Got my motor running (battery questions)

head out on the highway..... <ahem>

Anyway, got meself a huge booster sort of gizmo, hooked it up to
positive and chucked the neutral onto the frame, switched on, thumbed
the starter switch and the bike roared into life.

Well actually it didn't, it required quite a bit of gentle coaxing of
starter, throttle and choke until it eventually fired up.

So I then unclipped booster and left bike running whilst I chucked my
leathers on, took it for 5 milesish, stopped at a shop local enough that
I could have pushed the bike home had I needed, but I didn't cos it
started okay.

So now, some questions;

1) bike was running but lumpy, I'm hoping that a mixture of being stood
in the cold for a week, low juiceage in the battery, and maybe plugs
which need cleaning after trying to start it so much without success.

anyone think otherwise?


2) how much running would a bike need, to give the battery a nice good
charging? if it were summer I'd just go out and ride all day tomorrow,
but with the weather being lousy, I'd like to do something that's
adequate but not going to make me miserable. Getting stuck in the middle
of nowhere with agoosed battery is an option I'd like to attempt to
avoid too.

Also, my headlight is wired into loom, so it's permanently on dip ie
using juice all the time, so that needs taking into account.

ta

 

Having the lovely portable warmth of a car has left my bike sat running
the battery down courtesy of the alarm. It's been left for upto three
weeks, but a run out of about 50-100 miles has sorted it no probs. I
always ride with lights on, so while YMMV, it shouldn't by much.

However, in the current weather 1 mile is too much. On the way home
tonight I could see 2 of the long white "danger" lines that mark the
centre of the road. It was less driving through fog, more like swimming
in cotton wool.

The added factors of post-physio soreness and brainless cagers who
insist on driving round with full beam (and sometimes fog lights as
well) made the whole experience just dandy. I just can't understand
what pleasure can be derived from driving around with a giant ball of
whiteness perched on your bonnet and visibility of half a foot.

 

Plugs maybe, but I can't see the others being relevant at all. Unless
the batteries shagged (e.g. shorted) it shouldn't make any difference
as there should be more than enough juice being kicked out by the
alternator.

When I've run the 400 after extended periods of un-use, with flat
battery etc. it always goes just fine once it's running. Kickstarts a
re a wonderful thing :=)

Hmm, lots of variables, but IME an hour or two is usually enough to
get a battery from dead to charged enough to restart. But for a _full_
charge you're probably looking at several hours.

But why not just put it on to charge overnight? ISTR you're having
trouble getting it to hold charge, but seem to thin that chargin it
while riding will ion some way be different. It won't.

Shouldn't make any difference, except at tickover levels. The more
load, the more the alternator will kick out in response. The battery
charging current plus lights will not be enough to exceed its
capacity.

 

Nope. What you describe is perfectly normal for winter. Less likely to
be duff plugs, but low battery, yes, and quite likely a bit of damp on
the HT leads. I'm assuming the battery is not totally shagged, of
course.

You need several hours' running to recharge the battery completely. If
you're not planning on using the bike much in winter, then an Optimate
is a good idea.

It's also a good idea to start a bike from time to time (say every month
or so) and just run it on the stand until it's good and hot. This helps
to flush fresh petrol through the carbs, avoiding the "stale petrol"
syndrome.

The alternative is to park it up with dry carbs, either by draining them
of petrol via the plugs in the float bowls (easy on some bikes;
inaccessible on many) or by turning the fuel off and running it until it
conks out. On bikes with a vacuum fuel tap this may not work!

If possible, remove the battery from the bike if it's being laid up for
more than a couple of months. Makes it easier to recharge, for one
thing. A smart tip is to run a car radio from it, and when it starts
getting faint, you know it needs a charge.

 

Cos I don't have a charger.....yet.

Nope, as far as I'm aware the battery is fine, but last week the bike
was refusing to fire up, thus lots of wasted battery juice trying to get
it to start in the bitter cold.

I fired it up with a booster yesterday and ran it for about 50 miles no
problems.

ta

 

As I said to Ace, it ran fine for 50 miles yesterday after a boosted
start. This morning however it was cold and grumbled about starting, but
it did start, eventually. So the battery seems to be holding the juice.

I'm planning to use it daily, or as good as, I'm "two".
The issue isn't the fact it's laid, up, just that it's damned cold!


<snip helpful but not relevant info>

Thanks,