How to get your bike back home with battery charging problems.

[frankd]

I've seen several riders write here that they are stranded with dead batteries, and I thought I'd tell how to get them started and how to get them home.

 

If the battery will still light the headlight, you can bump start a Venture, although on level ground it's rougher. If somebody is with you, it's a lot easier, and a small hill helps. My wife and I were up in Canada on the 83', and I shut the bike off to take a couple of pictures. When I went to start it, it only cranked very slow---too slow to start. And of course, we were at the bottom of a small dip and the bags were heavily loaded. We pushed the bike backwards up the hill some, I got on it and turned the key on and made sure the kill switch was ON. She got behind the bike and pushed while I also pumped my legs back to get the bike going as quick as possible. Just before the bottom of the hill, I pulled in the clutch and clicked the bike into 2nd gear, released the clutch for a second, and pullled it back in. The bike started. The voltmeter also slowly came up to it's normal position, so I knew the charging system was OK---the 5 year old battery had retired. Now when we got back to the border, the guard had a hard time understanding why I didn't want to shut the bike off to talk to him!!! We rode the bike all the way home (2 days) with the weak battery, and we only had to bump it again once.

 

If the stator or the regulator goes bad, you can usually still ride it all the way home. If a stator or regulator failure only affects 1 leg, the charging system will produce enough current to run the bike and charge the battery very slightly IF the engine is @ cruising speed AND you turn off everything you can. This means that when you are at a stop light, don't keep your brake lights on. Also turn off the CB, the intercom and radio and any extra lighting you've added. Turn off the driving lights and cruise control. Keep the motor revved up more than usual. Don't lug the engine because at slow speeds the battery will discharge. Try to keep out of stop and go traffic because if the fan comes on your battery will be discharged considerably. If you're on the highway and have a voltmeter, you will see the voltage slowly raising, but it will be slow. If you are above 12.6 volts, you are not discharging the battery. We have ridden for 3 days like this, and I had run the battery down pretty far before I noticed that the voltmeter was lower than usual.

 

If you have a 1st. Gen, there is something else you can do, but you have to be very careful. On 1st. Gens, when you push the starter button in, the headlight goes out. If you are in gear, the engine won't crank unless you pull the clutch in. This reduces the load, and the battery voltage will come up, charging the battery faster. To guarantee the clutch switch will keep the starter from spinning, I hold the clutch lever all the way OUT when I do this. A few minutes of this on the interstate will help the battery quite a bit. I don't think 2nd Gens. turn the headlight off with the starter button. If it's daylight, you could disconnect the headlight, and that will decrease the load. You can pull the headlight fuse or just pull the plug off the back of the headlight (fuse box is underneath the tank cover on 1st. Gens. and under the left side cover on 2nd Gens.) but remember cars will also see you a lot less and the police may get upset. If you have LED driving lights that draw much less than your headlight, you could turn them on and disconnect your headlight. Then you'd have reduced load and still be somewhat legal.

 

If you are stuck somewhere with a nearly dead battery and a bad charging system, maybe you could ask several people to help you push start it. If the engine is cold, remember to use the choke!!! Then by reducing the load on the system, you should be able to get some charge back into the battery.

 

Frank D.

[speakerfritz]

I've been riding for 41 years. Few times with stator, regulator, battery problems.

 

most non efi bikes need little power to actually run once started....main power draw if the lighting system.

 

many ways of recharding the battery along the way.....always carry mini jumper cables...those cig lighter to cig lighter work good also...I keep a small charger in my kit and have used it on more than one occacion.

[Flyinfool]

If you have a bad charging system and are with someone that has a bike with the same or very similar battery you can go forever swapping batteries between the 2 bikes. One bike runs them down and the other charges them.

[Ben Rollins]

If you have a bad charging system and are with someone that has a bike with the same or very similar battery you can go forever swapping batteries between the 2 bikes. One bike runs them down and the other charges them.

 

Never would of thought of that. Once again I get my 12$ worth.

[BradT]

If you have a bad battery I would find stop to look for a new one real quick. Stator or rectifier now that one is a slightly different story and it depends where you are.

My wifes Victory has the same battery and it has been swapped once before.

 

Brad