Flat battery, bump start and exploding bulbs
 

Had not ridden my Tenere for a few weeks and no surprise, the battery was flat.

It bump started ok and I set off from SE London towards Oxford.

I had not noticed the headlamp was not working until it started to get dark and I pulled into a backstreet bike shop in Oxford.

The 20A fuse had blown, put in the spare, it blew. Put in a 30A fuse and the low beam bulb exploded. Swapped the bulb, works fine, so I rode home.

So, question.... Would bump starting the bike cause a surge that somehow damaged (shorted) the bulb then blow a fuse? or is there likely to be another fault somewhere waiting to err it's ugly head?

Or it could just be coincidence! ;)

That is what I think.

I bump started my a few times without problem. Look at all the connections and broken wires (especially under the tank)

I have never believed in coincidences..........

I can't see how bump starting a big single would cause a surge in anything except your perspiration rate.

My guess would be a dead short in the headlight bulb, which you have now cured with a new one.

hi, I believe it's merely a coincidence, the H7 bulbs are fickle and fragile. I have seen plenty having an internal short blowing the fuse, happened once on the ten on a backroad in wales, of course at night!

as for the flat battery do you have accessory's such as an alarm? was the battery completely flat?. more of a concern if it continues

While talking about batteries going flat....... how long can everyone leave their bike without being on charge in winter? I left mine between Xmas and new year and it refused to start. No alarm other than std Yamaha.

Not really sure, but I must say I am impressed with my new Ten. We have had between minus ten and twenty for a long time now, and I can of course feel that the battery is strugling when its at the most cold, but it has started and never misted a beat so far.

By the way, what is the most recomended battery charger? I would like to have one ready to plug in every night coming home from work, and where in the bike do I plug it in. Elictricity and stuff is not my strong side...

Thankx ahead

Embarassed to say I had not ridden my Tenere for more than 6 weeks, and even then it was less than 10 miles. So I am not surprised the battery was flat.

A decent 150 mile trip and now it seems to be back to normal.

I've been using Optimate for as long as I can remember and have a flying lead on my classic car and bike so I just swap from one to the other as and when.

http://www.optimate.co.uk/

yeah same here.

got a new battery waiting at home but not putting it in until spring. i just use my Optimate and give it a charge before i go out on it at the weekend.

the prob is if you get in to a sticky situation off roading and you keep getting stuck and stalling it. Every time you start it you think "how many times can i do this until it wont start :) )

I normally keep mine on a optimate too but forgot to plug it in. Ten days or so and it was too flat to start.

Admittedly it's not cold here at the moment (or ever, compared with the climate that some of you legends survive in!), but I can leave my bike for a month or so and it will start. I've given up doing that, though, and leave a trickle charger hooked up if I'm away at work.
I left it for 6 weeks once, and it only just wheezed into life. But the electrics weren't happy, and it took some while before everything returned to normal.
I left my TTR250 for 4 months a few years ago, at it still started on the button. Hero. No immobiliser makes a big difference, I guess.

Optimate +1. Can be hooked up overnight for a boost, or left on all winter if necessary. It can also recover apparently dead batteries. From experience, this is true. Wouldn't be without one.

I had this problem one time me and my friends got stucked in a totally off road trail, just for dirt bikes. It was so much mud that, everytime the engine went down, one tear starts to drop from my eye. That day, the battery dont let me down, but we still had to sleep on the middle of nowhere!

Check the regulator wire plug and contact.Or regulator .:003:

I too rate the Optimate very highly and I keep most of my bikes plugged in over the winter months, so a Yuasa life is greatly extended. More recently (3 years ago) I switched to the CTEK chargers cos they have excellent connecters which you can fit to the fairing of the bike (see http://www.ctek.com/gb/en) and they also make chargers in OEM form for Yamaha (and loads of other car and bike manufacturers) and I find them excellent and I now have 4, and recently one of these even brought the battery on my van back to life!!! Your choise!!

I have a ride-on mower that uses one of those sealed lay-flat batteries. After about 5 years of neglect, it was failing to hold a charge. I was mowing for 30 minutes, stopped to open a gate etc., and it didn't have enough to start again, i.e. really dead. If it had been in a car or bike I would have replaced it months before that, but being a cheapskate ...

I hooked it up to the Optimate, more in hope than anything, and got the red/yellow lights that say 'battery f***ed'. I had been told that recovering a dead battery could take some time, so I left it like that for several days. One morning I checked it and, lo and behold, a green light. It took a whole week. I put the battery back in the mower and used it for another year until I finally bit the bullet and replaced it. That's why I rate Optimates.

(One downside is that the original Optimates used those white plastic Tamiya-type connectors between charger and pigtail, croc clips etc. This destroyed itself pretty quickly and I replaced it with something more robust. I believe the new ones come with SAE connectors (the ones where the male and female are identical) that should be much better.)

Interesting thread. My X is now experiencing her second winter, living outside under a rain cover. I haven't ridden for 8 days now because of the snow, but need to get out tomorrow. Last winter I left her out for 2 weeks in frost/snow & she started on the button. If battery is too low to start her in the morning, what is the best course of action:
1) jump start from car battery (with car NOT running), or
2) bump start in 2nd down the road? Will the FI complain??
I guess batteries have a life expectancy - cars are around 5 years or so, boat/Yacht batteries less, but what about bikes????

I've generally found (and measured) that most OE lead/acid motorcycle (and car) batteries start a sudden and rapid deterioration in their ability to retain voltage after 3 years. Obviously they last longer than that that (depending on charge-discharge cycle), but there will be a steady decline there after. Regular topping up with an Optimate or such, doesn't really do much to halt the decline, it just assists the battery in retaining its voltage - the Optimate will do more work to cover up the battery's failings. All battery conditioning devices are really just "helpers" rather than "fixers".

My feelings too. Yes, your bike will probably start in the morning if it has been connected to an Optimate, but it might fail on a trip or if you use the starter a lot and only ride short distances.

If your battery is slow to charge or won't, try dropping it onto a hard surface from 4-5 feet, then charging again. Something about shaking deposits off the plates, plus nothing to lose usually. Having said that, I'm inclined to invest in a new battery once I lose confidence in the old. Mind you, one thing to watch out for is passing the "lock" position and leaving the park lights on.

Apart from your eyesight when the case breaks open and you spray sulphuric acid everywhere! ;)