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Ignition/Battery?
I know that battery/ignition problems have made appearances here many times, and I have read all the threads I could find, but I've not hit on a solution.
I replaced the battery on my T'Bird after the original failed and left me stranded last autumn. The replacement, an 'MF Super' sealed maintenance free, worked fine thereafter, but I have had the bike laid up since November. I removed the battery at that time and in the intervening months put it on a bike specific trickle charger about once a month.
Put the battery back in today and turned the ignition. No 'click', no idiot lights, no horn etc. Tested with a multimeter - 13.75v no load, dropping to 3.5v once I turned the ignition key (hadn't pressed starter button). Took it off and hooked it up to a bigger charger with a built-in charge indicator - tells me the battery is fully charged (its an 11 amp charger so I don't use it to actually charge the bike battery).
Put it back on the bike, turned ignition key, got weak neutral and oil lights, pressed starter, nothing. Tested again with multimeter, same story as above - full voltage showing until turn of key (but this time, as first time, no idiot lights).
The terminals on the bike battery cables are pristine, so the connections should be fine. I have checked the connections from the ignition switch and also the fuses - they look fine, too. I put the battery back on the trickle charger, but notice that I can hear it gently gurgling away within a few minutes (which I have always taken to be a sure sign that a battery is or is getting close to fully charged).
So what do you think - is the battery duff, is it possible that it is undercharged notwithstanding the reading off my main charger, or is it likely the problem lies elsewhere?
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