R1150R Eating Batteries

[TNOutback]

Just bought a new-to-me 2002 R1150R last week from the local dealer. Only had 2100 miles on it and was a local trade and the dealer had complete service records on it. Reviewing the records I thought it odd that the bike was on its third battery since last June. It was a bit slow to turn over, so I got it home and hooked it up to a battery tender to charge. In short, the bike is only good for one start. If I stop the bike and try to restart it, it will only give me the clicking noise and won't turn over.

The service records indicate that last year they checked for phantom loads and checked the alternator output, and everything was OK. Obviously everything is not OK. It should not be going through batteries like this, correct? Any thoughts?

[Hottech]

You could just have a cheapo bad battery. Spend the extra cash and buy an Odyssey PC680 and you shouldn't have any problems as long as your alternator is charging.

[Boxer]

How new is the coil and the plug wires? Give them a check. I have no electrical knowledge whatsoever...Well, very little, but I have circumstantial reasons to believe my bad coil and plug wires were somehow the culprit behind my last PC680 biting the dust early.

Its worth it to check them out.

[boxermania]

ONE WEEK OLD !!!!....TAKE IT BACK TO THE DEALER (I'm assuming it is a BMW dealer or any dealer for that matter)......THEY SHOULD MAKE IT GOOD....IF THINGS GET TOUGH OFFER TO SPLIT THE COST OF REPAIR, WITH A NEW PREMIUM BATTERY (0DYSSEY, WESTCO, YUASA).

STAND YOUR GROUND AND PURSUE DUE DILLIGENCE ON THEIR PART......BEST OF LUCK

[NoRRmad]

I suspect that an '02 is out of warranty. Unless it's had three cheapo batteries in a row, there's something wrong witht the charging circuits. That's the first thing I'd check. Then slap an ammeter on the battery when shut down, see if there's more than the clock drawing current when off...

Are you turning the key to OFF when parked, rather than to PARK? Park leaves a light burning.

[CycleRob]

"ONE WEEK OLD !!!!....TAKE IT BACK TO THE DEALER"

+1


It's a really bad thing to make a purchase decision heavily influenced by the bike's low odometer reading. 3 batteries improperly prepped and a rider that does not ride his bike long enough to charge either one of those batteries means 3 dead batteries since last June.
They checked the charging and parasitic loads, so the only other possibility is an intermittent "no charge" problem. That can happen if the charge lite indicator bulb has a poor connection. The series circuit thru that bulb is required to power the alternator's internal regulator. Replace that bulb NOW and clean the socket terminals while you're at it.
If an occasional but forgetful rider is a huge fan of using the kill switch, then all 3 of those batteries were murdered. Bad practices that are hostile to a battery like starting it up to move it 10 feet every time it is put away WILL slowly kill a good battery.

.

[TNOutback]

Thank you all for your thoughts. Dealer retested alternator, parasitic loads, etc. and found nothing. They also installed a new battery. No charge. Upon picking up the bike, the service manager said, 'we'll now see if you ride it more than the previous owner, and if you keep it on a trickle charger . . . "!