2004 v11 cafe sport battery charging

[gstallons]

That is d**n good advice.

[Lucky Phil]

20 minutes ago, docc said:

Well said.

Brought to mind a couple things. First, that Odyssey declares the PC545, common to our V11, should be > charged < (not trickled or tendered or floated, but > charged<) when it drops to 85% (12.65v).  Any lower and our charging system is excessively taxed, IMO.

Also, regarding the sustained electronic activity in modern cars, I learned that keeping the "fob" too close (or inside) the vehicle will not allow the "sleep" mode and will drain the battery.  The "fob"/ "access key" has to be separated from the vehicle a proper distance to allow the systems to go into "sleep" mode.

All true docc. I shouldn't keep the Guzzi on a battery tender I know but I only switch it on every few days and when it indicates it's charged I turn it off. I don't trust trickle charges 100% as I've seen them fail and cook batteries. I'm noticing lately it turns on the green light a lot faster so the battery capacity has probably been affected.

The other thing with BMW's is if you don't lock them in the garage then the car doesn't go into sleep mode either. 

Phil

[audiomick]

1 hour ago, docc said:

... keeping the "fob" too close (or inside) the vehicle will not allow the "sleep" mode and will drain the battery. ...

I had to do with that in July/August when we were in Australia. We had a camper van that was a fitted out Mercedes Benz Sprinter. I had no ignition lock, just a key that had to be in the driver's cabin. So what do you do when you park the thing?

The rental company advised really getting out on the driver's side with the key, locking up, and coming back in through the side door. It seems they had had customers that left the "key" in the drivers cabin, and had a flat battery when they tried to start the vehicle to move on.

In our case, it turned out that it was sufficient to take the "key" into the back part of the vehicle and leave it in a cupboard towards the rear. But on one evening, the dashboard kept waking up, even though the key was right up the back of the vehicle.

Technology the world doesn't need, if you ask me.