Unridden bike gets revenge- as usual

[icabad]

Ran into a problem today- a quick search took me to this thread: http://www.motobrick.com/index.php?topic=3128.0 which impressed me enough to create an account to ask my related question:

89 k75 with about 35k. Well taken care of for it's last 28 years or so by a German engineer who got too old to ride it. Of course I didn't ride it enough the last few months, so the battery (probably 18 months old) died.

Pulled it out today, had no life, not even the LCD clock. Jacked it into my car, and started right up. Choked it to keep a fast idle and disconnected, leaving it to idle at about 2000 RPM, hoping that'd charge the battery (if it was chargeable, which i'm beginning to doubt).

At one point it was fine, suddenly it died. I reconnected the cables, repeated, ran a while, same thing happened.

Finally took it for a short ride, going up to 7kRPM or so, and then it died again. Brought the car to it, jumped it, and drove home. On way home i tested everything- and blinkers, emergency, etc.. worked, but when i hit the horn, everything died- had enough speed to start again - repeated several times. Then it died coming into the driveway.

So my theories:
- battery is shot, and so when i jump it it's getting just enough charge to run for a bit, and then somehow sucking too much power from the generator (even at 2k RPM) to cause it to shut down. I've never been able to accrue enough power to start it without it being hooked to my car, and it has only died when not plugged in to my car.

- somehow the horn uses enough power, or is on some kind of circuit that exacerbates this problem. This doesn't really make sense to me, as I know that the headlight, high beams, and flashers use a good deal of power  and it's hard to imagine the horn could kill everything, but while driving, it sure did.

- There seems to be ZERO problem with the starting, fuel, or other instrumentation, and there seem to be just enough power to retain the juice for the clock and a bit of light on the panel, which seems to fade pretty quickly- leading me to believe the battery is shot.

If I need a new battery would appreciate the sort that will tolerate my sloppiness and periods of not riding (or recs on easiest trickle system to deal with- i do have a small solar panel, but the parking spot is not near an outlet).

I am mystified by the horn issue though... and open to ideas.

d.i.

[AR-Trvlr]

If I need a new battery would appreciate the sort that will tolerate my sloppiness and periods of not riding (or recs on easiest trickle system to deal with- i do have a small solar panel, but the parking spot is not near an outlet).

I've used a "battery tender jr." on my motorcycles for years, and use it on my K75 - it seems to do the job great.  They run fine from an extension cord as well - they don't draw much juice.  My K75 has the aux. electrical outlet down below the left side panel, and I made a plug so I can plug it in there and just unplug it when I want to go for a ride.

[johnny]

greetings icabad...

welcome to motobrick.com...

batteries can be whack... especially after one goes near dead or completely dead...

your moto needs enough poo from the battery to start your moto... after that its your alternator that putts out the poo to run everything and keep your battery topped off...

if your battery is whack and wont take the poo from the alternator then eventually unusual occurrences will commence...

i would pull the battery and take it to an auto parts store and have them load test it... they can tell you if its whack...

another thing is its not good to jump your moto from a car while your battery is wired up... if you have to its best to do it without the car running... just battery to battery and hit your start button... car alternators can cause lotts o whack to your moto...

if you are on the edge then perhaps the horn is enough to push you over the edge... i would get the battery tested and make sure all the battery cables are clean and firmly attached at both ends...

j o

[Scott_]

As far as the horn situation, have you tried to use the horn when you had the bike connected to the car battery?

[mystic red]

This.....

So my theories:
- battery is shot, and so when i jump it it's getting just enough charge to run for a bit, and then somehow sucking too much power from the generator (even at 2k RPM) to cause it to shut down. I've never been able to accrue enough power to start it without it being hooked to my car, and it has only died when not plugged in to my car.

[Chaos]

Horns can go out of adjustment and suck lots of amps.  As for the battery, years ago I bought a Westco with a Westco charger.  Battery lasted 7 years using the charger during riding lapses.  And the charger is good cars, lawn tractors, etc.  Another neat trick is a cheap trickle charger plugged into the automatic garage door light.  Every time you open the door the battery gets a 10 minute trickle. 

[icabad]

As far as the horn situation, have you tried to use the horn when you had the bike connected to the car battery?

Good idea- I'll try that. I assume that if that works fine, then definitely there's a drain issue.

Thanks everyone for the ideas- i just got hold of a small solar panel- thinking that with the next battery to just use the panel to trickle charge it- but not sure how to make sure it doesn't overcharge.

d.i.

[K75RT Keith]

Forget the other electrical items especially the horn.  Your battery is taking a surface charge and when it runs down your down.  Bite the bullet and buy a battery.  'm partial to AGM batteries cause I have battery acid leaking.

[JamesInCA]

You won't be able to diagnose anything until you have a good battery in there. Until then it'll always be, "Is something wrong with X, or is this just the dead battery?" There's no point in going around in circles like that.

The Odyssey PC680 is popular on these bikes, and as an AGM battery it's less prone to die during periods of disuse.

[icabad]

You won't be able to diagnose anything until you have a good battery in there. Until then it'll always be, "Is something wrong with X, or is this just the dead battery?" There's no point in going around in circles like that.

The Odyssey PC680 is popular on these bikes, and as an AGM battery it's less prone to die during periods of disuse.

Went ahead and ordered one - for a novice like me, sure is/was confusing to figure out the best route to go- read quite a few forums on this- sounded like what i needed was a panasonic AGM20 amps or more. The leads on the one i ordered (in picture have thin parts coming up) though don't look quite like the one I have (have square parts coming up).

FWIW I did try the horn with it jacked to the car and worked like a charm. I left it on the car for several hours and while it held enough to light stuff up much brighter, was barely enough to turn the engine over.

Out of curiousity, leaving it charging on the car overnight (fritzed my charger 2 days ago- it got wet) to see if that'll make any difference.

The bike does have the cigarette lighter (12v charger) mount- is it easy enough to just do the battery maintenance via that for long periods of disuse?

Finally, and on an unrelated note, any tips for easily adjusting the shocks? I'm 250 and when i take the missus we bottom out a bit (though she's about 125lbs)... it's on the lowest setting and i'd like the highest.

di

[johnny]

greetings...

im thinking if you wanna 2up a 75 with 500 pounds of load... rider + passenger + gear + loaded bags... you are gonna need new front fork springs and a rear shock built for that weight...

j o

[Scott_]

The bike does have the cigarette lighter (12v charger) mount- is it easy enough to just do the battery maintenance via that for long periods of disuse?

If it is live all the time and not switched off with the ign switch, it should work. I've found though that the cig lighter sockets that came with these bikes aren't the same size as the lighter plugs in cars/trucks. (at least not here in the US.)

If your bike has the Hela plug option

get yourself a matching male plug for it. It makes for a good connection and it's more likely to be live all the time.

[rocket23]

 my water pump seal went after a 2 week shut down.........never thought it would let me down so quick!. I have a new one shipping in from Fla. I will also do a rebuild on mine, so if anyone will need one later it will be available.