Jump from car battery

[Philly_Chris]

Some nice feller decided to steal my 850's cover- of course when its been raining nonstop. I decided to check the condition of my electrics and managed to drain my battery which will not start the bike now.

Where is the best place, away from the battery to use as a ground? Ive never jumped a bike before...


Chris
82 GS850G

[satchmo]

I've used a my engine case. Clamp one of the jumpers on to a fin on the engine case. It's worked for me in the past.

Make sure the car isn't running.

Satch

[KrazyKarl02]

Shock Mount

I usually use the rear shock mount, I find this works for me, it is close enough for the cables to reach and the stud is a good solid ground.

As mentioned in the previous post, I have heard from several people not to jump a bike with a car running, because the car can deliver too much power to the starter and cause damage to your bikes electrical system.... Now being an engineer I question everything and an electric component should only take what it is rated for, i.e. you should be able to have infinite power source and not have problems, but I also realize that I do not understand everything, so I leave the car off just to be safe. A car battery will turn over a bike for a long time before going dead.

Good Luck!

[redliner1973]

Leave the car off...the GS electrical cannot handle the current you will have when starting off a car. Don't know why..Just know from experience... :twisted:

[focus frenzy]

the reason you should not have the car running when jumping a bike, is because the amp rate is higher when the difference in voltage between the batteries is wider, you can send to many amps for the small bike battery to take, charging it to fast and overheating it and melting plates.

also, the GS charging system regulates the voltage by shunting excess voltage to ground, when the bike starts connected to the running car and the regulator rectifier trys to regulate the voltage, it wont be able to handle the voltage coming from the running car and can burn up.

with the car turned off the voltage at the battery will drop down to normal charged voltage (12.8 for a full charge) and you will greatly reduce any risk of damage to the bikes charging system or your self.

the same applies to jumping off cars, the connections should be done with the donor cars engine off, and it is best for the donor cars engine to be off when jumping to prevent damage to the alternator from the sudden electrical draw when attempting to start the dead car.