Wilsons Sandbox

I've had this problem happen once on my '92 KLR and have seen it on used bikes that customers buy that have old batteries or been setting up awhile. The battery, with age lots of times, starts getting sediment in the bottom. After a ruff road or sometimes just a lay down, this stuff gets up into the plates shorting them out. Bingo, dead battery that was doing fine just minutes ago. Think that most batts need to be changes at 3 years on the whole. Few exceptions here and there I guess. BMW used to warrant their batts for 3 years but now just a year. I had one replaced at 2.8 years and about 40K miles when the ABS kept deactivating upon start up. Found a few cells very weak so my dealer changed it out. -- Best Regards & Happy Trails Andy Chesley @ 57 and ticking Y2KLR650 @ 5.4K sMiles 97 R11RA (Amiga) @ 14K Miles So Many Roads, So Little Time http://members.deltech.net/aches/

Dale, It's important to fully charge your battery ASAP. A fully discharged battery may return to 90 - 95% of its previous state if properly charged & not left in a partially discharged state for any length of time. Maximum charge rate is no more than 1.5 amps. The temperature of the battery (while charging) must never be more than slightly warm to the touch. It may take several days for the battery to fully recover. If you're using an older 6 or 10 amp trickle charger that trickles down to less than 2 amps, watch the battery carefully. The older chargers don't have sophisticated circuitry to make sure that the amperage doesn't rise. Charging overnite at 3 or more amps will probably fry the battery. If the battery's *resting* voltage is above 12.5 volts after it has been sitting for 4 -6 hours (after the charger was disconnected), the battery is probably OK. You will get a mis- leading reading if you check the battery voltage or use a hydometer shortly after removing the charger. It's an almost certain kiss-of-death if you try to charge the battery just by riding your KLR. Professor A9 Federal Way, WA. [USA] ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ --- Dale_Johnson@a... wrote: [snip]

> I left my key on friday night so saterday night no juice in my > battery.. I jump started it this morning and road it for 1 1/2 > hours. I noticed that my blinkers are speeding up with engine > revs, and also when i got to work this morning.. Still dead > battery.. So what do you think, battery is toast?

Joe-- You left the key all the way counterclocked in the parking lights position. You should be able to jump it even with a completely kaput battery, if you're doing it right. You can jump directly to the thick wire running from the starter solenoid to the starter, under that rectangular black cover on the left side of the bike. You hook up the hot lead there, and the negative lead to the frame or battery ground strap. Be careful, as soon as you touch the hot lead the engine will turn over, in gear or not. For push starting, try pushing, then hopping on, standing up, and sort of jumping up and dropping down onto the seat at the moment you let out the clutch. Still doesn't always work, but it's better. Regarding your battery, if it was iffy to begin with, running it dead could kill it. Jumping as per above will start the bike even with a dead short unless there's something seriously amiss. If you hook up your car battery where the KLR battery ought to be, you ought to be able to trace the path with a test light and find your problem. I assume you checked your fuse, though, right? If you buy a new battery, I recommend a sealed battery. Everyone's got their preferences, but I've had amazingly good results with Yuasa sealed batteries. Kick start? Mid 96 and earlier is possible, but you're more likely to hit the lotto than find the parts for it these days. Since 96 it can't be done, IIRC. -Luke --- Joe Tittiger wrote:

> The rubber met the road last night and I am glad > that I was a home and > not out in the boonies by myself. I have a bad > habit of leaving the > keys in the ignition and did it one worse by leaving > the key on > somehow. > > I tried to push start the bike but even in 5th gear > all that I manange > to do was to drag the rear tire across the pavement. > (I now have very > little faith in ever being able to push start the > bike unless I am at > the top of a big hill and can sit on the bike) > > Anyhew I could not start the bike even when jumped > with a 12v car > battery. So I put it on the trickle charger > overnight and this > morning after 15 hours of charging I tried to start > it. Nothing!! > > Something really smells here. Did drawing the > battery down one time > ruin the battery? It acts like a dead short also > as it won't even > jump with a big car battery. > > Looking forward to all advice but will probably have > to order a > battery online today as this is my only vehicle. > > > BTW what is the possibility of adding a kick start > to the KLR? I have > heard that it is no longer possible. > > > > Thanks in advance, > > Joe in Fort Myers > > > > > > > Archive Quicksearch at: >

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On Tue, 04 Apr 2006 19:40:31 -0000 "Joe Tittiger" writes:

> The rubber met the road last night and I am glad that I was a home > and > not out in the boonies by myself. I have a bad habit of leaving the > > keys in the ignition and did it one worse by leaving the key on > somehow. > > I tried to push start the bike but even in 5th gear all that I > manange > to do was to drag the rear tire across the pavement. (I now have > very > little faith in ever being able to push start the bike unless I am > at > the top of a big hill and can sit on the bike) > > Anyhew I could not start the bike even when jumped with a 12v car > battery. So I put it on the trickle charger overnight and this > morning after 15 hours of charging I tried to start it. Nothing!! > > Something really smells here. Did drawing the battery down one time > > ruin the battery? It acts like a dead short also as it won't even > > jump with a big car battery. > > Looking forward to all advice but will probably have to order a > battery online today as this is my only vehicle. > > > BTW what is the possibility of adding a kick start to the KLR? I > have > heard that it is no longer possible. > > > > Thanks in advance, > > Joe in Fort Myers >>>>>>>>>>

www.airheads.org The Beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota 75 R90/6, 03 KLR650, 79 R100RT

Tom, The article you posted is great. The missing piece, for me, is the Voltmeter -- the quickest way to find answers to battery questions If your battery has been trickle-charged successfully and you have just disconnected it five minutes ago, the voltage across the terminals should be at least 12.8 V. If a battery at 12.8 V fails to make the KLR starter turn over, then the problem is not the battery -- it's most likely, in my experience, to be some kind of "bad connection" involving battery, starter, and ignition switch. If the battery registers much less than 12.8 V (for example, if it registers 12.1 V or less) then the trickle charger probably wasn't charging. A battery that registers 12.1 V or less is for practical purposes "completely discharged". So, while still measuring the voltage, you could reconnect the trickle charger. 1) If the voltage immediately jumps to some high number (e.g., anything above 14.0 or so) then the battery is Toast. 2) If the voltage immediately jumps to 12.1 or 12.2 or some other not-much-higher number, then your trickle charger is now charging the battery and it is worth waiting a while and seeing if the voltmeter eventually gets to 13-point-something. If so, the battery may be reasonably healthy, and should then start the KLR without difficulty. 3) If essentially nothing happens, then you should suspect that the trickle charger is Toast, in which case Tests #1 and #2 above would be inconclusive and you'll have to try them with a different trickle charger (or real charger). In my experience, (1) fairly new batteries can still be Toast, and this fact can be proven most easily by Test #1 above; the fact that the fluids are okay doesn't prove that the battery is okay. Contamination of the fluid and plate damage can cause battery failure at a young age. (2) Bad connections in the battery circuits (starting, ignition, or charging) can make great batteries look like trash. A really cheap Voltmeter lets you choose your hypothesis very quickly. "Really cheap" means five bucks, but even the sophisticated thirteen-dollar variety (e.g., http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_12496_12496) can be used if you can't find one in the two-dollar bin at your local auto parts store ... I tend to own three or four at any given time, because bad things happen to them and I like to have a couple of spares. My experience is limited to about fifty years of marine electrical systems, forty years of automotive electrical systems, and only ten years of motorcycle electrical systems, so you should take what I say with the appropriate grains of salt. Lou McIntosh green 2008 KLR southern Maine At 05:43 PM 1/9/2009, Tom Zangla wrote:

>Went out to go for a ride (25 degrees) today and the KLR would not >turn over. I took the battery out to check the fluid level and it >was in specs. > >This battery was hooked up to a trickle charger and I had just >disconnected it. I took the battery out and brought it in the house >and hooked up another trickle charger and nothing showed on the charger. > >I had another battery and hooked the charger to it and it showed that >the trickle charger was working. > >This is the second time I have had this happen. Last winter I had a >AGM battery that went dead and I could not get the trickle charger to >work on it. I sent it back and they e mailed me back that the AGM >battery had been totally discharged but they got it charged back up. > >When I turned off the ignition and locked the forks I check to make >sure the tail light is not on when I park it. > >A couple of questions. What do you think could at times be draining >the battery? If a battery gets too far drained will a trickle charger >work on it? How can I test this dead batter to find out what is >the problem with it. > >Thanks in advance >Tom >SW Pennsylvania

Tom....There's an easy way to find your draw....take off the + battery terminal and put a test light or ammeter between the + battery terminal and the + battery wire...with the key off , if the light lights up or the ammeter shows current you have a draw....then it's just a matter of unplugging things to make it go away....you might check the stator or regulator....pull the fuses and see if it makes a difference.....Of course if it's only an occasional draw it may be a little tougher to nail it down.....then LUCK comes into play !!! Mike From: tomzangla@...: minoman59@...: Re: [DSN_KLR650] Dead BatteryDate: Fri, 9 Jan 2009 22:52:26 -0500 Hi Mike... my terminals were tight and something at only rare times is draining the battery and I do not know what it is. Tom

----- Original Message ----- From: Mike Huber To: tomzangla@... Sent: Friday, January 09, 2009 9:16 PM Subject: RE: [DSN_KLR650] Dead Battery Tom...As i just posted up I'm In the process of tearing my bike down completly and I noticed that the nut to the starter solenoid was loose...I also had another incedent a couple of months ago where my bolt on the + battery terminal was loose causing an intermittant start problem....vibration is a bitch !!! JM2cents, Mike Huber To: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.comFrom: tomzangla@...: Fri, 9 Jan 2009 22:43:11 +0000Subject: [DSN_KLR650] Dead Battery Went out to go for a ride (25 degrees) today and the KLR would notturn over. I took the battery out to check the fluid level and itwas in specs.This battery was hooked up to a trickle charger and I had just disconnected it. I took the battery out and brought it in the houseand hooked up another trickle charger and nothing showed on the charger.I had another battery and hooked the charger to it and it showed thatthe trickle charger was working. This is the second time I have had this happen. Last winter I had aAGM battery that went dead and I could not get the trickle charger to work on it. I sent it back and they e mailed me back that the AGMbattery had been totally discharged but they got it charged back up.When I turned off the ignition and locked the forks I check to makesure the tail light is not on when I park it. A couple of questions. What do you think could at times be drainingthe battery? If a battery gets too far drained will a trickle chargerwork on it? How can I test this dead batter to find out what is the problem with it.Thanks in advanceTomSW Pennsylvania [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]