Took a ride from Jax to daytona and back 200+ miles total. I let her sit for a couple of hours and went out to start her up and I heard a pop and the ignition sequence stopped. I thought it was simply a fuse and waited till the morning so I could easily pull and replace. All fuses are good to go and the battery was completely dead. I put a trickle charger on the battery and it started once but the engine management system light won't go out. The battery refuses to charge enough to start the bike. I even tried to jump it from my car and it ran till I removed the cables. Is this simply a new battery issue or the charging system. I've never gone a week without starting my bike, but I also have never used the charger being that I thought the bike was new enough and ridden enough for the battery to keep a good charge. I dont own a truck so it's a hassle getting the bike across town for the warranty service (hr trip).
Battery or Charging system?
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Voltage regulator is my guess.
Possibly battery as well. I'd replace both just for security's sake.
How long was it on the trickle charger? At 1 amp or less a couple of hours won't do it. At least over night, 8-10 hours.
Warning! Jumpstarting from your car is a very bad idea on a bike. This can destroy your voltage regulator and damage your battery.
(There is a safe method for doing it: Attach the positive cable from the car to the bike, but NOT the negative cable. Then turn on the key and hold down the starter button. Only THEN touch the negative cable to a good ground on the bike. Once the bike starts, immediately remove the negative cable.)
Possibly battery as well. I'd replace both just for security's sake.
How long was it on the trickle charger? At 1 amp or less a couple of hours won't do it. At least over night, 8-10 hours.
Warning! Jumpstarting from your car is a very bad idea on a bike. This can destroy your voltage regulator and damage your battery.
(There is a safe method for doing it: Attach the positive cable from the car to the bike, but NOT the negative cable. Then turn on the key and hold down the starter button. Only THEN touch the negative cable to a good ground on the bike. Once the bike starts, immediately remove the negative cable.)
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Huh?????
Respectfully, that's just nonsense. Volts is volts, regardless of the source.
Maybe good advice from back in the old days when bikes were 6V vs 12V car system but certainly not true today.
(edit - still general good advice to connect from a non-running car however but the fokelore regarding the impending 'doom' from the differences of a bike mag vs car alternator are greatly exaggerated; the regulator is still not going to be draining significantly higher current at alternator volts vs 'nominal' battery voltage)
As to original problem it sounds more like a charging problem - there's mixed infomation there that could suggest either, but it appears as though the bike may have been running entirely off battery power. A trickle charger won't recover a battery that already is almost fully discharged. The bike should continue to run if the 'jump' battery is disconnected, & since it doesn't, again suggests that the alternator power is not there.
It is a most likely coincidental that it continued to run until you completed your journey (which otherwise may have suggested the alternator was keeping it running) However the additional drain required when attempting to restart with lights & starter both demanding significant current draw was enough to take the battery finally below the threshold the electronics would allow.
Unfortunate timing but take it back to dealer after the holiday to investigate - my money's on the charging circuit.
[ This message was edited by: DEcosse on 2006-12-24 13:34 ]
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Actually that's not 100% true. Yes volts are volts, but the problem is amps. When you jump from a car you push way too many amps through the regulator. This tends to make the diodes in the regulator unhappy (read that "hot") The other problem is the battery on a motorcycle isn't capable of taking a quick high amp charge like a car battery. When you push 300-600 cold crank amps into the motorcycle battery it also gets "unhappy" and tends to break down.On 2006-12-24 13:18, DEcosse wrote:
Huh?????![]()
Respectfully, that's just nonsense. Volts is volts, regardless of the source.
Maybe good advice from back in the old days when bikes were 6V vs 12V car system but certainly not true today.
(edit - still general good advice to connect from a non-running car however but the fokelore regarding the impending 'doom' from the differences of a bike mag vs car alternator are greatly exaggerated; the regulator is still not going to be draining significantly higher current at alternator volts vs 'nominal' battery voltage)
I advise not doing it. I've seen the results.
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You can only "push" as many amps as the corresponding system demands - you cannot force current into a fixed load (at least in this situation), it demands whatever it requires. That current will be similar as whether drawn from its own fully charged battery, or a combination of both sources in parallel.
In the bike system the regulator will sink some additional current due to the slightly higher voltage, but this would not be not be so prohibitive as to cause problems and certainly no worse than anything the magneto can generate at higher rpm.
You are pushing nothing like 300-600 amps "through" your bike battery - just because the car system is capable of supplying that much power doesn't mean that is what is going to be supplied, only what is demanded. Also realtively little of the current supplied by the cage will actually go "through" the battery - only the charging current (the battery is obviously in parallel not series) ; the donor current will go predominantly directly to the load sources - the starter, the lights & the drain through the regulator - through the bikes power cables, it doesn't go into the battery & out again.
Again, it's generally reasonable good advice to not leave it connected for a prolonged period (so no major disagreement) & better if just battery, not alternator supplied power (i.e. car motor not running) but no panic to get it disconnected the very instant it's started.
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