1985 Honda Shadow VT500C with electrical problems

[PresX]

Howdy,

I just took my bike out of 'storage' yesterday, replaced the battery (which had been inside and charged monthly) and tried to start it up.

When I turned the ignition on the lights (oil, neutral, headlight etc...) all came on but when I hit the starter it clicked and died. After that the lights wouldn't come back on.

I hooked the jumper cables up to my car, and then the lights came on as normal. I had to turn it over for a little while to let the carbs fill and get it to start (one big backfire then normal running). Thinking everything's peachy I took it for a ride, went around the city and then stopped at 7/11 near my house. When I came back to the bike the same thing happened.

Ignition on, lights are fine, hit the starter, dies.*

I got a boost from a stranger and had to basically idle it in first the whole way home because increasing the throttle seemed to push it towards stalling. The lights were very dim too the whole ride home from 7/11.

I checked the battery and it reads ~12V across the terminals, no problem there. I haven't yet checked it while running the bike to see if the charging system is working yet though...

Any ideas what this could be caused by?

I was mucking around with it earlier and the same thing* happened with no intervention in between yesterday and today.

Thanks for any help you can offer

[hondaluver]

check your grounds

[Johnj]

Pres, try reading the battery voltage while your cranking on the starter. If the voltage drops below say 8 or 9 volts then your battery is toast.

[PresX]

Thanks for the insights, I haven't had a chance to look at it yet as it's cold and rainy out

How do I go about checking the grounds?

There are some connections that are pretty grungy so I'll be replacing those tomorrow.

I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow!

[PresX]

All better now.

Fully recharged the battery, replaced a whack of wiring and connections that were ugly and she starts perfectly and runs nicely again.

Voltage across the terminals at about 3000rpm is 14.8 steady so the charging system is working still

[coffee_brake]

Yay, the cheap easy fixes are the best!