Bike won't start, but strong headlight?

[yeagermeister]

After about 4 cold rainy days of not riding, I went out back, uncovered my bike and she won't start.  She makes a good attempt but just doesn't quite get going enough to sustain, and then the starter just clicks weaker and weaker.

BUT, my lights (headlight/highbeam, brakes, etc.) work good and strong.  Does this rule out a discharged/dead battery?  

I did a search and read up on batteries, battery tenders, and all that.  Hopefully I can just go buy one or the other and be fine.

thnx

[Dom]

The headlight will go on and look strong even if the battery is low.  Sounds like you need a good charge.  Try bump starting the bike.

[yeagermeister]

No hills around here.  Guess I'm off to Kragen to look for a Tender...

[mrblink]

How old is your battery?  Mine started doing that a long time ago, I replaced the battery, and it was fine after that.  A bike shop will usually charge your battery for free, and they can tell if it is toast or not.

[JetSwing]

next time, if you know the weather is going to be bad (and/or cold) and you know you're not going to ride it for few days, just take the battery out and store it inside.

[dgyver]

Check the battery cables for corrosion at all of their connections.

[Fint]

Mine was doing the exact same thing. Headlight, taillight, horn all worked fine. Motor would half turn-over, then click-click-click. Turn out the battery had about 10% liquid in it, when it supposed to have 90%. Filled it with distilled water, threw a charger on it, all it good now.

[Dom]

You can bump start it on flat land...push it about 50'-75' and bump it up into 2nd to start it.  I do it all the time and I even have a 15t front sprocket... it's easier with a stocker.   It might take you a couple of tries to get it started and if you try to bump it and the rear wheel skids pull in the clutch so you don't highside if your on wet pavement...  You might no be going fast enough to highside but I didnt want to rule it out.

[yeagermeister]

I took the battery out and one of the cells was almost empty, and another was a little low, so i topped them off with distilled water.

The only battery tenders Kragen had were a 1 Amp manual one, and a 1.5 Amp automatic one.  I got the 1 Amp, after reading that 1.5-2 amps is too much for our battery.

The Clymer's doesn't say how to check the battery's charge with an Ammeter, just how to measure it with a Hydrometer, which i don't have.

Can I check my battery's charge and charge it correctly with what I have, or do I need to go buy a Hydrometer?

thnx

[JetSwing]

hydrometer is used to measure specific gravity, which measures the electrolyte's density compared with that of water. water has specific gravity of 1.000 and fully charged battery electrolyte is about 26% havier at 1.260.

to check the battery voltage using a multimeter or voltimeter, set the multimeter to the 0 to 20 volts dc range. then connect its probes across the battery terminals. a fully charged battery should produce between 12.3 and 12.6 volts.

[yeagermeister]

... a fully charged battery should produce between 12.3 and 12.6 volts.

I got 11.88

It's hooked up to a charger now (1.5 Amp).  Hope the battery is re-chargeable/not dead.

[yeagermeister]

So, I let my battery charge for a few hours and the charger's red light comes on, signalling that it's fully charged.  When I test it with my Ammeter it registers at 12.6 volts, which from what I understand means it's charged.

But, I tested the battery a few minutes later and it was down to 12.44.  I hooked it back up to my 1.5 Amp trickle charger and I guess I'll leave it overnight and see how it is tomorrow.

Anyone have any idea what's going on with my battery?

thnx

[mrblink]

Leave it OFF the charger, and check it in the morning.  If the charge doesn't hold, then the battery is poop.

[Fint]

"The experts say that the battery should remain at rest for at least 24 hours to get an accurate measurement, but in a pinch a couple of hours are good enough to make a reasonable guess."


From BatteryTender.com's FAQ http://batterytender.com/faqs.php/?osCsid=cdc710a7dd50258b08ba48322606e8b4#1