My name's Bob and I'm an idiot... Okay, maybe not so much..

[Kamikaze Bob]

Riding home from work today, and a couple of hundred yards from home, waiting to turn right at a junction, the bike dies.

I thought I had slipped the clutch too much, so try to restart the bike. Nothing.

With cars starting to queue behind me, and me sitting in the middle of the road going nowhere, I have no choice but to waddle the bike over to the side of the road to get out the way. Keep trying the starter - no dice.

Now I'm at the top of a hill, so I pull the clutch in, kick it into first, and set myself rolling... Manage to get the bike going, so ease it round the corner to the house, it cuts out a couple more times but popping the clutch gets it going until it gets to the house. Have to push it up the drive, but at least I'm home.

I get the multimeter out and it's a simple case of a dead battery. That's 6 months old. Something ain't right.

I notice I have the USB charger connected from my last wee camping trip, forgot to disconnect it (never had it connected before, it was there when I bought the bike) as I figured if nothing was in the charger it wouldn't complete the circuit and nowt would happen. Quick check online tells me that isn't the case, as it changes the voltage so constantly drains the battery, yaddy yaddy ya...

So, stupid rookie mistake fucks my battery, but at least I should be able to charge it - once I borrow a charger from someone - and hopefully get some time out of it while I wait for a new one coming. Was dreading a major repair bill.

Who else has made a stupid kind of mistake like that? Be honest!



Edit: Was thinking of buying a set of Oxford heated grips, the new ones that run straight off the battery with a smart controller to stop the kind of thing above. Rethinking that now...
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2001 Honda VFR800fi

[Fladdem]

Me! https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=4200404&highlight=#4200404

The second break-down was caused because of that. I'd just fitted a USB charger to the bike as well before I went. I had fitted a set of bullet connectors though, so I could pull the connection apart and turn it off when not in use. Still didn't work, I think.
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Current:1991 Honda MT50 (Soon to be a H100/MTX/MT5 hybrid), 1976 Honda Cub C70, 2005 Honda Varadero 125, 1993 Yamaha TTR250 Open Enduro , 2010 Road Legal Stomp YX140, 1994 Honda CRM 250 MK III, 1999 Cagiva Mito 125, 1992 Honda CB400 Super Four, Stomp T4 230, 1984 Honda H100s, 2009 Sym XS125K
Past:2003 Aprilia RS125, 1982 Kawasaki GPZ550(FREE BIKE!)
I'm having more fun than a well-oiled midget.

[doggone]

Something else is wrong here, while the charger might drain the battery if you left it parked unused for several days, when the engine is running the alternator can supply far more current than it could draw even charging something up..

[Rogerborg]

[Kamikaze Bob]

[monkeybiker]

I've got one of them cigarette lighter socket things connected to my bike permanently live and never had any problems.

[J.M.]

I fitted a phone charger to my bike. I didn't want what happened to you to happen to me, so I wired it up to a switched live. My tail light.

I fitted the phone charger for my Spain road trip.

This thing that I spent so much effort fitting perfectly, soldering, heat shrinking, routing, and securely mounting the usb port to the dash. This thing just refused to work.

After several hundred miles, I finally had the penny drop that because it was so sunny in Spain, I hadn't bothered turning any of the lights on
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2004 R1 & 2018 XSR900

[kramdra]

Do not get oxford grips! The low voltage cutoff that you mention is set lower than flat battery voltage!

Check rest of charging circuit. Charging from empty can put high load and cook the wires/connectors.


For charging get an rc lipo charger from hobbyking/ebay.... Imax B6 for example. Much better than automotive shite and cheaper.

[pinkyfloyd]

I fitted (well I supervised the boss fitting) heated grips. If you get a 30amp 4 pin relay from halfrauds and connect the grips through that and onto a wire that is only live when you turn the ignition on then you wont worry about forgetting to turn them off. Mine is connected to the battery via the rear light so the grips only turn on when the key is turned.
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illuminateTHEmind wrote: I am just more evolved than most of you guys... this allows me to pick of things quickly which would have normally taken the common man years to master
Hockeystorm65:.well there are childish arguments...there are very childish arguments.....there are really stupid childish arguments and now there are......Pinkfloyd arguments!
Teflon-Mike:I think I agree with just about all Pinky has said.

[Pete.]

[Ariel Badger]

I once had a bike that refused to run and I diagnosed it as fuel starvation. Took carb to bits (twice) and refitted it but would still not go so I pushed it home 7 miles. Next day I discovered reason for fuel starvation was....I had run out of fuel
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Bikers make great organ donors, get 115 on your licence today.

[Pete.]

[Ariel Badger]

In my defence some tosser had nicked my fuel Pete.
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Bikers make great organ donors, get 115 on your licence today.

[Pete.]

[evilzed]

I have Keis chicane heated grips on one of my bikes connected straight to the battery, it's suppose to have the same controller thing to shut off at 12.5 volts, I did forget to shut them off once and when I came back 8 hrs later everything was fine. I only realised because the grips turned themselves back on when I started the engine up

[talkToTheHat]

Wire heated grips and usb charger through an accessory relay and perhaps a switch on the charger?

I have oxford touring grips, they are comfortable and surprisingly hard wearing given how long the r&g ones that are as hard as fuck didn't last.
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Bandit. does. everything.

[c_dug]

I've heard that battery flat piffle about the Oxford heated grips a couple of times now. It might be the case in theory, but having left mine on several times with my previous bike I never once had a problem with a flat battery.

Also, aren't reg/recs pretty much a standard item, I had one from a Triumph fitted to my cbr600f for a couple of years with no issue.
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I am a bellend, I am a man of constant sorrow, I am a gummy bear, I am a rock.

[kramdra]

[c_dug]

I can't say I ever measured the voltage after leaving them on, but they were left on long enough to go off from the voltage dropping on probably a dozen or so occasions and the bike would always start up fine after work or the next morning. That was on a Diversion 900 so hardly a small engine to crank over.

Maybe I just got lucky or you got unlucky.
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I am a bellend, I am a man of constant sorrow, I am a gummy bear, I am a rock.

[Kamikaze Bob]

[kramdra]

Dont blame the regulator for shit wires, was it a professional that installed new battery and reg 6 months ago without checking the connectors? It is very common for the stator connector to melt, as well as the regulator loom connector. A dead battery will put very high load on the system.

[FlightRisk]

Incidentally there's two ways to wire in accessories like heated grips and chargers so they don't drain your battery.
One is to crudely hack into a switched circuit on your bike, like had been done with the grips on mine (probably actually fine if done neatly).

Mine hadn't been done neatly - brake switch wire had been stripped part way along with a blade, end of heated grip wire had been wrapped around it, super-glued and left open to the elements!

The 'proper' way is to add a simple separate accessory loom with a fuse and relay like Stinkwheel's guide, which is what I've now done: https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=2444272
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Honda CB500S

[Kamikaze Bob]