What to do when you have battery trouble…
Apr 8th, 2010 by Leo
It can happen to anybody (movie stars and supermodels), on any kind of bike (even a brand new Ducati)… Performance motorcycles are especially prone to this because they use the smallest lightest battery that can do the job…so a little less charge means they leave you stranded. And while a running motorcycle can charge a battery enough to get it back to a decent state of charge, they actually don’t fully-charge the battery.
So if you haven’t ridden a bike in a while, the battery has lost some of its charge over time – and it will never get fully charged unless you put it in a battery charger. If you charge your battery from time to time, it can last for years. But if you don’t you’ll probably only get a couple of years on it before it leaves you stranded. So what do you do when you’re out someplace and your battery putzes out?
If the battery is not completely dead, but just weak – you can jump start it pretty easily by yourself without any help… How? Rather than sitting on the bike, you have walk along side… I know we’ve covered this before, but here’s the step by step in case you missed it:
- Make sure the ignition and fuel is set to “On.” (this is the #1 reason attempts to push start a bike often fail)
- Put the bike in 2nd gear and hold the clutch in, with your right hand cover the brake
- Push the bike up to a speed where you are at a slow/medium jog beside it (make sure to keep the bike balanced)
- Hit the starter button and let out the clutch (in 2nd gear), but leave your fingers over the clutch for step 5…
- Then pull in the clutch and brakes (so the bike doesn’t take off without you)
- Remember to kick it into neutral before putting the kickstand down otherwise a lot of bikes will shut off the engine as a safety
You only need about 10-15 feet and a flat road. Orlando, you could have done this on your own in less space than it took those guys. Until last year, I always waited around to get help – I didn’t realize how much easier it was to push start it yourself.
What if your bike is too heavy to push? Can you use a car to jump start a motorcycle? Most people don’t recommend doing so because a car battery is 12v like a motorcycle, but it uses a lot more Amps…but there’s a way to offset that a little. And I’ve done it with no problems on my old 600rr battery.
- When jump starting anything, put the (-) black terminals on first. Only instead of connecting the black jumper cable directly to the motorcycle battery, connect it to a metal part like the rear brake pedal…
- Connect the (+) red terminals and you can start the bike right away.
- Disconnect the cables, (red first, then black to lessen the chance of electrocuting yourself)
So that’s an easy way – but as long as there’s SOME charge on the battery, I think push starting is quicker and easier. And after doing either of these, it’s probably a good idea to put your battery on a charger for a while (maybe overnight).
Related posts:
If you are limping home on remaining charge, one possibility is to disconnect the headlight so other things like fuel injection and ignition can run longer.
Also, some bikes, like large singles, are very very hard to push start.