and when I turn the key, nothing happens. No lights come on, no instrument movement, no sounds of relays. I wondered if I had good connections, so I checked between the positive post screw that is to the right of the battery and the ground connection going to starter motor and looks like everything is ok.

Caveat - the only voltmeter I can find around the shop is a really ****ty analog one. I ca't tell if I've got 11 volts or 14 volts or whatever, but it's somewhere in that range.

I took the battery out again and connected it to an automotive "smart charger" and it showed the battery as fully charged after a brief charge period (it always charges for a minute or so, before it decides a battery is charged). I next checked the two (7.5A and 15A) fuses under the seat and they are ok. I didn't check the 50A "alternator/starter" fuse as I could figure out how to get to it (its cover seems to be held in place by the fabric cable ties which also hold that part of the wiring harness in place).

So, I'm just checking to see if their is anyhting else I should check before deciding that my battery has finally failed (despite being on a maintenance charger all winter) or getting my digital VM back from my son.

Have I missed something?

 

[sailorlite]

If the battery is the original one, from 2015, I'd simply replace it now with a good non-BMW battery (e.g. Yuasa, Deka, etc.). Even if you manage to recharge it, I doubt you'd get much more from any 4 year old motorcycle battery. Take care of it now, rather than in the middle of the riding season. IMO.

 

[pianomanla]

Irony....

I have almost the same issue that began yesterday at 7:45am when the bike wouldnt start after topping of the tank for a nice day ride on the most beautiful day of this year so far. After several attemps to jump the battery, I had it towed back home. I think it is the stator that is gone bad because the tow truck had a special battery pack that, when connected directly to the bike, it fired right up, and then subsequently died the moment it was removed.

I am going to have it towed again to the shop for further evaluation...

 

[patm]

You could take the battery out and have it load tested.

 

[azgman]

You need a good voltmeter, but since there is no electrical response at all, I am thinking that you may have a Canbus power module issue, or the fusible link is gone. (If there IS a fusible link on your bike). Good luck with this, you will need to use good electrical troubleshooting methods.

 

[bobs_one]

Doesn't seem to the the battery

Does anyone know where in the electrical system the 50A fuse acts? If that fuse goes, would my symptoms be as described, i.e. - absolutely no response when the ignition key is turned on - or does it just take the alternator/stator out of circuit?

Also, the manual has some vague image with an arrow pointing to the 50A fuse - has anyone ever removed it? Can they tell me how they went about it? In the manual image, it seems to be under a plastic flap on the side of an electrical box - on my bike that flap has part of the wiring harness over it and that harness seems to be strapped in place with fabric fasteners.



Do I have to cut those fasteners to get to the fuse?

 

[bobs_one]

It was the battery

Well, despite the battery showing "reasonable" voltage and having an Optimate 4 indicate that it was good and holding its charge and my automotive "smart" charger saying the same thing, I took the battery over to a shop and had it load tested. It was outputting 35 cranking Amps, instead of the 200 it is supposed to.

I guess this isn't a surprise in a 4 year old motorcycle battery, but what was a surprise (at least to me) was the symptoms. The bike was absolutely dead when the key was turned on, nothing happened, no instrument cluster movement, no fuel pump run up, no relay clicks, no lights - nothing.

Anyway, I'm happy that it was only the battery - thought others might want to know that the bike's system somehow responds to a shot battery (even one that shows reasonable voltage, but not enough amperage) by not responding at all.

 

[PGlaves]

Maybe on, and maybe a bit off topic but I repeat from other posts. When encountering starting issues maybe related to a battery, standing no-load voltage might be meaningless. This is particularly true of today's AGM batteries. The most common failure is a broken connector or otherwise high internal resistance between cells in the battery. I have had more than one battery that showed 12.7 or greater volts standing with no load that dropped to a fraction of a volt with only a tail light bulb (high tech test equipment ) as a load.

So if you encounter clacking solenoids or clicking relays or other issues test the battery voltage key off, key on, and starter button pushed. These three values usually tell the story.