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Battery drains after being jumped by car

  • Thread starter Thread starter LoopGaroo
  • Start date Start date
L

LoopGaroo

Guest
I'm a little embarrassed to even post this, but hey, y'all are pretty nice on this forum so I'll give it a shot.

Suppose I left my headlight on all day while at work and when I came out the battery was completely dead. As in Nothin. I called up with wife to the rescue, we hooked up the car battery (the car was off!) to my battery and went out to eat and let the sucker charge up for a good hour or two.

When we got back it still didn't quite start so i instructed her to turn the car and rev it up while I tried to start it. We eventually got the bike home - I charged the battery and went out of town for a week - and when I got back the battery was dead again. I thought it must have been the battery so I bought a new one. The bike rode fine for a day. Now it's dead again. The battery had drained overnight...

So I must have fried something during the jump. (I know...very stupid. But I had a plane to catch the next morning had to move the bike)

Should I just buy a new R/R and stator? I'd like to get back on the road as soon as possible.
What else could I have fried?
 
At a minimum you'll want to check out the regulator. I'd check you wiring loom for any burnt connections.

nic
 
Run the component diagnostics in the manual for the bike.
It could just be a battery that finally died ..................
 
Check the battery voltage with the bike off and then again with the running at idle and then at higher rpm (about 3k). The voltage should read higher as you go through that test order. A vehicle with a non-working charging system will function while running the battery down and next time you go to start it, it won't have the cajones to start.

Not saying this is definitively what you have but it is a possibility.
 
LoopGaroo said:
I'm a little embarrassed to even post this, but hey, y'all are pretty nice on this forum so I'll give it a shot.

Suppose I left my headlight on all day while at work and when I came out the battery was completely dead. As in Nothin. I called up with wife to the rescue, we hooked up the car battery (the car was off!) to my battery and went out to eat and let the sucker charge up for a good hour or two.

When we got back it still didn't quite start so i instructed her to turn the car and rev it up while I tried to start it. We eventually got the bike home - I charged the battery and went out of town for a week - and when I got back the battery was dead again. I thought it must have been the battery so I bought a new one. The bike rode fine for a day. Now it's dead again. The battery had drained overnight...

So I must have fried something during the jump. (I know...very stupid. But I had a plane to catch the next morning had to move the bike)

Should I just buy a new R/R and stator? I'd like to get back on the road as soon as possible.
What else could I have fried?
Click to expand...

It's hard for me to suppose, all the bikes I've seen the headlight is always on with the bike and always turns off with the bike, even the oldies that have the on/off switch turn off with the bike. You must have your bike jerry rigged.
 
I've caught a co-worker shut his bike off with the handlebar switch then walk away from the bike with the key still in run and lights on. It can happen.
 
It's very probable you've fried your RR and possibly your stator. That is a crap load of amps to be pushing through the bikes system.

There's a lesson here:
When you absolutely have no other option other than jump starting the bike from a car, NEVER have the car running.

It's very possible that your RR and or stator were toast before you jumped it, and the battery wasn't charging. But you should never jump a bike from a running car nonetheless. I'd check fuses too..
 
I would put more money on the R/R being faulty, rather than the stator.

Not sure why you might have thought that connecting the battery to a non-running car would charge it.
Just not enough difference to do any charging.

Should have just connected the jumper cables, started the bike and ridden it away.
shrug2.gif


.
 
From having worked in both a shop and parts store and having some schooling in automotive areas, the battery is probably dead, as in needs to be replaced. lead acid batteries don't like being fully discharged and are usually never the same afterward. Not saying the other stuff is good, but it hasn't been mentioned much.
 
Hi,

You'll just have to start with a known good battery and test everything as per established procedures. Don't simply throw parts at it, unless you have the budget just to clean everything up and replace the battery, r/r, and stator all at once.

Some find the Stator Papers overly complicated. You'll find testing and replacement guides for the stator and r/r on my website. Be sure to read the supporting information in the electrical section too. Keep us informed.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
 
Thanks.

I was a little confused by the stator papers, but I managed to test everything and found that the stator was bad. I decided to clean all the connections and replace the r/r and stator at the same time; that way I'm totally covered. I got both products from Electrosport. Installation wasn't too hard with the assistance of the guides on BikeCliff's website. Thanks Again!

It's been really, really, nice to have a reliable bike the past few weeks. It starts much easier and the battery is charging well.

I found out yesterday that you can wire the r/r directly to the battery (with an in line fuse) to bypass the wiring loom. I'll take care of that job this weekend.
 
LoopGaroo said:
I found out yesterday that you can wire the r/r directly to the battery (with an in line fuse) to bypass the wiring loom. I'll take care of that job this weekend.
Click to expand...

Definitely do that. I always wire the RR directly to battery.
 
LoopGaroo said:
Thanks.

I was a little confused by the stator papers, but I managed to test everything and found that the stator was bad. I decided to clean all the connections and replace the r/r and stator at the same time; that way I'm totally covered. I got both products from Electrosport. Installation wasn't too hard with the assistance of the guides on BikeCliff's website. Thanks Again!

It's been really, really, nice to have a reliable bike the past few weeks. It starts much easier and the battery is charging well.

I found out yesterday that you can wire the r/r directly to the battery (with an in line fuse) to bypass the wiring loom. I'll take care of that job this weekend.
Click to expand...


As Earl has said, DEFINITELY do that, but also clean up the grounding connection, or even add a second cable from negative terminal to another point on the bike to ensure constant grounding because failure, or intermittent failure, will lead to damage of the RR and/or stator.
I use automotive 8AWG cable for that.
 
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