Dead Battery, now what?

[Grayrider]

It was almost 60 today and with much anticipation I tried to start my 1100 RT only to find that the battery was dead. Now what? I've heard different things about jumping the battery but would like some advice as how to or what not to do....

Hunter

[Jim VonBaden]

I've had fine success jumpstarting from a car.

 

Hook up the cables as normal for any jumpstart, run the donor car for a few minutes to give your bike a charge, then shut off the donor car and start the bike. Remove cables and ride at least 30 miles before shutting down.

 

BUT, before you do that, make sure your cables on the bike are clean and tight.

 

Jim

[bmwmick]

+1

 

Jim has it right!!

 

Mick

[Grayrider]

Thanks guys.

[HoMa506]

Also... think of what lead to the dead battery. If it's around 5 years old it might just be time for a new battery. If it's just been sitting has it been on a battery tender?

[wolcott]

If you have to pull off the LH side of the tupperware to access the battery (meaning you don't have that positive battery terminal extender post adapter on the bike, and you don't feel comfortable jamming a large screwdriver down to the positive post) then you may want to jump start the bike and ride it around with the LH tupperware off to charge the battery. After it is charged, you can take the battery out and bring it to the bike shop and have it load tested (unless the auto parts store can do it- don't know).

However, if there is a date stamped on the battery and it's like 3 years old, then you may want to just go ahead and replace it with an Odyssey or Panasonic battery. Clean up your terminals and put some battery corrosion paste on them. You could also clean up your solenoid connections on the starter or even go further and do the starter cleanup where you disassemble the drive end housing of the starter, clean up the starter drive and splines, lubricate, and put back together.