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Main Area => General GS500 Discussion => Topic started by: dogllama on September 11, 2006, 02:24:52 PM

Title: Left the lights on / battery dead / Options??
Post by: dogllama on September 11, 2006, 02:24:52 PM
Hey everybody,

So I made the genius move of leaving the lights on my bike and now my battery is dead.

How do I bring it back to life? Can I jump it from a car? Do I try to bump start it?

I'd appreciate any help on this.

Thanks,

~D~
Title: Re: Left the lights on / battery dead / Options??
Post by: Dublinman on September 11, 2006, 02:30:16 PM
push start would be your best bet. Turn the bike on, put bike in second gear, pull clutch in.
Push the bike up to a good speed and let out the clutch slowly. Hopefully the bike will kick into life.
Best of luck.
Title: Re: Left the lights on / battery dead / Options??
Post by: RVertigo on September 11, 2006, 02:35:22 PM
You don't want to jump it from a car (although, I have heard of it being done)...  Car batteries are higher amps and whatnot...  Could screw it up.


You can try to bump-start it...  Or you can pick up a motorcycle battery charger at the auto parts store.  (Just make sure it's not for cars).
Title: Re: Left the lights on / battery dead / Options??
Post by: dogllama on September 11, 2006, 03:21:20 PM
Thanks! I got it going with a bump start. Do I have to get a new battery now, or will my current battery just charge up again eventually?
Title: Re: Left the lights on / battery dead / Options??
Post by: starwalt on September 11, 2006, 03:28:17 PM
Quote from: RVertigo on September 11, 2006, 02:35:22 PM
You don't want to jump it from a car (although, I have heard of it being done)...  Car batteries are higher amps and whatnot...  Could screw it up.

You can jump from a car. It is best not to have the car engine running when doing this though. The current draw of the dead GS battery and the GS starter is pretty puny compared the start draw of an auto engine. My friend RVert is probably thinking about having the engine of the car revved up while trying to start the GS. Probably not a good thing to try, though DC is DC regardless.


QuoteYou can try to bump-start it...  Or you can pick up a motorcycle battery charger at the auto parts store.  (Just make sure it's not for cars).

Amen brother! Any charger that puts out more than about 1.5 A will boil the GS battery. I've run a 2A charger for a couple of hours, but monitored it to make sure the sucker didn't go Chernobyl on me.   :o

After getting it started, run it around a while to feed the battery. How long? Beats me.
You have to undo the chemical change you made while discharging. Get a specific gravity gadget (you know those batter testers with the floating things in it) to be certain of a proper charge.