Short causes bike to shut off?

[RoccoStreetTracker]

The wife decided she wanted to learn to kick start our bike. The goal was, if she could kick start it, the bike would be hers.

I had just replaced the battery with this Lithium Batt

Bike would always start with one or two kicks. My wife is a small gal, so with all 105lbs of might, she could never get the bike to turn over. After about 10 min, battery is DEAD. Would barely power light.

One of the POs had "simplified" the wiring system. Kick start only, no blinkers, no horn, Headlight was fulltime bright, small LED running light in back and a brake light. Had a friend jump the bike with a jump box. I could kick it right up. 5 min of idling and I noticed running light flickers on and off. Unless I had the throttle open quite a bit, it would just die.

Looked at tail running light and found some bare wires, I covered them up.

Would this short cause the bike to die, or was the bike dying just because the battery was low. Before I put it back on a tender, it was about 10v (way below mfg low setting).

The last PO said the charging system was working when I bought it two months ago and so far the Shorai was a champ.

Any guesses?

I'll update you when I get the charged battery back in and started. Until then I'll read up on how to check the charging system.

 

[Scrambled]

sounds like a charging problem to me , but if your lights were on for 10 mins or so while trying to kick start it , you could have run it down doing that .

 

[Scrambled]

any other info ? do you have a stock charging system ? Electronic ignition ? was the wiring changed ? the more info you give the better the answers you get .

 

[RoccoStreetTracker]

Thanks Scrambled for the info.

I've only had the bike for two months. All I know I was told by the PO:
"Brand new rotor in the stator this year, brushes still looked good."

Otherwise the charging system looks stock to me. Most of the wiring looks original, but looks pretty good.

I'm not actually sure what Electronic Ignition means ...it's a kick start only. The start motor is still there, but the start button was not connected with the one of the POs put new bars and grips on.

I've thought it might be the charging system, but having rode it for about a month with the new litium battery makes me think it was doing okay and that just having it on for 10 min, took the battery too far down.

Thanks again!

 

[Scrambled]

What year is your bike ? Later models don't have points and lot's of people swap out the points for a Pamco or Boyer ignition . Easy to tell what you have, take off the points cover on the left side .

 

[RoccoStreetTracker]

It's an 80. I'll take off the cover ...what should I be looking for?

Thanks again!

 

[Scrambled]

look in the tech section, look up ignition, find some pictures ( you really should order a manual , Mike's has them )

 

[jd750ace]

A 1980 is TCI ignition. No points. If you have stock coils and are trying to start it with 10 volts nominal you won't get shit for spark. The headlight eats a lot of juice. My headlight on my 79 does not light til the motor is turned over, allowing max juice for starting. Once I kick it, if it does not start, key off to reset the relay, or the headlight is burning juice again. Since your wiring is "simplified" it sounds like you have lost this feature.

 

[peanut]

Rocco welcome to the forum...

Sounds like your bike was startring and running just fine before you left the headlight on full that time whilst trying to start.

Normally these bikes have a relay operated switch for the headlight but it sounds like the PO has wired it up so the headlight comes on with the ignition ?

This is ok if the bike always starts first or second kick and the charging system is working fine. If I were you I'd fit an isolating switch in the headlight circuit so that the headlamp is not on whilst kickstarting. Basically that is what the standard relay does to save the battery.

Makes no sense to have a starter motor fitted and not use it. I would take it off the bike and strip and clean it and fit new brushes and oil seals. If you still have the switch and wiring in place it would be a simple matter to reconnect the starter.

I spent half an hour kicking over a scoot yesterday which had a fuel flow fault and on a hot day its no fun kicking starting a bike with a problem

 

[5twins]

You need a near fully charged battery for these bikes to run, the ignition system depends on it and won't work correctly without it. To see if you're charging, perform this simple test. Start the bike and check at the battery terminals with a volt meter. You should see around 12 volts at idle. Rev the bike up to 2500 or 3K. The voltage should climb to about 14. If you get no change, you're not charging.

 

[RoccoStreetTracker]

Okay- so I did a little work on the bike. Recharged both batteries, the old lead battery and the new lithium. Both tested almost 14v.

I replaced the clutch cable and now the clutch feels sooooo good.

However, once I got the lithium battery back in, I tried kicking it over... it almost caught (kind of normal after not running several days). I turned the keys off to save the battery while I fiddled with the choke. I go to turn it back on, and the light stays off. keys one, keys off, no light. I didn't even try and kick it.

I just calmly pack up my tools and went and had dinner with my wife and kids.

Went back after dinner and check battery voltage ...still almost 14v. It's got to be a faulty wire somewhere.

Any guesses where I should start? Ugh.

Thanks for all the previous replies, each had great information.

 

[650Skull]

The light only comes on when a charge has been put through the system, (lights stays on all the time when riding). I used to turn the key off and on again to turn the light off if it would not start on the first kick. Will find it harder too start with the light on.

An 80 should have a factory electronic ignition, (TCI), No points and a black box under the battery box, and a pick up on the Stator about 2 o'clock.

Coup[le of links to get your head into.

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