Ninja Days

ELECTRIX

Aaaargh! My bike didn't start on Queen's Birthday's morning when I wanted to join the Oran Park crowd. I called the NRMA and they managed to get it started, but once the mechanic left, the bike stopped idling suddenly (with a 'click' sound) before I could get it on the road. I checked the fuses, but it did not seem to have affected them.

The second NRMA guy started it and measured the power going through it. "It does not recharge", said he. So I asked wether it is the generator...maybe.

The only thing I had done differently was that I had engaged the steering lock and I wonder wether that had anything to do with it, as I had not moved it for a week to date. Maybe I had it on 'p' for 'park light' position (if there is such a thing...the label is worn and I've never had reason to find out).

I noticed that while we were revving it, the light got brighter on the console at higher revs.

And when I tried to start it again, the lights did come on in the console, but it made a gritty kind of krrrrzz...(how did it go?) noise. I've rolled her back into the garage.


I did not take the battery out, but it did look a little old.
I'm lost. Disappointed. Glad it happened at home, though!
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OK ...been to my fave bike shop today and got a price...200 bucks on a 'youse'(...all know what brand it is) and thought, well, maybe it's just the battery that needs charging.

Positive thinking is the go, I reckon.

Came home and removed the battery to check if it had dried up or showed signs of... whatever.

Read the charger manual and it said to unscrew the caps before applying the red/black clamps. Lifted the rubber seal, thinking "Hmmm that's well sealed...I wonder if I'm supposed to do this???????????"

Added lots of demineralised water to each compartment
....thinking.....(afterthought)....."hmmmm, maybe it's a dry battery????????!!!!!!!!!" In which case I will have just buggeered it big time, as it needed lots of liquid.

So, now it's chaaaaaarging.

I do have a multimeter, but no idea how to find out whether the thing is charging via the revving engine.

The fav bike shop man said that I'd have to revv it to see wether it's charging, as apparently the idling engine, especially with the lights on, will only drain the battery.

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The verdict is... I wasted a perfectly good battery, which happened to be a gel cell battery, by pouring dest. H2O into it.

The battery charger did its o/night job... I put it all back together again, rode down to MaxPower, had a coffee whilst Steve pulled the wrecked one out, replaced it with a new one and checked the stator...perfect working order.


I am the latest MaxPower (@ Corrimal, Bellambi Lane) fan.
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The most annoying little thing happened while I fiddled around with the battery on my bench...there was a tiny little bit of what I thought was leftover plastic wrapping of some sort, trapped under the self tightening square nut thingy that sits on the bottom of the positive terminal.

Of cause I pulled it out and flicked it who-knows-where.

When it came to putting it all back together the bolt was too short to get a grip on the nut and I had a hell of a time using three screwdrivers with two hands and a set of teeth, trying to keep that square thingy in position. Ten frustrating minutes later it was done... I swapped the phillipshead for a magnetic one.

posted by The '95 Ninja ZX6R @ 13.6.07