UGH will it ever give up?!

[sparkfly88]

Changed out my handlebars, changed out the fusebox, changed front tire, rebuilt front forks, cleaned front and rear brake systems, installed HID headlight...


Now, I turn the key, the instrument panel lights up....but pushing my start button does NOTHING

[Tat2demon]

Did you try jumping the solenoid?

[sparkfly88]

While I was researching no-start conditions, I had a charger on the battery.
I went out to jump the solenoid, I figured I'd try the starter button again.


The battery was just dead

[Schming]

JAT Are you sure the emergency kill switch is on ?

Whoops!!! A tad late.

Glad ya figured it out.

[bikerphil]

Dead battery will do it every time.

[sparkfly88]

I'm used to autos, where it will at least go "click click click"


This bike just, sits there...no noises, nothing

[CaptonZap]

I'm used to autos, where it will at least go "click click click"


This bike just, sits there...no noises, nothing

Thde next question you should ask is, "How long has it been sitting?", and if not longer than a month or six weeks, you have a bad battery or some parasitic drain. Might want to check that. Disconnect the battery ground wire, and see if the charge stays up for a few days. If so, start looking for what ever it is that is draining the battery.
If, on the other hand, it has been a year since you last had it running or put a charger on it, you deserve all the angst that it causes you.

CZ

[WMarshy]

Check the fluid level in your cells, they evaporate over time and if they get low the battery wont hold a charge. You need to refill with distilled water NOT tap water.

[sparkfly88]

The battery is from 09' and who knows how long the PO let it sit before me.


it's on the to buy list, just havent gotten to it yet

[fredintoon]

The battery is from 09' and who knows how long the PO let it sit before me.
it's on the to buy list, just havent gotten to it yet

Hi sparkfly,
while you are saving up for the replacement battery you can troubleshoot by running jumper cables to your car battery. That works better than hooking a charger to your dead battery because the charger's ~14V output won't let you see if the bike is charging or not while a battery stays at 12V until it sees a charge. Don't even need a multi-meter; point the headlight at a wall and rev the motor, if the light gets brighter, it's charging.

[sparkfly88]

I take the charger off when I go to start it.

I dont like to backfeed the charger using the bikes alternator.

[sparkfly88]

Whats a good battery for these guys?

I get about 5 starts on the battery before its dead.

[DGXSER]

Opinions will vary of course. I buy mine at Meijer, I think they use Everstart brand. Runs about $60 and I get about 3-4 years out of one.

[CaptonZap]

Last one I got at WalMart. The secret to long battery life is maintanence. There are some on this site that poo-poo the use of battery maintainers, but a quality one will do a good job of keeping your battery going. One thing that will kill your battery is letting it's voltage drop below 12.5 volts. That usually happens when it sits without being used.
Another way is to subject it to over 14.5 volts for long periods during the charge cycle. That is usually caused by a bad regulator. It boils the water out of the cells.
The current crop of battery maintainers charge the battery up to 14 volts, (bulk charge), then drop back to 13.25V +/- for the float voltage, periodically shut off, and wait for a period of time, then check to see if the voltage dropped because of internal losses in the battery. They then repeat the cycle.
One I can recommend is http://batteryminders.com/store.php?...home&&app=bike
It has a 5 year warranty, and you just plug it in and don't forget to unplug it before you go riding.
I have used one to reclaim some marginal batteries. According to the factory engineer, the desulfator is on constantly.
Another one, which might appeal to our north of the border members , (embued with nationalistic fervor,) is a TecMate product called an Optimate 3+, marketed out of Canada. (As an added inducement, the packaging has a lot of orange on it )
It only calls for desulfation under certain conditions.
I have had one on two parallel batteries for about 9 months, so I don't know the long term performance yet, but from the looks of it, it is about the same as the Battery Minder. It will try to charge a battery with a voltage as low as 2V, while the Battery Minder won't work on anything below 10.5 V.
For the bean counters, the cost of a charger is about the cost of a battery, so if you double the life of a battery, you are even, and you still have the charger. So the next battery is almost like half price, plus you can use the charger on your cars, boats, ATV's, mobility scooters, inflatable playmates, etc, so the chances of prolonging the life of those batteries makes if look even more profitable.
I do not own stock in either of the companies, but I do use both of their products.

CZ

[sparkfly88]

We don't have any meijers down south I think.... Lol.

The closest thing my walmart has is for a 1980 v something 1100. Don't remember the specific it used.

Anyone have the battery cross reference written down?

And I don't think I'll be needing a battery tender, as I plan to ride this thing for a while when I'm rebuilding my jeeps engine.