[clevelandice]

I have an electrical issue I need some guidance on. I rolled my bike out the other day - haven't ridden in a couple months and was going to go out. The bike started but with a little bit of hesitation. Let it run for a minute or two and turned it off to wash it. When I went to restart it the engine chugged a little like the battery was dead. Then - everything went dead. EVERYTHING. No indicator lights no buzzers no nothing. I went to charge the battery and the charger says there is trouble. Where do I start?????:banghead:

 

[jstar61]

Check the cable connections to the battery and make sure they are tight useing a socket.
If that doesn't help, I would take the battery out and take it to a parts house to have it load tested (not just the voltage tested). Most auto parts stores can load test it for you.

 

[simpleman44]

Sounds like a weak battery. Try charging it or have it tested. When you started the bike once and let it idle you ran it down more. So it sat and was somewhat run down then started and idled which ran it down more. These alternators don't put out squat at idle. They need to be run at higher rpm's to get any recharging of the battery.

 

[tnvnl]

If that doesn't help, I would take the battery out and take it to a parts house to have it load tested (not just the voltage tested). Most auto parts stores can load test it for you.

Parts houses can/will rip you off just doing that.
They "should" tell you that they can NOT test a dead battery, it MUST be charged before testing.
If they put a tester on a "dead" battery, of course it is going to show bad.

 

[Flipflop]

Sounds like it had just enough life in it for one crank,clean connections, see what charger does, or replace battery...

 

[tshirtmeister]

Charge it , then test. If it sat a long time in the winter it can begin to sulfate and its only a matter of time till it will have to be replaced