K3 stopped working after BMW GS 1250 Headlight update?

[Hans]

Hi Michael,

Is the fuse still intact?
Is the K3 receiving power on the yellow wire? If it remains powerless, the K3 will no longer switch on automatically.
If you disconnect the power module from the K3 and connect a USB power bank (with sufficient power) via the USB port of the K3, will the K3 start up?

In general, the charging voltage for a motorcycle is around 13.8V.
The K3 can be switched on at voltages lower than 12.5V (I don’t know what the lower limit is). Only at voltages lower than 12.5V will the parking mode not work. The blue LED of the power module will not light up either.

A too low battery voltage can have several causes, including:
– too much power consumer (new headlight?)
– a bad dynamo
– a bad voltage regulator
– a defective battery
– etc.

Can you measure the battery voltage when the battery is connected to the motorcycle and the engine is running? Measuring your battery without a load gives an incorrect indication of your battery status. Even a bad battery can still measure a high voltage. But if a load is connected, it will certainly drop immediately. So measuring with a load gives a better measurement result.

[mfranken]

Hi Hans,

The camera works when powered directly. The camera is powered via HEx EZcan, so I connected my laptop to read it out. That seemed OK too, the voltage on the bus indicated 12.5+ V.

However the LED on the powersupply of the camera remained solid blue. No idea why, but after removing and adding back the settings for the camera accessory power in EZcan the LED started blinking blue.

And everything works again! Thanks for your help! Much appreciated! Groet, Michael

[Hans]

Hi Michaël,

The fact that the LED remains blue indicates that the battery voltage is sufficient to use the parking mode. If the battery voltage is too low, the parking mode will automatically be switched off to ensure that the battery is not drained. The blue LED will then not light up.
If the blue LED flashes, the battery voltage is just at the tipping point of whether or not parking mode is in use.

Groet uit Soesterberg

[Marc]

Hi Michael,

I had the exact same issue with my K3 and EZcan. It all started after I disconnected the battery for a while for another reason. After that, EZcan stoppped signaling the status of the ignition on the third wire, so the K3 did not start.

My solution was the same as yours. I resetted the EZcan and re-created the settings and everything was fine.

Some words about the battery voltage at your GS.

The battery of the GS is relatively small, which always causes the voltage to drop when the ignition is on but the engine not running. That’s because the GS takes around 5A from the battery with ignition on. So even with a fully charged battery the voltage will drop to 2.6V-2.4V.

[mfranken]

Hi Hans and Marc,

Besides resetting the EZCan accessory I also disabled “Parking mode” on the app. Just because the camera wasn’t working anyway. Maybe the enabled parking mode was the root of the problem?

[Hans]

Hi Michaël,
My experience with parking mode is that it draws such a low current that it does not immediately discharge your battery. I have a 14Ah battery in my motorcycle. No problem if it stands still for a few weeks with a K3, a K5 and an alarm system connected.

I suspect that there is another problem with your voltage circuit than that the parking mode of your K3 was the cause.
If in doubt, try it yourself with a multimeter or visit your dealer to see if they can determine the cause of your low battery voltage.

• This reply was modified 2 weeks, 3 days ago by  Hans.