SeabeckS
New member
Got one of those CTEK MUS 4.3 chargers and hooked it up this afternoon. Bike now starts.
-
Welcome! You are currently logged out of the forum. Some forum content will be hidden from you if you remain logged out. If you want to view all content, please LOG IN!If you are not an MOA member, why not take the time to join the club, so you can enjoy posting on the forum, the BMW Owners News magazine, and all of the benefits of membership? If you click here, you have the opportunity to take us for a test ride at our expense. Enter the code 'FORUM25' in the activation code box to try the first year of the MOA on us!
The Downside to Odyssey Batteries
- Thread starter jconway607
- Start date
Got one of those CTEK MUS 4.3 chargers and hooked it up this afternoon. Bike now starts.
gsaddict
Pepperfool
Got one of those CTEK MUS 4.3 chargers and hooked it up this afternoon. Bike now starts.
Good stuff.
I misunderstood your post on page 2 - apologies
Seen the damage from under charging in float mode.
SeabeckS
New member
No worries!
Leaving the Tupperware off until tomorrow, then do a bit more snooping around before buttoning things up. Access to the battery and air filter on this S is about the worst design I've ever seen for something that needs a bit of maintenance now and then. (Ah, the good old days...on my Suzuki GS850G, where I could change the air filter and/or replace the battery in 10 minutes...on a slow day...lol!)
Hopefully this CTEK will do a better job than the Battery Tender. OTOH, winter is over (and so is our new home construction) so a lot more riding might help too!
Cheers!
SeabeckS
New member
Kudos for the informative post...reading your comments and a few others, I elected to get the CTEK charger to see if it could rehabilitate the Oddysey. Looks like it's working out, as my S once again will start. The battery wasn't that old, but now suspect sulfation was the root of the problems.
Thanks!
tanker4me
New member
No worries!
Hopefully this CTEK will do a better job than the Battery Tender. OTOH, winter is over (and so is our new home construction) so a lot more riding might help too!
Cheers!
More riding! More better!!
SeabeckS
New member
jconway607
JohnWC
Just another note on the endless saga of battery/charger that may prove helpful to those more fortunate than myself.
As our story ended last time, I had purchased a Schauer Charge Master CM6A charger to keep my very picky PC680 battery properly charged up. This charger is "approved" by Odyssey. It worked fine when I took it out of the box. One month later, with the battery and the charger having been sitting separately (not hooked up) on a shelf in my garage, the charger will not work. No fan running, no voltage output at float setting. According to Schauer, I must ship it to Cincinnati, ($9.00) to have them look at it. They have no idea why it won't work. I'm going to go back and look at the Ctek and other models. Apparently, Schauer is not the same company it once was. Too bad.
As our story ended last time, I had purchased a Schauer Charge Master CM6A charger to keep my very picky PC680 battery properly charged up. This charger is "approved" by Odyssey. It worked fine when I took it out of the box. One month later, with the battery and the charger having been sitting separately (not hooked up) on a shelf in my garage, the charger will not work. No fan running, no voltage output at float setting. According to Schauer, I must ship it to Cincinnati, ($9.00) to have them look at it. They have no idea why it won't work. I'm going to go back and look at the Ctek and other models. Apparently, Schauer is not the same company it once was. Too bad.
It may sound too simple but- did you try plugging the charge into another outlet?
In this age of GFI's being in line first- or last
Then we can add the new arc-fault or put the GFI's & AF's together......Things can get kinda sensitive, especially to a charger.
OM
In this age of GFI's being in line first- or last
Then we can add the new arc-fault or put the GFI's & AF's together......Things can get kinda sensitive, especially to a charger.
OM
SeabeckS
New member
It may sound too simple but- did you try plugging the charge into another outlet?
In this age of GFI's being in line first- or last
Then we can add the new arc-fault or put the GFI's & AF's together......Things can get kinda sensitive, especially to a charger.
OM
Amen to this, these new arc fault breakers are a pain. When we lose power and hook up our generator it takes a careful approach one breaker at a time to restore power to the house. Get one out of sequence and they all pop off. Grrrr
nrpetersen
Curmudgeon
Any chance the battery hookup polarity was wrong? The Battery Tender includes a sense circuit that requires at least +8V DC on the output leads before it will turn on.
The reason they do this is to protect us from accidently getting a reverse polarity even though it also will prevent it from ever charging a fully discharged battery.
And there are two different clip extensions on battery cables versions around, each depending on if it was supplied with a power consuming device or a a charging device.
SeabeckS
New member
And here I sit with a cheap, 6 year old Panasonic battery and a 7 year old Battery Tender Jr...and no issues whatsoever. I feel kinda left out.
And Seabeck, where do you live that you need to have a generator at the ready to provide power - Buenos Aires?
Seabeck was one of the first communities in western Washington. Hence all the power grid is old, overhead, and prone to damage from all these darned trees falling over. If ya live in Seabeck, ya gotta generator.
Pc-680
My 2009 R-1200RT had a defective BMW battery,which was replaced under warranty(with a lower amperage battery). I replaced that one with a PC-680 and had no problems--even when I traded the bike off in 2012, so I gave it to a friend for his 1999 R-1100 RT and put the old one in to ride up to KC. He just informed me that the ABS light now flashes after starting on the PC-680. Not bad for 7 years!
My 1999 RT had Powersonic (that had sat uncharged) flashed the ABS, so naturally I purchased a PC-680, which died within a year--but guess what--I sent it back and received a new one under warranty.
Chargers--Schmargers. I tickle all my bikes when I'm not riding for some time and disconnect when the light turns green. Battery Mart is easy to deal with and stands behind the warranty. Just in case, always carry jumpers
My 2009 R-1200RT had a defective BMW battery,which was replaced under warranty(with a lower amperage battery). I replaced that one with a PC-680 and had no problems--even when I traded the bike off in 2012, so I gave it to a friend for his 1999 R-1100 RT and put the old one in to ride up to KC. He just informed me that the ABS light now flashes after starting on the PC-680. Not bad for 7 years!
My 1999 RT had Powersonic (that had sat uncharged) flashed the ABS, so naturally I purchased a PC-680, which died within a year--but guess what--I sent it back and received a new one under warranty.
Chargers--Schmargers. I tickle all my bikes when I'm not riding for some time and disconnect when the light turns green. Battery Mart is easy to deal with and stands behind the warranty. Just in case, always carry jumpers
pauls1150
MOA #24991, south of Los Angeles
Sometimes it's worthwhile to pop the cover off of a dead charger and see what needs fixin'.
They're often not very complicated, but the sensing/regulating circuit may make it a loss...
Even those that proclaim "No User-Serviceable Parts Inside" are worth a look, if you have tech skills, a DVM, and a soldering iron. (Over the years, I've found many items with fuses soldered in inside.)
I've fixed two bad switches and a blown diode, and one had a bad input surge protector (looked like a blue disk capacitor) that had opened; got a replacement at the local electronic parts store for a buck.
They're often not very complicated, but the sensing/regulating circuit may make it a loss...
Even those that proclaim "No User-Serviceable Parts Inside" are worth a look, if you have tech skills, a DVM, and a soldering iron. (Over the years, I've found many items with fuses soldered in inside.)
I've fixed two bad switches and a blown diode, and one had a bad input surge protector (looked like a blue disk capacitor) that had opened; got a replacement at the local electronic parts store for a buck.
jconway607
JohnWC
And here I sit with a cheap, 6 year old Panasonic battery and a 7 year old Battery Tender Jr...and no issues whatsoever. I feel kinda left out.
At this point, I am wishing that I too had a 6 year old Panasonic battery and a 7 year old Tender Jr. (Well, I actually do have two of those.)
The unit was plugged into a standard 110 volt outlet. No ground fault or arc fault systems in play. The 680 is showing 12.9 volts before the Schauer charger is hooked up. And, it is hooked up properly, although that is a valid point. In numerous calls yesterday to Both Schauer and Battery Mart I was told first that this unit had no fan, then a while later, yes it does have a fan in it. (The face-plate shows a fan). So much for corporate knowledge. And the bigger question of how a solid state unit can break itself while sitting on a shelf for 30 days may forever remain a mystery.
In the great scheme of BMW ownership/maintenance I know this problem is pretty small. Many others have substantially larger issues to deal with. So I appreciate everyone's efforts at helping solve/diagnose the problem. Thanks!
gsaddict
Pepperfool
Very true comments in this throw away world.
Everything is repairable if you have the skills and access to (sometimes obsolete) components.
I repair equipment every day. I refuse to send stuff to the landfill.
Many of my clients would need to deep six expensive systems just because one piece had a failure.
I love the challenge.
jammess
Jammess
Seabeck was one of the first communities in western Washington. Hence all the power grid is old, overhead, and prone to damage from all these darned trees falling over. If ya live in Seabeck, ya gotta generator.
For 7 years in the 1970's I lived over in Brownsville and I know very well where Seabeck is and you think you need a generator? Huh???
SeabeckS
New member
We've lived in Seabeck for 15 years, power goes out frequently, though PSE has done a better job with line maintenance of late, so it is more reliable. This winter we are on generator four times with a couple of those events lasting more than 24 hours. A few years ago we had no power for 8 consecutive days.
This ain't Brownsville, so yeah, a generator is useful.
YMMV!
Similar threads
