Trickle-charging a K75

[Tector]

I have an OptiMate 3+ model trickle charger that seems to work fine on all the bikes my wife and I have, except my 1994 K75.  It even works when I connect it (with a Powerlet connector) to the power output jack on my 2000 BMW R1200C (the jack you'd use for electrically-heated clothing).  But using the same connector for either of the power output jacks on my K75, it doesn't seem to work.  The light that indicates that it's connected comes on, but the lights that indicate charging is occurring never come on.  Anyone have any ideas what's going on here?  And should I just connect another standard charging lead to the battery, in order to be able to connect it to my trickle charger?

[K75RT Keith]

Have you checked the fuse?

[Tom05301]

Ditto the above. Blew the fuse on my PowerLet outlet, so I know what it's like.

[Tector]

Thanks for the suggestion of checking the fuse.  I don't know why I didn't think of that, since this IS an electrical problem, after all.

Only today did I get to check the fuse, and now I'm confused (no pun intended).  My owner's manual says that fuse #4 should be the fuse for the power outlets, and it should be a 15 amp fuse.  But fuse #4 in my bike is a 7.5 amp fuse.  And NONE of the fuses in the bike is blown.  The cover over the fuse box has a label for the function of each fuse, but the labels are all in German:  the label for fuse #4 says, "Stockdoso", except it doesn't have 3 "o's".  The third character in the word, and the last character, each look like an "o" with a horizontal bar through it (the seventh character in the word is just a plain "o").

To compound my confusion, there's reason to question my owner's manual.  Although it is supposedly the one that originally came with the bike (and I believe that), it shows things in it that my bike does not have.  For instance, it shows a tool box under the seat, but my bike doesn't have one, and doesn't have room for one (I know, because I bought a used one off Fleabay and it didn't fit; fortunately the seller bought it back from me).  And it shows different side covers than my bike has.  The owner's manual doesn't identify what year (or years) of bikes that it covers, it just says it's for the K75, K75S, and K75RT.  Mine's a K75, 1994.

So, should I substitute a 15 amp fuse for the 7.5 amp fuse in position #4?  (I'm no electrician, so I am leery of replacing a fuse with one of higher amperage unless I know what I'm doing, and I admit that I don't know what I'm doing.)  And if the 7.5 amp fuse wasn't blown in the first place, would that make any difference?  Sheesh.

[frankenduck]

#4 is the fuse for the power outlet(s.) (Some bikes have more than 1.)  It should be a 15A fuse.

Sounds like your bike has a low seat installed: http://www.motobrick.com/index.php/topic,2829.0.html

[frankenduck]

Also, remove the three screws that hold the plastic coil cover on and make sure the connector is plugged into the back of the Powerlet socket.  It's a T connector with brown and red wires.

[Tector]

Thanks to Keith, Tom, and Frankenduck.  The problem is solved.

Yesterday (11/18) I finally had a chance to address the problem.  I changed the (wrong) 7.5 amp fuse to the (correct) 15 amp fuse, but that made no difference.  Then I pulled the coil cover and found that the connector was, in fact, plugged into the back of the socket.  But then I pulled the connector off, and put it back on (because that's the kind of guy I am).  Lo and behold, that took care of it.  And I'm glad-- it'll be a lot easier now to keep the battery charged periodically this winter (easier than pulling the battery, or just trying to get direct access to the terminals on the battery itself).  And now I know that with the return of warmer weather next spring, I'll have to polish the contacts at both power outlets with steel wool, to keep this particular problem from repeating.

Frankenduck, I read your "profile" (or whatever it's called) on this site.  I'm sure a lot of others would agree, but I'm glad to have people like you (and the others on this site with more experience than I) to give me advice when I need it.  Thanks.