Bike deader than the deadest of dead things

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WildBill2566

Guest
Ok folks I appear to have discovered yet another unusual and interesting way to #+@? up.

Dont ask how I managed it cause I dont know, sometimes even I can amaze myself with my own stupidity. I left the ignition on for a couple of days and now the battery is dead. Not bloody surprised I hear you chuckle.

I have hooked up the good old optimate and its been on for about 3 hours now and still not a snif of power. The ' I ' light on the optimate is showing green but no other lights are illuminated, and to be honest I cant remember what the other lights are for anyway.

My question is simple, have I buggered my battery, and how long should it take the charger to do its thing.

As always all replies appreciated, even those taking the p;)
 
Re: Bike deader than the deadest of dead things

The 'I' light tells you that the optimate is plugged in and turned on, if it's connected to a battery then there should be another light on.

Check the fuse in the optimate lead on the bike, and it's well connected to the charger. Mine's a bit flakey and occasionaly have to give it a wiggle to get it to come on.

If you have a meter, check the battery voltage. if it's totally dead, then it may be new battery time, as they don't like deep discharges. It may be worth leaving it overnight and trying again, giving it some time to recover from the deep discharge.

Good luck.
 
Re: Bike deader than the deadest of dead things

good advice

if you disconnect it should start the charge cycle again
it may come up red saying suphated if so dis and do again
Ive lost faith with optimate Ive got to say the datatool version is better.
 
Re: Bike deader than the deadest of dead things

the optimate needs to see a voltage comoing from the battery before it will start to charge it ,what i do is trick it by jumping another battery accross the circuit until the charger starts charging then remove the extra battery .
 
Re: Bike deader than the deadest of dead things

slap a regular battery charger on it for a while and check the cells have fluid;)
 
Re: Bike deader than the deadest of dead things

bimsb6 said:
the optimate needs to see a voltage comoing from the battery before it will start to charge it ,what i do is trick it by jumping another battery accross the circuit until the charger starts charging then remove the extra battery .
Click to expand...

That sorted it, I had just tested the Optimate with a multimeter and found the output to be nil. It was actually in the bin when I read this..:eek:

Tried the tandem battery trick and it worked a treat, with the battery appearing to be charging.

Thanks people you have at the very least saved me the price of a new Optimate:D
 
Re: Bike deader than the deadest of dead things

Warning: if you have left your ignition on for two days, you may well have fried your coil.

Hope not.... :(
 
Re: Bike deader than the deadest of dead things

kiwidave said:
Warning: if you have left your ignition on for two days, you may well have fried your coil.

Hope not.... :(
Click to expand...

Ok silly question ..... how will I know for sure?
 
Re: Bike deader than the deadest of dead things

ER...BIKE WON'T START!

No spark at plugs

There is a resistance test for the coil in the factory manual if that appears to be the case.

I'm not saying it has happened, but it is a definite possibility.

 
Re: Bike deader than the deadest of dead things

Bugger, a new coil part # 31743-01 is ?84.48, I will leave it on charge overnight and see what happens in the morning.

Fingers crossed
 
Re: Bike deader than the deadest of dead things

WildBill2566 said:
Ok silly question ..... how will I know for sure?
Click to expand...
Did you stop the bike with the kill switch? If so no problem for the coil. :rolleyes:
 
Re: Bike deader than the deadest of dead things

Leave it on a slow (2-3 amp) charge for a couple of days if you have an AGM, Harley battery.
If you have a Gell type, it prefers a hard fast charge for a couple of hours (8-10 amp). Then slow charge it for a day or two.
Your coil will be fine, Dave bless his heart is stuck in the 70:D .
Love ya Dave;) .
 
Re: Bike deader than the deadest of dead things

seriously? explain! is there some protection mechanism? I need to know! ;)
 
Re: Bike deader than the deadest of dead things

Phild said:
Your coil will be fine, Dave bless his heart is stuck in the 70
Click to expand...

Dave might be stuck in the 70's but I think in this case he is right, coils do burn out if the ignition is left on
 
Re: Bike deader than the deadest of dead things

Well it looks like Phil was right, had to boost the battery from the car but it fired up. I recon I had left the ignition on for about 7 days so the battery was flatter than hammered s#!t. I'll give it another 24 hours on the Optimate, after which if all is not well it will be a new battery, and for once the HD item dosent look too bad at ?54.

Anyway I wont be doing that again any time soon:eek:
 
Re: Bike deader than the deadest of dead things

kiwidave said:
seriously? explain! is there some protection mechanism? I need to know! ;)
Click to expand...

Ion sensing

if the engine isnt rotating then the coil isnt energised and has to rotate a number of times prior to the ecu activating and crank positioning sensor senses all
 
Re: Bike deader than the deadest of dead things

aha! thanks Simon

it would appear I am stuck in 1994 actually

HARRUMMPH!!! ;) :D
 
Re: Bike deader than the deadest of dead things

:D :D :D :D

just for that, wise-ass, a 1965-78 part is gonna be posted to your door. It is shaped like a small truncheon.

Feel free to open it and beat yerself with it while chanting the mantra:

''ignition on / throttle open / kick!''

repeat ad infinitum until you feel Stone Age, baby :D



(I won it on eBay - THANKS! ;) )
 
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