can i hook the gs up to a car to jump start it

The usual advice I hear is yes, but don't have the car's engine running.  I guess the car's charging system, plus battery, is too much.  That said, I've done it (before I knew!) and I was OK.  The battery by itself will just produce the kind of voltage you need, and the bike should only draw what it needs as if it were your regular bike battery.  However, add in the voltage jump from the car's charging system, and a (by bike standards) an excess amount of current available, and you could overload some of the electrics in the bike.  I don't know the details (like what you'll kill, my guess is the ignition system), but it sounds reasonable to me.  I would think that starting the bike won't be a terrible drain on the car battery, which is built to crank a much bigger engine several times.

If you are near a hill, and your bike is an easy starter, you can push/bump start it.  I'd probably do gear 2, make sure everything is where it needs to be for the bike to be running (like key position, engine stop switch position, choke where you usually need it to start, etc.), get going with clutch pulled, and release the clutch.  However, it takes quite a while to charge the bike (from my experience) and a good battery charger (with safety circuits to keep from overcharging) overnight would be a good thing to use instead.

FWIW,
Mike D.

PS:  You might also try disconnecting the bike's battery when you first start it, just to have your car's battery on a single task (starting the bike) rather than also charging your battery.  Most don't bother, since it is kind of a bother.

don't disconnect the motorcycle battery.


it's okay to do every now and then, but make sure the car is NOT running.


It can ruin your recitifier regulator

I use a rechargable Home Depot Husky brand jump box ALL THE TIME.  No catastrophic failures(or anything) to report as of yet and I have been using it on bikes for six months now.  The crocodile clips on it are a bit cumbersome so I replaced them with some smaller ones from a pair of jumper cables.

Just curious, is there a reason not to disconnect the motorcycle battery?  I mean it is a pain and perhaps reconnecting it while the motorcycle is running (it will run on just its charger, right?) does not sound like fun and might be a bit of a jolt to the bikes charging system.  I'm just genuinely curious what you were thinking when you wrote not to remove the battery.  (Convenience or necessity.)  I know some auto owners manuals write that when you jump the car, turn on your vent full blast (on the jumped car) before you hook up the good car's battery to kind of buffer the jolt.  In the old days the usual practice (that I was taught) was to have the jumper car running, and today's manuals say to have it off.  I know it's all in the name of protecting the electrics, but I think in the old days one was worried you would end up with two cars not starting if you didn't have the source car running.  Like I said, just curious.

If the motorcycle battery is actually "shorted" you'd want to take it out, right?  But I don't know that that is a very likely occurence.  If so, you just want to ride to get a new battery.  But then, you probably should just take the car!

Sorry, just avoiding grading exams.  --Mike D.

We have a spare car battery in the garage for just such an event. Works wonders, we used it to start our dead honda. You can use the one out of a car while its still in it, just dont have the car running, the battery alone provides the needed current.

when I picked up my bike at the impound lot (got caught for stunting w/ some friends.), after 35 days, my batt was completely drained (I had starting troubles the whole day, and it just died later.)  I had to duck walk my bike 3 blocks to a nearby body shop, and they jumped it for me, and that worked just fine.  Like they said, just don't have the car running, and you'll be alright=).

jump starting your bike from a car doesn't have to be soooo complicated.

things needed: dead bike, jumper cable, non running car

step 1: attach the cable
step 2: start your bike as normal
step 3: detach the jumper cable
step 4: go on your merry way

Quote from: geekonabikeJust curious, is there a reason not to disconnect the motorcycle battery?  I mean it is a pain and perhaps reconnecting it while the motorcycle is running (it will run on just its charger, right?) does not sound like fun and might be a bit of a jolt to the bikes charging system.

Once you get the bike running, one would want to go riding on it, no? To do that one would have to have the battery connected, the engine won't idle well without the battery and you would like to charge the battery while riding.  Connecting a battery to an already running bike is a pretty risky thing to do, sparks from making connection, hydrogen gas from charging, explosions and all that.  It won't bother the motorcycle charging system or the jump "donor" if you're connecting to a mostly discharged battery because it takes very little charging of the "recipient" battery to get it a nominal 12 V level so there's really no rational for disconnecting it.

I jump started from a running car.  There is no reason why the car can't be running.  You won't damage your electrical system.  Your bike is not going pull anymore amps than it's designed for.  You don't want to leave it for too long connected to the car battery or running car.  If your battery is still good and just needs to be charged you don't want to fry it since the car battery and the cars charging circuit puts out a lot more amps than the bike does.  But this will only happen if you leave it connected for longer than the few minutes that it will take you to start the bike.

Yes you can...i did it with my '02 a few times.