Flat Battery

[BeeJay]

Well I suppose it had to happen one time.
A while ago I discovered the light in the top box. But that was only when I went to the garage one evening about two days after I parked the bike and left the top box lid open. Anyway, next morning bike started with no problem.
Forward to today. Just ready to go out, pushed bike out of garage and looked okay, system checked out okay but just a "click" on the starter button.
The only thing I could think of was that I had temp fixed a pmr radio using the power socket at the rear of the bike. I thought that it would work the same way as the front socket in that power would be cut off after a while after turning off the ignition. Obviously not.
I then had a problem trying to finding the battery and a bigger problem trying to access the terminals.
Called BMW breakdown and he duly appeared.
He didn't know about the socket but with the aid of a couple of screwdrivers on his jump leads managed to start the bike on the earth battery terminal and a "live" connection nearby.
Left it for 10 mins, stopped and restarted okay,and then went for a 60mile ride down to Lake Vyrnwy over the white road to Bala and back over the Berwyns to Oswestry - BRILLIANT
Every black cloud has a silver lining.
No, back to the point of this entry.
Is it correct that the rear socket is not ignition contriolled?
Bike is Sept 2014 R1200RT LC LE with all the "bits and bobs"
And I must order a battery charger in the morning.

[RTs4me]

I had the same experience when I transferred my AutoCom from my previous twin-cam RT to my new RTLC  >:( . I have had the AutoCom on my last 3 RTs, all powered from the rear socket via a right-angled DIN plug. I thought the same set-up would work on the RTLC, but I tried to start the bike about 3 days after fitting it and it was absolutely dead.
BMW assist were able to identify a power draw, even with the ignition off  ??? . Once the AutoCom was unplugged, the draw stopped. Recharged the battery overnight and all was OK again  :clap:  .


I contacted my dealer and they advised taking a power supply from the 7.5amp fuse in the holder near the rider seat front mount.
So it appears that the AutoCom was keeping the socket 'alive'. However, my small LED lamp goes off a couple of minutes after ignition off, using the same rear socket  ??? . My dealer says that some accessories seem to keep the socket live, some don't  ??? . Puzzling!

[guest2360]

Your dealer is correct, some things connected to the sockets will keep them open and they should not be used to piggy back accessories. Both sockets are the same. Luckily BMW Assist didn't consider you had caused self inflected wounds and given you a bill.

[BeeJay]

Thanks for the replies.
I checked this morning and there is no power to either sockets.
It's strange that when I was charging my bikecam battery in the tank bag, it stopped charging a while after I stopped the bike, ignition off, but running a power feed to a radio does.
As you say, I was probably lucky to avoid a bill.


We all live and learn.

[RTs4me]

Yes, I  was caught out by assuming that the RTLC power sockets would be managed in the same way as on previous bikes  ::) . This doesn't appear to be the case!


I was lucky not to be 'charged' (ouch, sorry!) for the assistance call, but as you say, we all live and learn. Cheers