BMW R1200RT/R1250RT Forum

I've had my 2016 RT since the fall of that year.  Enjoyed the heated grips and seat on the way home.  Oddly, this bike eats batteries at about one a year.  Saturday I got the bike out and it wouldn't start and then wouldn't even turn over.  Voltmeter (Fluke 77) said 12.8v so I suspected a dead cell.  Charged the batter overnight and took it to the auto parts store.  They hooked it up to their load tester and declared it good.


Brought it home and went looking for a possible fault.  I set the Fluke up in 10A mode and dang, 7A draw?  I thought that was nuts and then my 18AWG alligator test leads went up in smoke!  So I got heavier leads and checked again and yep, 7A.  Checked the two accessory leads and no problems.  Went into ohmmeter and the resistance between the BMW + and - leads is 206kohms.  That seem low even with the clock, etc.  Checked the accessory leads and resistance is infinite, which is as it should be.


There is no way my BMW charger or any other small mantainer like a Battery Minder (what I tend to use on everything) is going to keep up with that kind of draw.


The nearest dealer is (now) 230mi away, so I'm hoping to avoid a visit.  Also, I don't want to know what the price would be for chasing electrical gremlins.


Does anybody have experience whth this?  Any resource I can look at to try to diagnose this?


Thanks,


Eric

Hi, I Purchased my 2016 R1200RT brand new Dec 2016 and never had an issue, it charges while running at 14.1 pretty constant. See what yours charges at when running, first step. - If you don’t have the on screen charging info then hook up some leads to battery and check your voltage input. Go from there…


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Thanks for the input.  Yes, the onboard voltmeter is running about 14.1v and I've confirmed the charging voltage on the BMW charger with the onboard voltmeter with the ignition on (engine off) and the two agree.  So the bike is charging the battery and the charger is charging the battery.  Why the bike is drawing 7A with the bike off and the key out I am not yet sure.

If you have keyless ignition, are you leaving the key too close to the bike when not using it?


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Blueboy wrote: If you have keyless ignition, are you leaving the key too close to the bike when not using it?


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This is pretty good too but worth getting a good amp reading multimeter. :

https://youtu.be/p-SYN0cUcEc


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This RT is not keyless ride.  I do have a very good multimeter.  It says 7A draw through the bike with all accessory wires removed.  I would expect less than 50mA.  It seems there is some parasitic current draw in the BMW wiring.  Some other forums suggest a defective "general module lite" part 61358566461.  I checked that, can't order it from BMW but can from 3rd parties.  Here is a link to a guy who had a similar problem related to this part:


https://advrider.com/f/threads/2016-gsa ... 35/page-10


I don't know how to check this.  I'll get the GS911 diagnostic module out tomorrow and see if the bike can tell me anything about it.

ca1ic0cat wrote: This RT is not keyless ride.  I do have a very good multimeter.  It says 7A draw through the bike with all accessory wires removed.  I would expect less than 50mA.  It seems there is some parasitic current draw in the BMW wiring.  Some other forums suggest a defective "general module lite" part 61358566461.  I checked that, can't order it from BMW but can from 3rd parties.  Here is a link to a guy who had a similar problem related to this part:


https://advrider.com/f/threads/2016-gsa ... 35/page-10


I don't know how to check this.  I'll get the GS911 diagnostic module out tomorrow and see if the bike can tell me anything about it.

Good idea, …but if no luck, it may be worth it to bring it all the way to dealer after all. Costs $$ but a great bike. Their diagnostic will tell much more than our GS911. 
Keep us posted. Good to know.
[emoji106]


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My 2015 RT had a significant parasitic draw but was still under warranty when I brought it to the dealer for diagnosis. I still don’t believe what he told me: the 12V accessory socket had a constant draw, even with the ignition off and nothing plugged into it. A service bulletin-recommended ECU reflash was the remedy. I’ve had no issues since.

My norbal practice is to flip the key and hit the starter.  A few days ago I was talking to the wife when I started the bike, so it went through it's boot up.  I noticed that the voltage (have the display set to volts all the time now, paint me paranoid...) started under 11v and then climbed to 12.5 in about 10sec.  Hit the starter and the bike started right up.  Voltage climbed to 14.1 just idling.


My conlusion is that the bike is charging but there is a software controlled parasitic draw that is turned off as the bike starts up.  Hit the starter too soon and it's not going to crank.


I took a video but it's mp4 and I don't have editing software at the moment.  The voltage starts at 10.9v.


Has anybody seen this behaviour?


Thanks,


Eric

Have you found the root cause? 7A power off drain would have me disconnecting the battery, I'd be concerned about the potential fire risk from whatever is sucking the current.

No, I haven't found the root cause yet.  I'm just sure it's part of the BMW circuit.  Might be software controlled.  I have an appointment with BMW later in the month but I want as much data as I can get because the service manager is blaming me because I added LED Denali lights controlled by a CLS system and that's apparently the problem, in his mind.