Secondary electric start

[CptBlack]

I have a remote start on my bike, and in the current weather, it doesn't kick over enough to actually start the bike, so I carry a screwdriver to short the relay when I can't get it started. Ideally I'd like to remove the remote start and put a proper electric start back on but I can't afford to pay a garage to do this, it would involve removing the immobiliser and alarm etc.

I was wondering if I could make things easier by wiring something like a doorbell across the terminals of the relay instead of using a screwdriver. I assume, normally, the relay is wired directly to the start button on the switch gear?

Can anyone see any problems with this, also what sort of load goes across the relay, would standard wiring be able to cope?

The bike is a Kawasaki Gpx 250r

[Teflon-Mike]

Have you seen the thickness of the wires on a door-bell?
Have you seen the size of the wires on your starter solenoid?
Now apply a little thought to the rather LARGE difference you will have noticed! Can you answer your own question yet?
Now, in a pique of common sense.... think about the problem here.
Whats the 'real' problem here?
Its not the remote start function, is it? That works like it should.
Its the fact that the battry isn't delivering enough 'oomph' to work the solenoid and the starter and the rest of the electrics at the same time.....
So, where should you start looking to fix this problem?
Wires and switches that were working fine, and doing what they should, or the battery, that obviousely isn't?
Which is likely to be the cheaper, safer fix?
A new battery delivering the goods it should, or some heath robbinson re-wiring, with bits of bell-wire and crimpy connectors?
Have you worked out the answer to your problem yet?
____________________
My Webby'Tef's-tQ, loads of stuff about my bikes, my Land-Rovers, and the stuff I do with them!
Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?'

[CptBlack]

The battery is new, I bought it in about mid-August, should be fine now surely?

When I press the button on the remote start, I can hear it crank over once. Evidently it needs more than just turning over once, I assumed due to this colder weather as it worked fine at the beginning of the month, hence suggesting a temporary fix.

As I lack neither the electrical know-how or funds to put it right correctly, I thought I'd ask those more knowledgeable. I guess I'll have to continue with the screwdriver trick in the mean-time.

[Gone]

I am not sure I understand the question, what do you mean by a 'remote start', an electric starter which is not attached to the bike? Are you saying that the regular starter will turn the engine over only once before giving up? It sounds to me as if the battery needs a good charge, even a new one can struggle in cold weather.

[CptBlack]

Yes, the remote start is on the key fob and the electric start on the switch gear has been disconnected. It is all tied in with the alarm etc. Personally, I would remove all that crap and put it back to normal, but I can't at the moment

[Gone]

I suspect that that will be your only choice unless the battery is letting you down, sounds as if it can't supply enough current to hold in the relay and turn the engine over, possibly too much resistance in whatever wiring has been used to replace the standard starter circuit. Seems a bit OTT for a 250, don't small bikes have kickstarts these days?

[CptBlack]

It's an m-reg so not very knew. Sadly no kickstart. The screwdriver works well, but is a little embarrasing when you have to do it in the middle of a carpark!

[Gone]

I would try giving the battery a good charge ans see if that makes a difference, if not, then I reckon it's down to the screwdriver until you have time to remove the new wiring and replace the original.

[Teflon-Mike]

If the battery was new in August, then it shouldn'e have suphated up yet, but, winter riding, will make it 'tired'.
You'll be taking longer to get it started, taking more charge out of it.
Cold will mean the electrolyte inside isn't so 'exited', so it wont have as much charge in it to begin with & it wont want to deliver quite so much, so quick.
Riding in adverse conditions, you'll be using the lights more, sucking charge, and probably not riding so 'eagerly' letting the motor rev as much, as often, to offer up 'surplus' juice to replenish the battery.
And a 'fancy' alarm with remote start is probably one thats sucking a fair bit of charge in its 'activated' mode, which may be well and good in suffer when theres spare amps around, but in winter, when there isn't and the battery's chilled, possibly pusing the margin.
Have you ever checked the electrolyte level since you changed it?
Have you ever put it on trickle charge?
Pull it, check the levels. Electrolytle 'settles' after first fill, so if you haven't touched it since swapping, probably a tad low, any way.
Top up with distilled or any 'spare' acid from the squeegee bottles that probably came with it, then over-night trickle charge.
You'll probably need to put a power source onto the battery terminals, to keep the alarm happy, and 'hot-swap', the main battery out.
A 9v smoke alarm battery, should be enough.
If its flat in the morning when you go to swap'em back, then your alarm systems probably sucking more juice than the system can handle, over-night.
But, at the mo, its the battery you need to be looking at and WHY your not getting the cranking amps you need, tackling the root-cause (and finding it) rather than looking at the sympton, ie your solenoid!
MAY be that its actually the solenoid' its a big electromagnet and its a bit gummed up and sticking in teh cold, so when you press the button theres enough volts to make it 'latch' and turn on teh starter, but as soon as the starter oads the system, voltage drop on the battery sees the holding volts on teh solenoid fall beneath whats needed to keep the starter trurned on.
But that's normally a 'secondary' contributory fault to teh primary, which is the lack of 'oomph' from your battery.
so thats where we start.
Then we look at the dran from the alarm, then the solenoid.
Your alarm, is also working a few solenoids, or smaller versions called relays, that are kicking in to close the 'imobiolised' circuits, when you activate it, and another doing teh job of your thumb on the starter button, when actually cranking, all of which will be sucking some juice, BUT, without ripping taht off and leaving your bike unsecure, IF that load is too much, we need to find a way of 'bolstering' the battery power to cope, which may mean a bigger battery, of an auxilliary 'alarm-battery' to power jjust the alarm, but the FIRST thing, is the battery, lets NOT jump ahead on this one.
____________________
My Webby'Tef's-tQ, loads of stuff about my bikes, my Land-Rovers, and the stuff I do with them!
Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?'

[G]

First off, it wouldn't be a case of a switch across the contacts.
As has been suggested, if you replaced your screwdriver with a small switch, it would no doubt fry the switch and wiring.

A switch should be fine, providing you do it the correct side of relay.
However just wiring it in to the other side isn't going to work because it needs a 12v feed. A simple way would be to wire the switch in (with a fuse) from the battery to the correct pin of the relay which activates the switch. This would of course bypass the usual safety/security features, such as to check if the ignition is on, bike is in gear etc.

[hmmmnz]

the smartest thing to do is put it back to the normal push button start, if the monkey who originally did the wiring had a clue then he wouldnt have disabled the normal start button, he would have just wired the remote start in parallel to it,

i don't know how far to go into this, first the starter solenoid /relay

it is essentially one big switch operated from somewhere else (start button, remote starter etc) and has a feed directly from the battery and one large cable going to the starter motor, to control the relay you need to "energise the coil" which in effect closes the switch

https://static.flickr.com/2262/2098020147_aa3b641136.jpg

to me it sounds like your starter relay solenoid is fucked, and the internal contacts have corroded and are no longer letting the electricity through

i would buy a new starter relay, by putting a screw driver across the contacts you are essentially bypassing the the relay,

buy one from ebay, it doesnt have to be specific to your bike it can be from anything, even a car
here or just search your self here or go to halfords and buy one (i think they stock them??)
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