Dead Battery - How To Deal With It?
Harley Ignition & Harley ElectricsDiscuss Dead Battery - How To Deal With It? in the Harley Tech & Harley How-to forums; Ok, let's say you have a dead battery in your bike. And I mean stone-cold, flat-out dead.
What do you do first? Jump it off a car or other bike ...
Ok, let's say you have a dead battery in your bike. And I mean stone-cold, flat-out dead.
What do you do first? Jump it off a car or other bike battery, try to bump start the bike in gear, hook up a battery charger and wait a day or two or buy a new battery?
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If I'm not in a hurry, I'll try to charge it.. Or jump it off a spare shop batt..
And then only if I'm sure it prob still has life to spare.. Often if they're allowed to die totally they do not recover fully..
If out an about with no options then off a buds batt. or bump it in 2nd..
Never tried off a car batt..
With a totally dead batt. it's prob going to mandate a new batt and try not to duplicate the conditions that allowed it to die soooo totally..
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Rooster Cogburn
I would'nt jump a stone-cold,flat-out,dead battery. Best bet is to SLOW charge them. Nothing's going to bring back a batt. that's plates are warped from "water" freezing in a dead one. Which they won't do in a charged batt. But,one time, I came across an old batt. that'd been stashed behind other stuff on a shelf for years. You could see the crud built-up between the plates (shorting them?) but I stuck it on a trickle charger anyhow..for the hell of it. Within an hour or so,I could see the crud kind of bubbeling away. Overnight it took a full charge. And,the sucker was good enough to put in a bike that I was'nt riding much..just to start it once in awhile,for a couple of more years..only on the batt. tender over those winters !!!
One in a million,probably. But it showed ME something..that I don't think any other means of charging would have.
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Mark Twain
If I was going somewhere I would get her rolling then pop the clutch. If not I would try and charge the battery. You never know. It just might hold a decent charge
Oh,hey..if we're talking about your/our ordinary,run of the mill,discharged batteries..jump it, bump it, whatever..just don't "shock-it" with too much juice..then let the bikes charging system do it's job..unless of course the bikes system IS the problem.
__________________ "If at first you don't succeed, try again...then swear"
Mark Twain
I try to get home however I can and check out the battery condition. If it's toast it's time to buy another one. Living up north, I try to nurse it through the riding season so I can buy a fresh one in Spring. If I can.
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Looks like I agree with the concensus. Slow trickle charge is the best way to bring a low or dead battery back to life. I use a maintainer in the winter to keep it strong. Orginal battery in my 04.
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I'm curious about the concern expressed about jumping a bike off a car battery. 12V is 12V (OK, actually somewhere around 14.2); someone have a bad experience?
I'm curious about the concern expressed about jumping a bike off a car battery. 12V is 12V (OK, actually somewhere around 14.2); someone have a bad experience?
Hi Whopper
A difference between 12V batteries is in the amperage,buddy..same as with 12V chargers. And YES people HAVE had bad experiences..from relatively minor issues to blowing up! Best to be,at least, cautious with..right ?
__________________ "If at first you don't succeed, try again...then swear"
Mark Twain
Dead Battery - How To Deal With It? 
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