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is this setup ok to charge the F800GS Battery through the Cigarette Lighter Socket??

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Anar

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Good to talk to you all. Its been a long time since I wrote here last time. sorry for my english, not a native english speaker. hopefully, you will understand what i mean :)

Anyways, I don't seem to ride the 800 as often as I used to. but i don't like the idea of removing the battery so i came up with this setup to charge the battery every so often through the cigarette lighter socket.

Well, to cut the long story short, some of you will probably laugh at me, but that is fine as long as I hear some of your opinions :) I went and bought a motorcycle charger (SM-1236 by Deca-weld (i think italy) which comes with conventional red and black clamps for connecting to battery terminals. I modified the connections of the charger so that now the charger connects directly to the F800GS cigarette lighter adapter. the connection was made professionally and tested for continuity etc. all was ok. so I feel good about that part. But i haven't actually tried charging yet.

My question is, is this a good idea? I mean, is it going to do the job?
The charger I'm intending to use basically has 2 charging modes: Mode 1: 0.8 Amps, Mode 2: 3.6 Amps.
So, the big question is: will it actually work through the cigarette lighter socket on F800GS? I mean, do I need to keep the ignition on?? etc. or is the cigarette lighter socket live with the ignition switched off?
 
#2 ·
If by cigarette lighter you mean the auxiliary port, then yes you can charge there. In fact, the BMW charger uses the port. My only concern is that your charger may overload the auxiliary circuit and the bike's computer shuts it down. I do not think that will happen but it could I suppose. You'll need to have the ignition on when you first start charging. That allows the computer to sense the charger and keep the circuit functional on once you turn the ignition off.
 
Discussion starter · #3 ·
AKBeemer said:
If by cigarette lighter you mean the auxiliary port, then yes you can charge there. In fact, the BMW charger uses the port. My only concern is that your charger may overload the auxiliary circuit and the bike's computer shuts it down. I do not think that will happen but it could I suppose. You'll need to have the ignition on when you first start charging. That allows the computer to sense the charger and keep the circuit functional on once you turn the ignition off.
Click to expand...
OK, Thank you sir. But what about my second weird question :) can I combine my charger with a portable gas Generator and use the AC from Generator to actually charge the battery on the bike? as long as i wait till the voltage stabilizes?? any ideas? Please advise. Thanks in advance.
 
#4 ·
As long as the gas generator provides a stable output which your charger can use (230V @ 50 Hz?), this will be no problem. Your charger will take care of providing the right voltage and amps to the bike. Have you used the gas generator for other AC devices? Any problems?
 
Discussion starter · #6 ·
b
FrankV said:
As long as the gas generator provides a stable output which your charger can use (230V @ 50 Hz?), this will be no problem. Your charger will take care of providing the right voltage and amps to the bike. Have you used the gas generator for other AC devices? Any problems?
Click to expand...
Thanks for all the info. Today finally i tested the setup and to my surprise, it all worked out pretty flawless. Not sure if my gas generator has inverter. But i have read the manual for Battery Charger "Decaweld SM-1236" and i may be wrong but i think the charger has inverter. Anyway, i bought the generator recently, today was the first time i fired it up, took some time though, but once it got going, i let it stabilize for about 5 mins, then connected the grounding cables and all that and plugged in the charger. My charger has 3 modes: Mode 1) 0.8 amps-14.4 Volts, Mode 2) 3.6 amps-14.4 Volts and Mode 3) 3.6 amps, 14.7 Volts
Mode 1 is pretty much for motorcycles with battery Ah ratings ranging from 1 to 35 amps. it charges the battery at a 1 amp rate and charges slowly. Modes 2 and 3 are for larger cars i think. I plugged in the charger, set the program to Mode 1 and let it charge the battery through Auxilary (Cigarette lighter) port. Note that the original connection points on this charger were conventional red and black clamps for connection at battery terminals. i modified it and wired the cables directly to the male cigarette lighter adaptor (auxilary port) on F800GS. direct cable connection, no loose points.

So anyways, i turned the ignition on briefly (for the bike's computer to recognize that charging was in progress and not shut off the aux port) and then turned the ignition off and allowed the charging to continue.

What i found interesting was that at the beginning the "Battery Full/OK" light would turn on occasionally and charging would continue. But as the charging progressed, the "OK" light would toggle more and more frequently and stay on longer and longer each time. Note that it is not a trickle charger by any means, but it has the capability to sort of switch to trickle charging mode and i think that was exactly what was happening as the battery got fully charged. And eventually it got to a point where it would stay in charging mode only briefly and spend more time in "Battery OK" mode. if you know what i mean. so i think my charger is a pretty good charger overall and once its done its job it just goes into trickle mode.

When i started charging today, the battery volt was barely at 6-7 volts. it got fully charged at a rate of 1 amp within 3 hours. costed me 4 dollars of gasoline. :)
I think the lower the amp at which it is charged at, the longer the battery keeps the charge, correct me if i'm wrong.

Many thanks in advance.
looking forward to hearing from you soon.
 
Discussion starter · #7 ·
AKBeemer said:
I would not risk it unless your generator is also an inverter. Otherwise there may be a energy spike that may or may not make it to your ZFE computer.
Click to expand...
Thanks for all the info. Today finally i tested the setup and to my surprise, it all worked out pretty flawless. Not sure if my gas generator has inverter. But i have read the manual for Battery Charger "Decaweld SM-1236" and i may be wrong but i think the charger has inverter. Anyway, i bought the generator recently, today was the first time i fired it up, took some time though, but once it got going, i let it stabilize for about 5 mins, then connected the grounding cables and all that and plugged in the charger. My charger has 3 modes: Mode 1) 0.8 amps-14.4 Volts, Mode 2) 3.6 amps-14.4 Volts and Mode 3) 3.6 amps, 14.7 Volts
Mode 1 is pretty much for motorcycles with battery Ah ratings ranging from 1 to 35 amps. it charges the battery at a 1 amp rate and charges slowly. Modes 2 and 3 are for larger cars i think. I plugged in the charger, set the program to Mode 1 and let it charge the battery through Auxilary (Cigarette lighter) port. Note that the original connection points on this charger were conventional red and black clamps for connection at battery terminals. i modified it and wired the cables directly to the male cigarette lighter adaptor (auxilary port) on F800GS. direct cable connection, no loose points.

So anyways, i turned the ignition on briefly (for the bike's computer to recognize that charging was in progress and not shut off the aux port) and then turned the ignition off and allowed the charging to continue.

What i found interesting was that at the beginning the "Battery Full/OK" light would turn on occasionally and charging would continue. But as the charging progressed, the "OK" light would toggle more and more frequently and stay on longer and longer each time. Note that it is not a trickle charger by any means, but it has the capability to sort of switch to trickle charging mode and i think that was exactly what was happening as the battery got fully charged. And eventually it got to a point where it would stay in charging mode only briefly and spend more time in "Battery OK" mode. if you know what i mean. so i think my charger is a pretty good charger overall and once its done its job it just goes into trickle mode.

When i started charging today, the battery volt was barely at 6-7 volts. it got fully charged at a rate of 1 amp within 3 hours. costed me 4 dollars of gasoline.
I think the lower the amp at which it is charged at, the longer the battery keeps the charge, correct me if i'm wrong.

Many thanks in advance.
looking forward to hearing from you soon.
 
#8 ·
Anar said:
When i started charging today, the battery volt was barely at 6-7 volts. it got fully charged at a rate of 1 amp within 3 hours. costed me 4 dollars of gasoline.
Click to expand...
Two remarks:
A voltage of 6 -7 V for the battery, indicates that the battery was completely empty... Standard lead-acid batteries don't like to be fully discharged. If the happens again, you may need to replace it.
Recharging costs of 4 dollars of gasoline? That's incredibly expensive! Plugging into the mains would have cost you only a few cents....
 
Discussion starter · #9 ·
FrankV said:
Two remarks:
A voltage of 6 -7 V for the battery, indicates that the battery was completely empty... Standard lead-acid batteries don't like to be fully discharged. If the happens again, you may need to replace it.
Recharging costs of 4 dollars of gasoline? That's incredibly expensive! Plugging into the mains would have cost you only a few cents....
Click to expand...
You are right sir. But unfortunately i don't have mains where the bike is sitting at in garage. so i had to come up with this setup to charge the battery over winter or weeks of bad weather. And i knew this would be expensive. my priority is to avoid having to take out the cover etc to get to battery to take it out, replace it etc. so from now on i will keep it charged. one question though, when i first got this battery brand new, it measured 12,5 volts. i started riding the bike immediately. should i have charged it first instead? please advise. so that i will know next time. Thanks.
 
#10 ·
I have always been told that a new battery should be charged for at least 24 hours before it is placed in use. That is something that I always do with all of my new lead-acid (AGM, Gel or flooded) batteries. I have a new AGM battery sitting on my shelf right now that I keep charged for installation this summer and it is showing 13.2 volts.
 
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