The will to keep it

[ManitoulinLad]

Well the boys were up on the island on the weekend. The tinman905 checked out my dead in the water bike. It was as we thought - got a power surge from an electrical storm (get those alot out here) it fried my battey tender, battery & cooked the black electronics box under the seat (ignition box) The bike never started (no spark) since that night. The tinman took the box apart & the board as cooked. I have one coming from Andreas soon as the mail strike up here gets done (as of tommorow). Just thought I'd let everyone know about the possibilty of this when hooked up to the battery tender. Just like a T.V. getting fried in your home from electrical storm. Well no more tender hook up till winter & battery will be disconnected from the bike for that. Lesson learned. Oh, & believe it or not I was about to get another job on the wknds to pay for a brand new M109R & sell the XS1100. The tinman convinced me otherwise. This whole deal was a freak of nature - not the bikes fault. So thank you XS people & also Chopper Dave hehe for the needed kick in the head to get me back on track with 'my' bike I made for myself & still having "the will to keep it" - Dan

[fredintoon]

- got a power surge from an electrical storm (get those alot out here) it fried my battery tender, battery & cooked the black electronics box under the seat (ignition box) - Dan

Hi Dan,
good that you got the problem diagnosed and hopefully the posties don't take out their righteous anger on your parcel.
BTW, I have never had good luck over-wintering a bike battery. I used to have a 14 point program to keep the battery alive until next spring but it never worked.
I still use step 1) Remove from bike
but steps 2) through 14) have been replaced by Toss it and buy a new one next spring.

[ManitoulinLad]

right on Fred

Yeah for $60.00 a year for a new one in the spring thats what I'm gonna do & no more worries or b.s. electrical nightmares - Dan

[DAVINCI]

never heard of such a thing, especially with the key off. How does the TCI, or anything for that matter get a surge if it's not even in the circuit?

[planedick]

Duh

Have you ever seen lightening? If you have you know it can jump long distances and a little 1/8" gap in a switch ain't gonna slow it down much.

[skipt]

That had to be a major downer. Doing something good and it still goes bad.
Hope the repairs go well.

Fred.. Thats funny.

[DAVINCI]

Duh

Have you ever seen lightening? If you have you know it can jump long distances and a little 1/8" gap in a switch ain't gonna slow it down much.

He didn't say the bike suffered a lightning STRIKE, he said it was a power surge. And, if nothing else in the same house/power system got fried, I was curious as to how this happened.

[slow mo]

hi dan

i hope all goes well with your mew TCI! let us know how things work out ,, if i can do anything just call ,,thanks again for the weekend ,,and ride safe ,,slow mo!

[crazy steve]

He didn't say the bike suffered a lightning STRIKE, he said it was a power surge. And, if nothing else in the same house/power system got fried, I was curious as to how this happened.

It really depends on ground paths, the various resistances through them, and the connected equipment; some items will pass it through easier than others. I had some friends that had a drunk hit the power pole in front of their house and drop the 7.2 KV line across their incoming service cables. Blew the meter clean off the house (never even found any of it!), blew/burned up the meter base and panel, and killed some but not all of their appliances. The TV lived through it, but not the VCR. Killed the oven controls, but not the microwave. It was pretty strange...

Also made some table lamps go off like roman candles... left scorch marks on the ceiling...

[natemoen]

It really depends on ground paths, the various resistances through them, and the connected equipment; some items will pass it through easier than others. I had some friends that had a drunk hit the power pole in front of their house and drop the 7.2 KV line across their incoming service cables. Blew the meter clean off the house (never even found any of it!), blew/burned up the meter base and panel, and killed some but not all of their appliances. The TV lived through it, but not the VCR. Killed the oven controls, but not the microwave. It was pretty strange...

Also made some table lamps go off like roman candles... left scorch marks on the ceiling...

That would be awesome to watch!

[tom clisham]

You're sicker than I thought, Nate!

[natemoen]

You're sicker than I thought, Nate!

Tell me you wouldn't pull up a chair and watch that!

[b.walker5]

It really depends on ground paths, the various resistances through them, and the connected equipment; some items will pass it through easier than others. I had some friends that had a drunk hit the power pole in front of their house and drop the 7.2 KV line across their incoming service cables. Blew the meter clean off the house (never even found any of it!), blew/burned up the meter base and panel, and killed some but not all of their appliances. The TV lived through it, but not the VCR. Killed the oven controls, but not the microwave. It was pretty strange...

Also made some table lamps go off like roman candles... left scorch marks on the ceiling...

Many, many years ago when I was an apprentice, the boss and I were called to a farm house to repair some 'damaged' wiring after a lightning strike. This was an old wooden farm cottage built sometime before WW1 and still had most of the old fittings, including the original wall mounted telephone with the mouthpiece on a stalk and the earpiece on a cable held in ones hand. It was originally a wind up type but at some stage it had been converted to a dial when pulse dialling came along. The woman of the house was on the phone at the time and the strike was a direct hit onto the incoming bare phone line. Hands up those who can imagine what was next. The poor woman was left standing in the hallway holding the hand piece and short length of wire while the substantial phone case was blown off the wall and embedded in the opposite wall. Somewhere I have a photo of it and i'll try to dig it up and post, but all that was left was a big black hole in the wall where the phone used to be and a large chunk of broken bakelite and wood on the other side. All the phone line was fried but nothing else in the house was touched. I heard after that it was some weeks before the lady plucked up the courage to use a phone again. I wonder why....

[ManitoulinLad]

got the CDI

Good news in the end. Got the CDI on Tues & pluged it in Tues night & the bike started up right away. Took it to work today. So thats what it was. NO more battery tenders for me. Hey MO I'm back in saddle man, what a rush - Dan

[slow mo]

. Hey MO I'm back in saddle man, what a rush - Dan[/QUOTE] that,s fantastic Dan glad to hear all is well with you ,,ride safe ,,slow mo!