Thanks for the reply, I will check if out at work on Monday with the multimeter. I have an Optimate charger but what if I have to park somewhere with no charging facility. Quite disappointed if the battery is buggered as it is only one year old. My BMW car is nearly 13 years old, same battery from new, never had a battery charger near it and starts first time every time. (Hope I haven't tempted fate now)
Comparing car and bike batteries just doesn't work. On a bike you have almost the same requirements as a small car but a fraction of the battery capacity.
Thanks R-1000 Surely my 20 mile each way daily journey should charge the battery sufficiently ? I will check the battery and charging current as Little Ade suggested. Carrying a portable charger round with me would be my last resort, the root cause needs detecting.
Is this a common problem with modern bikes ? I can't say I remember having this issue with any of my previous bikes between 30 - 45 years ago and I always used them all year round. Mind you most of them had kick starts.
If you don't want to carry a portable charger, have you looked @ those new lithium powered booster battery packs ? About as big as the largest mobile and capable of jumping a large 4 WD ! My Boss has one and it worked on one of his Buses ! 24v I know but he worked out which battery was weak and plugged booster to it , they can be charged up via USB on your computer or use mobile phone charger..!
Thanks Capt. No I'd never heard of the booster packs but I will take a look. I would still prefer having the basics of a good battery and the bike capable of charging from its own electrical system particularly when I am using it almost daily for 20 miles at a go. It has only let me down the once and it did bump start easily but you are not always near an incline to do that. I read with interest last week that you had fitted a lithium battery, did you say that you had to fit it away from the normal battery compartment ?
Hi Mick, yes it is very common. Imagine all the electrical stuff on new bikes by comparison to the older stuff: high pressure fuel pumps, headlights always on, abs pumps, etc etc etc. They have relatively small capacity (12-14 amp hrs) batteries but have to do a similar job to that of a car engine with maybe 50-60a/hrs. If you put your bike on charge (with an intelligent charger) after you've had a ride, you'll never have any problems and your battery will last loads longer.
Hi Mick, The reason I fitted the new Lithium battery where I did, away from the original position, is historical. I put a 24amp gel battery in about 7 yrs ago & as you would imagine it's huge compared to the original ! So I moved it to a carrier down the front of the engine. I changed and rerouted all the wiring to suit ! So it was simpler to put new battery there ! You can get Lithium batteries in many capacities and sizes(external measurements). So finding one to go into the original battery box should only be a matter of searching. New battery I working fine but it has exposed another fault, age and wear related ! It look's like either my starter relay or starter motor is getting beyond life expectancy, bike has intermittent none starting on new battery but put jumper battery on and it starts, so it seems a much heavier draw is occurring ! This could probably be worn brushes or stator ! & lesser likely hood the solenoid gone bung.
Hi All, Went for a ride to Lake Ninan today , took the Wife , we had a picnic lunch and watched the wildlife. Took my smaller cargo trailer to carry the picnic table & chairs, was a beautiful sunny 26°c, as you can see, we arrived at midday to have it all to ourselves! for like 15 mins then two cars turned up !!
Grand! In glorious West Yorks we've had a mixture of sleet and rain with midday temperatures of 2 deg.C Been helping my daughter move house all day. Best of all going out now to our village pub for roast beef, Yorkshire pud and sticky toffee pudding washed down with a few pints of John Smiths in front of a roaring log fire. Grand!
It's just a nice staggering distance, so I never take the motor. Some great beers on actually, I was just playing the staunch Yorkshireman when I said John Smiths. It's not a bad cheap pint when your out with your mates and having a right binge, couldn't afford ten pints of the fancy stuff at £5 a pint and then a curry. Just a nice relaxing Sunday roast today with maybe 4-5 pints by the open fire.
Well "today it has been mainly dry" - and warm, well -ish 14° C, so I got the Tiger out and went for a bimble. It was just great to be back out on the bike !!!!!
OK I've been looking the wiring over and it's not the starter button , it's not the solenoid , its not the starter motor and it's not the battery ! So time to pull the tank off and trace the starting circuit wiring to find the dirty/broken wire or connection. Nearly there, more trouble free rides in the near future ! This has been the first fault to stop my machine in 8yrs and 102,000 klms. Cheers Mick. Well after two hours finally sorted it out , an electrical connection I put in was breaking up and so the connection was intermittent !!! It was one of the first places I looked at too. BUGGER and DAMNATION ! Could have saved sooo much time. Not to mention $180.00 oh well @ least it will be the last battery I buy for this bike. Lithium one should last 5 or 6 yrs at least.
So on Friday I took the plunge and went and bought some winter gloves as the summer gloves just weren't happening. Off I pop to our local motorcycle clothing shop and after some time ended up with the Racer Dynamic 2 at a cost of £110. Gortex lining etc etc. Wore them for the first time Saturday and thought that my hands didn't feel any warmer than my leather ones. The heavens then decided to unleash a downpour... Hands stayed dry .. Result I thought but still not convinced on the warmth. So yesterday morning (8.30am) decided to go for a blatt to test the gloves out properly. It was blooding cold especially with the wind chill factor. After 20 minutes of riding at a quick pace I couldn't feel my fingers or my thumbs and decided to go home. Got home and dropped my keys but couldn't pick them due to my fingers being soooo cold So back to the shop to tell them of my disgust in the so called winter gloves. He kindly accepted them back and then exchanged for a more expensive pair of Bering heated gloves. I must say what a difference they made. Being quite thin I didn't think that they be good but I was surprised. while they don't exactly keep ya mitts hot, they keep the wind chill down which is great. As soon as you slow down or stop at a junction you can feel the heat warming up again. At £180 I'm hoping these will keep me riding through the upcoming winter sh!t... Well they have to as I rise all year round And Yes Dozers Dad I could have done your £11 method but i needed new gloves now and not when the slow boat from China gets here
