I use a combination of a car charger that does 100 amp start assist, and 2 amp charge with shut off. And a battery tender that does .7 amp. The car charger works to start a bike with a dead battery for testing, and the 2 amp is a good rate for charging/ desulfication of a low battery. Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
-----Original Message----- From: Graham Rogers <[email protected]> Sender: [email protected] Date: Fri, 11 Oct 2013 23:47:51 To: <[email protected]> Reply-To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Nighthawk Lovers] Re: Back from the beyond Dennis, don't get a trickle charger, one that just continually charges at .5 amps or whatever, get a maintainer, one that chargers and then switches off when it is fully charged. Graham On Oct 11, 2013, at 11:18 PM, Dennis Gallagher wrote: > Well, it turned out to be the battery as everyone thought. I went and > bought a sealed battery unit for $140 NZD and popped it in and vaarooooom - > we were good to go. Thanks, gentlemen for your thoughts on this! > > I'm going to swap the new battery into my '86 CB700, which has been down for > sometime with what I thought was a blown starter motor but now I'm wondering. > Worth a try, eh? I might get both my babies up and running. If the '86 > starts, I'm going to buy another battery of the same type and, hopefully, > leave all battery problems behind me for a number of years. > > Oh yes, and there's going to be some trickle charger action here soon as well. > > Dennis > Christchurch > > > On Friday, October 11, 2013 5:16:26 PM UTC+13, Dennis Gallagher wrote: > Hey all, > > > Back in late December, I shut the spigot on getting E-Mail from this group > because I was going to be off traveling for an extended period. And I knew > that my two CB700’s would just be sitting quietly out in the garage waiting > for my return. > > > Well, I’m back and I wanted to step back into the stream here again for my > dose of Nighthawk mania. > > > But, before I could even do that (I’ve been home just four days now), I’ve > already got a motorcycle problem! So, rather than just re-joining for a chat > and some lurking, I’ve got issues I need help on. > > > Yesterday, I recharged the battery on my ’85, popped the battery in and > cranked it over. It took a long time before I got it to fire and then keep > running but it eventually did. All good, I thought. I took it around the > block, visited the local service station and put the air pressure up in the > tires and was well satisfied with things. > > > Today, I took it down the the New Zealand version of the Department of Motor > Vehicles and got it inspected (a requirement here every six months) and then > re-registered it. All good. Lights, brakes and everything looked good to > them and they passed it with no problems. > > > Then I took off to do some errands and, wouldn’t you know it, after my second > errand (now I’m on the far side of Christchurch from where I live) I came > out, hit the starter and got a weird buzzing noise rather than the normal > starter motor noises. Mmmmm. Not good. > > > After a few attempts at wiggling things and trying to start it again, even > the weird buzzing noise stopped and the dash lights dimmed away to zero when > I hit the starter. So, I’m thinking ‘this battery’s dead’. > > > I fussed with it and pulled the battery and several of the cells were low. > I remembered that it had been full up when I put it on the charger yesterday > but when I took it off the charger, I never rechecked the cell levels. So, I > assume that the recharge must have driven off some of the water in it (or the > aliens came and took it?). > > > Regardless, I’m focused on the battery now. > > > I tried a quick push-start but that did nothing. I had another problem > there. When I put the bike in 3rd and tried to push it for a pop-start, I > can feel the engine dragging even though the clutch lever’s all the way in. > So I know my clutch reservoir’s brake fluid is low and maybe I have some air > in the line. So, it’s not looking like push starting will be an option > unless several gorillas come along to help me push. And if the battery’s > sincerely dead, would it run anyway? > > > I call my girlfriend and she comes and gets me and off we go home after > stashing the beast behind an art and framing shop. At home, I top up the > battery cells with tap water (yes, I know I should have used distilled) and > put it back onto the charger for an hour and 30 minutes. > > > Then, back into the car and we’re away to the motorcycle again. I pop the > battery in, turn the key and I get the same weird buzzing noise again. I > trace it and it is in the starter relay coil making the racket. > > > So, that’s the situation now. > > > My thoughts are that perhaps the battery (which was old) has packed it in and > won’t hold enough charge now to fully engage the starter motor relay and send > juice onto the starter motor – hence the buzz and vibration which are > definitely coming from the relay. > > > If so, then I’m puzzled how, yesterday, when I was struggling to start it, I > was able to crank it for several long sessions before I got it to run. How > could the battery be that strong then and so lame now? > > > Maybe, one of the plates in the battery has failed (is that possible?) and so > it went from being able to do several good cranks to being seriously weak now? > > > I had the starter motor fail on my ’86 CB6700 several years ago (I wrote the > repair details all up here on the Nighthawk group) but the symptoms were > different than this. Then, I just got a solid click and nothing else. > > > Nighthawk gurus, what are your thoughts on this? > > > Dennis > > Christchurch, New Zealand > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nighthawk_lovers. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nighthawk_lovers. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nighthawk_lovers. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
