Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech smite mine battery with furious anger (again)

Hi All,

some of you may remember a while ago that my Bonnie America had a small starting problem a while ago (a click click click sound under the right hand of the seat).

after a bit of chatting i picked up an Optimate charger and hooked it up...voila, after a night it started up first time.

roll on a few months and i finally have a licence. In the mean time the optimate has been faithfully hooked up to it (the manual thing said it won't overcharge etc etc).

Licence in fist i got on board, went through the normal starting proceedure. Started first time.

i started to pull out and stalled it...three times (each time it started fine).

now the stalling, totally my fault (first time on the big bike and i was a bit too keen on my back break and not keen enough on the throttle).

however the fourth time i tried to start it...clicking again. Engine didn't try and turn over.

so my question is

is it likely/possible for my battery to be flat after three stalls?

and if not...any ideas? flooded engine? gremlins?

the only other thing was that i was starting it on a slight incline (just in case that makes any difference).

happy to exchange technical wit and wisdom for leatherwork or just raw wonder.

All the best,

Anthony

right, ignore me for i am newb

meaning i left it to charge for a couple of hours and it started fine.

I still reckon my battery must be a bit dicky but otherwise a mate reckoned i'd flooded the engine (there was a petrol like smell while the engine tried to turn over).

apparently the optimate has a desulphinate (?!) feature that only works when the battery isn't attached to the bike itself (which you guys probably already know) so i'll take it out tomorrow and see if that helps improve its condition.

regardless, a fun yet terrifying first run around the housing estate.

Anthony

Have you checked both battery terminals to insure they're tightly fastened? My Bonnie did a similar thing and I came to find the ground terminal was loose.

I was just going to say that. Check the cables, especially the ground (earth), at both ends to make sure the connection is clean and tight.

Ironically...

i left the battery connected to the charger overnight and then removed the battery from the bike and connected it directly to the charger (apparently it only de-sulphinates batteries when they're not connected to the bike).

after a hour or so i reassembled it as the light on the charger reads 'green', set it up and it started (slowly) first time.

awesome!

so i let it warm up for a few minutes and ease the choke in.

again no worries.

remembering that my only key to the lock on my front wheel is on my bike key i switch it off.

sure enough, i get rid of the lock, try to switch it back on and...bzzzzzzz again.

*sigh*

whats this earth wire look like then? i only see a positive and a negative.

also any other ideas? dead battery? something more serious?

pretty sad that after finally getting the licence i've only ridden it once (for 20 minutes)

Anthony

how deep into the guts of the machine does the opposite end of the negative wire go? i haven't looked that closely.

is it a remove seat job or can it be done easily?

it just seems odd that it starts sometimes then won't straight after. When i ran it around the block i stopped and started it and it ran okay and in theory it should be fully charged.

bah, wonders of technology.

got a dealership if i need to pick up another battery if all else fails.

i'll give the earth wire a go in the morning and let you know if it does anything exciting