Starter Problems

[Penguini66]

I'm thinking It might be simpler to just pull the battery to charge it. That way I don't have to worry about people walking past out house at night and tripping on an electrical cord. Then I can test the battery on its own.

Does anybody know if the bike will run/function with the battery completely removed?

[fatboy250]

Originally Posted by Penguini66

I'm thinking It might be simpler to just pull the battery to charge it. That way I don't have to worry about people walking past out house at night and tripping on an electrical cord. Then I can test the battery on its own.

Does anybody know if the bike will run/function with the battery completely removed?

My old CB550 did. Just bolt the + and - battery terminals together so there is still a complete circuit. Then push or kickstart it and go.

Jason

[liverchip]

I've run my bike with the battery completely removed. This is a good way to verify your charging system is working. I've never connected the pos and neg leads....nor would I recommend it as it effectively shorts the charging system to ground on most 12VDC systems.

[Penguini66]

Pulled the battery tonight and hooked it up to the trickle charger. The bike starts and runs fine without the battery. I just put a little electrical tape over the pos/neg lugs. I'll ride the bike to work tomorrow while the battery gets a full 24 hour charge. If it doesn't work after that I'll be back to square one.

[fatboy250]

Originally Posted by liverchip

I've run my bike with the battery completely removed. This is a good way to verify your charging system is working. I've never connected the pos and neg leads....nor would I recommend it as it effectively shorts the charging system to ground on most 12VDC systems.

Interesting...I guess I could have left it alone then. It still continued to run fine for more than the 1 1/2 years that I had it. Neat bike...only paid $50 for it.

[Penguini66]

After letting the battery charge for 24 hours, nothing. It has a voltage of 13 some odd volts but does nothing but barely make the horn squeak. Since the charging system seems to be OK (reading 13-14 volts running), I think I'm going to assume that the battery is junk. I called up Larry at Hooper Imports and he said that if I'm getting 13-14 volts, the rectifier is OK.

One other thing that got me thinking is that the battery was working fine one minute then not at all the next minute. Perhaps it came apart internally and now has a short?

Anyway, going to try and return the battery and see if they'll give me a replacement.

[ob1]

If you arc the terminals, do you get a nice fat "welding" spark?

If so, the battery is putting out plenty of amperage.

[liverchip]

A nice bright one if the battery's in place and charged. If not then it might be a might bit more feeble.

[liverchip]

Oops guess I misunderstood you.

Originally Posted by Penguini66

After letting the battery charge for 24 hours, nothing. It has a voltage of 13 some odd volts but does nothing but barely make the horn squeak. Since the charging system seems to be OK (reading 13-14 volts running), I think I'm going to assume that the battery is junk. I called up Larry at Hooper Imports and he said that if I'm getting 13-14 volts, the rectifier is OK.

One other thing that got me thinking is that the battery was working fine one minute then not at all the next minute. Perhaps it came apart internally and now has a short?

Anyway, going to try and return the battery and see if they'll give me a replacement.

If you have 13 volts in the battery it's very unlikely that's the problem, You have a loose ground somewhere.

It can fool you by showing a charging condition when it's running but will not allow it to pull enough current to power the Starter.

Look for a dirty or loose connection, it's there somewhere.