Flat battery

Greatings

During winter the alarm sucked all the power out of the battery. DEFA said it would not do that... but it did.

How can I jumpstart the bike? Can I? I tried to push it, but after 15 minutes of pushing and swearing, all I achieved was the conclution that I should work out some more.

Greatful for all help on this one.

you need two people to jump start a bike and its needs to be in second gear as a general rule. best thing to do is get an optimate battery charger there about £25-30 pounds with that charger you can leave it permently attached to your bike when your not using it (ie. winter months or holidays) and it wont do any damage to your battery well worth the money. so get down to your local bike shop pronto.

[embee]

Lead acid batteries need to be kept well charged otherwise they degrade. If left completely discharged for any length of time they will become permanently damaged and won't charge properly again.

They will lose charge even if not connected to anything. In practice you need to charge it at least once a month to keep it in good condition if the bike is not being used.

As posted earlier, the Optimate or similar "intelligent" chargers are ideal.

[Sid Squid]

You don't need two people to bump an SV, but it's clearly easier if you have help, free the clutch off first and use second or third.

Don't worry about the alarm, push starting the bike won't harm it.

There is a possible concern about the battery itself, if it's been flat for any amount of time it could be damaged, the easiest way to tell is to try charging it and put it back into service, even if charging it gets your bike going again, beware that all may not be well with the battery, the capacity may well be reduced.

i stand corrected i thought that jump starting would harm your alarm but it know seems i was wrong as i know sid is usally right and knows his stuff. you should still get yourself an optimate though they work really well.

Originally Posted by hall13uk

i stand corrected i thought that jump starting would harm your alarm but it know seems i was wrong as i know sid is usally right and knows his stuff. you should still get yourself an optimate though they work really well.

I think jump starting and push/bump starting might be two different things.

Originally Posted by Carsick

I think jump starting and push/bump starting might be two different things.

Thank you all for the info. I ran out to the dealer and got me an intelligent charger. It's supposed to be fixed to the bike with a connector under the seat or some place easy to reach.

With jumpstarting I was talking about power jumpers - red and black. Is that possible? Do I need to have another bike battery, or can I use a car battery?

You can certainly use jump leads from another bike - red to red, black to black, etc.
Start the other bike before attempting to start yours
We did this the other night

I believe you can do the same from a car battery, but don't start the car engine as the bike will draw much less power/current. I'd check the battery details in the SV manual - if it's only supposed to be 6 volts then I'd be a bit wary of using a 12 volt car battery, in case it does fry the alarm

My car battery died at the weekend - completely flat on Saturday, so took it indoors & charged it overnight, a good 12 hours. Car still wouldn't start, so used jumpleads from another car - still wouldn't start. My brother who knows a bit about this sort of thing (used to be a technician for Mercedes) told me it was because the battery was effectively completely dead, although it was putting out 12 volts to the test meter, there would be very little current (amps) so it wouldn't turn the starter. Had to buy a new battery
Using jumpleads, there is quite a drop off in current, so it only really works if your battery is OK, just a bit flat. So if you charge up your battery & it is still giving trouble, then it could well be time for a new one

HTH

[Sid Squid]

Originally Posted by Mr Toad

I believe you can do the same from a car battery, but don't start the car engine as the bike will draw much less power/current. I'd check the battery details in the SV manual - if it's only supposed to be 6 volts then I'd be a bit wary of using a 12 volt car battery, in case it does fry the alarm

Why shouldn't you start the car?* And if you have two vehicles - car or bike - with differing sytems, one six and one twelve volt, don't connect them together at all, engines running or not. A fried alarm would be the least of your troubles.

Yes, the SV is twelve volts, very little nowadays isn't, even teensy mopeds and the like.

Originally Posted by Carsick

I think jump starting and push/bump starting might be two different things.

They are.

Bump = push start = shove it along dump the clutch.

Jump = connect another battery with - would you Adam 'n Eve it: Jump Leads !


* Bloody amatuers, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

Originally Posted by Sid Squid

Why shouldn't you start the car?* And if you have two vehicles - car or bike - with differing sytems, one six and one twelve volt, don't connect them together at all, engines running or not. A fried alarm would be the least of your troubles.

Yes, the SV is twelve volts, very little nowadays isn't, even teensy mopeds and the like.

I heard someone say it on Friday night , thought it might be to do with different voltages, but obviously not. I wouldn't have thought starting the car or not would make much difference, given the much larger size of the car battery, I would guess it would be unlikely that you would flatten it starting a bike