electrical FUBAR

[pickledherrin...]

For the last 15 years I have not been kind to my 94 VF750 Magna, storing her outdoors in winter. And for 15 years every spring without hesitation she would fire up immediately… well until last week. I turn the key and the lights don’t illuminate. When I press the start button the side stand light and oil light do dimly illuminate, but not even a click from the starter. I swapped all the fuses, charged the battery up, it is putting out 12V according to the multi meter.. any one have any suggestions. I am not skilled with electrical… I just bought this multi meter but looking at the wiring diagram I am pretty lost… can some one led me the benefit of their knowledge? Thank you in advance.

[SlimRick]

The battery may be reading 12v, but probably can't supply the current to start it up. Try jump starting if you can, failing that get a new battery. Then give it lots of love, and apologise for neglecting it for so long.

[pickledherrin...]

I tried the Jump... it was a no go, it did turn the head light on... dim.. but on... not even a click from the starter...

[cb1rocket]

starter solniod, or the starter itself has gone - check the fuse to the starter solnoid and direct power the starter to see if its working by connecting up to the starters terminal directly

Have you tried bumping the bike?

[pickledherrin...]

I did try to jump it using my charger directly hooked up to the battery... it lit the headlamp... but it was very dim. There was no sign of life from the starter, not even a click. The power was not even strong enough to flicker the turn signals. I even tried to push start it... with no luck....

I will try to use alligator clips from the battery directly to the starter motor and test there next... thank you!

[Cigaro]

Hold up. A charger will not have enough power to turn the starter motor. You need to jump it from another battery (try a car battery).

[cb1rocket]

as above, the charger needs to charge the battery about 8 hrs or depending on the current rate of the charger, its not gonna jump start it straight away.

Jump from a car battery

[FUBAR-SL]

why don't you try getting somebody to push u down a slight incline while your on the 2nd or may be the third gear (hold the clutch) while u gain some speed release the clutch and you should be able to get her started up again....(Has worked with many bikes when the battery is down) oh and don't forget to have the signals and the head turned off cause we need all the power to get her started and once shes up and kicking let her run on idle for few mins to check her out and the head and signals.....That should work

let us know how it went
____________________
FUBAR-RABUF

[Robby]

If the battery is totally knackered, then connecting another battery or jump pack in series won't do it.

Disconnect the leads from the battery and connect them to a known good battery, then see if it works.

[MarkJ]

Another vote for a new battery

[skatefreak]

Hey, yeah,
I would say go for the jump start and see what happens.

You can find out a lot about the situation!

If:
the engine bump starts and runs fine,
the lights get brighter as revs increase
and nothing works when the engine isnt running

then you can be pretty sure its the battery is duff.

Just put her in neutral, everything on, push her along, pop her into 2nd/3rd, dump the clutch and she should start up, clutch back in and give her some juice to keep going

Best regards

-Jvr