Start me up......

[jamman18]

Filled up my battery yesterday with distilled water as it was a bit low but not bad.  Then I threw it on the slowcharge all day.  Went out this am to start it and the motor would not start and the starter ran slow......tried kickstarting it and nothing.  Ideas, anyone?  It is a 1977 CB750 SS.

[cdaiscool]

How's the corrosion in the main fuse? How's the battery, may be bad. Take it to a shop and get it checked out.

[jamman18]

Thanks, will do.

[Piute]

hook it up to a car batt. (just the batt ),not jump start ,i use a car batt to test all thing on bike before i even bought a bike batt,see if it will turn as I did use it to test and tune bike last lots longer and can leave on charger over night and use again,THIS is till you get a good batt ,.drianing a bike batt low & rechagreging a bike batt is not good ,on my 3rd el'cheapo .

[shinyribs]

Do you have a meter to test actual voltage of the battery.That could tell you alot. You can get a decent meter at Harbor Freight for under $10. Beats having to drive it around town to get it tested.

[jamman18]

Yes, I have a meter....weird though.....got home after work and tried it again and it started right up!  Probably just doesn't like the cold any more than me!

[Piute]

   Hey Jamm,
 You may wont to wiggle yo plug that goes into ignition switch ,mine had a short(wire Lil burnt),would let thing go dead as you said ,May/can happen while riding I believe,I bought new it went bad,(whole dang thing fell apart brand new)taped it up and still not working right SO,Now running on hidden switches on a hot wire,But works just fine and no worries,

[jamman18]

Well, that was short-lived!  Now it acts as if the battery is beyond dead as the lights, starter......nothing works.  Checked the battery with a multimeter and it showed less than 10v but when I threw it on the charger, the needle was way down towards zero as if it were all charged.  I know in the past it has shown this at first and then it goes up and then finally works its way down as it charges. We will see what it does after a night of charging.  It may just be beyond dead.  I thought I might hook up some cables to my car battery but not fire the car up to see if it is the battery too.  

Thoughts?

[jamman18]

Also, what are opinions on sealed batteries vs the regular ones that you have to add water?

[rich]

I had a similar problem with my battery. It wouldn't charge. I keep it on a battery tender and the light was green (charged) but the battery was dead? Turned out it was dry as a bone. LOL. I didn't check the water since I got it two years ago. I checked the battery in my Goldwing and was about 50%. I filled them both up and now they charge just fine. I don't trust them though and will get news ones for the next riding season.

Checking the water is pain. Get an AGM battery and forget about it. Costs a bit more but they are said to be a lot batter than any flooded cell battery.

[jamman18]

AGM is the sealed kind?

[rrgunslinger]

I'm with Rich on this one. AGM is filled with gel and sealed. You can lay it on it's side if you want to or on it's end, however way you want to put it. I will never buy another regular battery. Have one in my CB that's in my avatar.  

[jamman18]

Well, this am I took the charger off the battery after 19 hrs on.  The indicator on the charger was still only down to "3" but the lights come on now, etc.  Have a feeling the thing is shot.....

[rrgunslinger]

Even if you get it started, with the low voltage on the battery the bike will go into full charge mode and stay there until the batt is up. This will over heat your changing system.  That's why we see so many old systems fried. Bad Battery...