|Honeymoon's over

The Tuono's clutch slave cylinder has developed a slight weep.

It's not bad, so today I thought I'd take it to work for the first
time in a few weeks.

Bastard wouldn't start, would it? I'd been living under the illusion
that since it has no alarm, the battery wouldn't go flat.

I'd forgotten that the clocks draw current.

So I spent a merry five minutes trying to balance the bike on a gravel
slope near enough the front of the car that the jump leads would
reach, the battery being on the wrong side of the car, of course.

I also had to get a jump start coming home: twenty-five minutes
doesn't charge the battery enough for a cold start, it seems.

I also found that the headlights are *way* out of adjustment, but at
least I'll have a good view of any Countryside Alliance beasties that
I'm about to squash.

 

Why?

 

Why?[/QUOTE]

To keep the clock (as in time) running, and the memory up. The memory
keeps the various trip meter functions and set-up, like kph/mph and
shift light (bloody thing defaults to kph and the shif light at
6000rpm, which is exactly where the engine hits the real power).

It's a bastard when it loses it 'cos I have to go through the
rigmarole of resetting everything manually, and it does this every
time the engine kicks back or hesitates on the starter.

A planned mod, when I find a tuit, is to put a schottky diode in
series with the clocks' permanent 12V feed, and a wodging great
capacitor on the clock side of it. This *might* cure the reset
problem.

 

To keep the clock (as in time) running, and the memory up. The memory
keeps the various trip meter functions and set-up, like kph/mph and
shift light (bloody thing defaults to kph and the shif light at
6000rpm, which is exactly where the engine hits the real power).

It's a bastard when it loses it 'cos I have to go through the
rigmarole of resetting everything manually, and it does this every
time the engine kicks back or hesitates on the starter.

A planned mod, when I find a tuit, is to put a schottky diode in
series with the clocks' permanent 12V feed, and a wodging great
capacitor on the clock side of it. This *might* cure the reset
problem.[/QUOTE]

<Thinks>

Not a Windows product, is it?

 

To keep the clock (as in time) running, and the memory up. The memory
keeps the various trip meter functions and set-up, like kph/mph and
shift light (bloody thing defaults to kph and the shif light at
6000rpm, which is exactly where the engine hits the real power).

It's a bastard when it loses it 'cos I have to go through the
rigmarole of resetting everything manually, and it does this every
time the engine kicks back or hesitates on the starter.

A planned mod, when I find a tuit, is to put a schottky diode in
series with the clocks' permanent 12V feed, and a wodging great
capacitor on the clock side of it. This *might* cure the reset
problem.
[/QUOTE]

fit a Hawker Odyssey[1] battery: after my OE battery was 3 years old the
voltage would drop below the ABS computer's fail threshold when cranking
the engine. Apparently, the AGM construction results in a lower voltage
drop compared to conventional batteries. They are less likely to go flat
when unused for some time too: this seems to be my observation as I have
not used my Optimate in 18 months. Well, except for the time I left the
parking light on...
http://www.odysseyfactory.com/

[1] or Westco from http://www.motorbikebatteries.co.uk/

 

Considering that a silver oxide cell can power a watch for more than 3
years[1]; there might perhaps be other reasons the battey drains?

[1] insert alternative examples of battery-driven clocks as relevant

 

(ts) wrote in :

It's Italian so that's a given.

 

Pip Luscher tossed off:

Welcome to the club. My shite-old-Hyundai slave cylinder gave up on
Thursday, in the rush hour in Bracknell. Popular I was not.

Is it possibly fucked?

Good work, keep it up



--
Dan L

1996 Kawasaki ZR1100 Zephyr

BOTAFOT #140 (KotL 2005/6)
X-FOT#000
DIAABTCOD #26
BOMB#18 (slow)
OMF#11

 

wessie wrote

And get yourself a cheapo solar panel from Maplin to keep it topped up.
Very eco friendly and years ahead of the fashion.

 

Clutchless changes. Not that difficult.

 

Even worse combination, Italian bike in damp, cold, Atlantic climate . .

 

Well, you'd have thought so; I will check the current draw and the
battery condition. maybe it simply is a buggered battery.

Don't forget though that watches and bike instruments are rather
different applications; there's little obvious point in adding a low
current clock/memory circuit if there's a 17AH battery and charging
system bolted on. It would mean either adding an external clock/memory
chip, which adds expense, or the clocks' own microprocessor would have
to have a low-power RTC/memory retention mode, so a special chip might
be required. Maybe such chips are readily available, mind.

Another point is that a sports bike designer probably has other
priorities than his creation being left unused for a few weeks.

The nice thing about my Guzzi is that it draws _no_current at all when
parked and it will generally start easily after weeks without use.

Pity the charging system has proven so unreliable...

 

My gixxer (with clock) would happily hold charge for up to three
months at a time.

As should the TL. I suspect your battery's shagged.

--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
\`\ | /`/ GSX-R1000K3 (slightly broken, currently missing)
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2, IBB#10
`\|/`
`

 

Just checked it: almost exactly 2mA at the battery if my elderly
moving-coil meter is to be believed.

That's not enough to explain the flat battery in the weeks that the
bike has been unused, though. Looks like it's 10AH nominal capacity,
so allowing 20% (this is a wild guess) of the nominal capacity to
actually start the bike, that's still almost six months.

The battery is currently on the Accumate, so I'll check it when it's
done. Oh, and the charging system, of course.

 

I got one of those for the last car, whose battery kept going flat due
to infrequent use.

The panel plugs into the cigarette lighter, which was fine except that
the socket was disconnected when the ignition was off.

On the new car, the same applies, with the bonus that when the panel
was plugged in, the alarm/central locking refused to work.

I will, tuits being available, make a rain-proof box for it and bolt
it to the shed, so it can charge a car battery for lighting.

 

platypus tossed off:

Indeed, would have been a lot easier had it been a company car too.

--
Dan L

1996 Kawasaki ZR1100 Zephyr

BOTAFOT #140 (KotL 2005/6)
X-FOT#000
DIAABTCOD #26
BOMB#18 (slow)
OMF#11

 

Either prob easily cured by a dedicated socket under the dash wired to
the battery.

 

2mA isn't a lot, but I've found on numerous cars/bikes that a battery
when flattened by a smallish draw over weeks or months is definitely
adversely affected for future use even if it seems to charge up ok; ie,
it's buggered when it counts, like in the cold mornings. You seem to
get away with it once or twice, but more than that you're looking at
replacing the bugger.

 

There have been similar problems on the latest BMW motorcycles: canbusses,
common on cars for ages, are finding their way onto bikes. It's best to fit
any charging device directly to the battery otherwise the CPU gets all
confused and starts shutting down circuits it thinks are drawing too much
current.

 

AOL, I always have. If you want the power cut off with the ignition,
just run a relay triggered off an upside feed with the main power rail
straight to the battery. Appropriately fused of course.