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Aux power socket, switched or not?

Badgerdog

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Joined
Mar 27, 2022
Member Number
986
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19
Location
Virginia, USA
So I plugged a USB adapter with a volt meter display into the aux power port that’s just below the seat on an 07 GS, and the display stayed dark as expected having previously plugged a heated jacket in there as a test and it didn’t warm up till the bike was switched on, so, switched connector, right? So I turn the key to on and the display lights up 13.7 or so. But then.....I turn the key to off and the display stays lit. I waited a few minutes hoping it would time out, but it never did. Is this some sort of CanBus sorcery? I wanted to use that port to charge up a jump start/power pak battery while I ride, but don’t want it to run the bike battery down should I forget to unplug it at a lunch stop or such.

Anyone been there before?

TIA
 
That's odd. Did you wire the auxiliary socket? If it was done by someone else, they may have wired it directly to the battery using a relay. Or, they may have used a fuse box that uses a relay. If so, I'd suspect the relay is bad. Some of these fuse boxes use an internal relay (like the PDM60) and there is no fixing those. By the way, if that socket was powered through Canbus, it wouldn't power up your heated jacket.

Mike
 
I had the little plug-in voltmeter/USB thingy in the power port on my '19 GSA and when for service, the dealership tech took it out; told me that the circuit would not shut down with that thing plugged in. Only stick it in if I needed it....
 
Thanks for the info guys. Mike, FWIW, the power outlet I’m referring to is the built in one that’s installed at the factory. I’m not fluent in Beemerese, so if it’s not CanBus controlled, is there a fuse somewhere? Thanks Jim, I suspected something like this, not sure if it’s a flaw or a feature, can’t imagine a scenario where you’d want the outlet to stay live after the bike is off. A recipe for a dead battery?
Judge, looks like I’ll have to get in the habit of unplugging it anytime I’m using it and will have the bike off for more than a few minutes. Probably a good thing I carry jumper cables.
 
The receptacle is electronically fused at 5 amps. It resets itself upon ignition cycle.
It will eventually turn off depending on load.
With no loads attached it will shut off under 2 minutes.
With approx 1.3 amps or more of load it will take up to 15 min to shut down.
I like this feature as my GPS (same circuit plug by the oil cooler) stays on for 15 minutes.
I added a resistance load to get the load to 1.3 amps to allow for this.
 
Ugh why are the receptacles apparently always wired differently than you need/want them... My F150 had an always-on receptacle on the dash that I needed so badly to be on the ignition I dug into the dash to hook up an aux relay- been great since. But hey, that annoyance is nothing compared to the in-dash systems that send bluetooth play to everything on your phone whenever it hooks up... sure wish there was a "do nothing on bluetooth connect" option.
 
The receptacle is electronically fused at 5 amps. It resets itself upon ignition cycle.
It will eventually turn off depending on load.
With no loads attached it will shut off under 2 minutes.
With approx 1.3 amps or more of load it will take up to 15 min to shut down.
I like this feature as my GPS (same circuit plug by the oil cooler) stays on for 15 minutes.
I added a resistance load to get the load to 1.3 amps to allow for this.
Thanks for the details. I’ll have to run some tests at some point and see how long it stays on while using it to charge my jump start battery (which I use to charge/run some devices overnight while camping) and more importantly, what state of charge it leaves the bike battery in afterwards.
 
not sure if it’s a flaw or a feature, can’t imagine a scenario where you’d want the outlet to stay live after the bike is off. A recipe for a dead battery?
Someone can correct me if I'm wrong but, I believe that's where you plug in the BMW branded battery charger. It stays live to charge the battery.
 
Someone can correct me if I'm wrong but, I believe that's where you plug in the BMW branded battery charger. It stays live to charge the battery.
I had thought it went off with CAN-Bus?

I also thought with the BMW charger the CAN-Bus senses the charger and will allow a charge? I know the Optimate Dual charger comes with a SAE to socket connector and the charger gets set to CAN-Bus. Or at least that is what the literature reads. I have the older Optimate Dual and it does not have those features.

I don't use the socket at all anyway so I have no clue, but I am very curios now.
 
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