charging the battery?

[nyrblue35]

hey,

pretty new to bikes in general but i have a car charger which if i remember correctly i can change the voltage. my bike has a 12 volt battery and to me it looks new, the guy i bought it off said it was new..........but anyhow it doesnt seem to be turning over like it did for the last week. i havent gotten hold of a battery tender yet but was curious if i could hook up my small car charger to it. i have plenty of fuel so i dont think thats the problem. i just hope i didnt flood it or foul the plug but like i said, it doesnt seem to wanna turn over. TIA

[nyrblue35]

ok, so ill answer myself. sure that charger was fine but the battery wasnt the problem. i went to remove the plugs and found i had to remove the gas tank. what a pain in the arse, suzuki didnt make it easy on this bike. then again maybe most japanese bikes are like this? i dunno, im new to them(bikes) in general.

after i got her to turn over, she spit at me, backfired a few times then ran fine at idle(fine to me that is, not a mechanics ear) for a good 15 minutes. does it make sense that it might be running lean or needs the carb adjusted? (10k miles)

im getting it inspected next saturday anyhow, i was just curious. one last question. attached to this gas tank, there is an extra long thin hose that ran all the way through the frame but didnt connect to anything. is that normal? i was thinking it was some kind of breather but thats just my guess.

[poppygene]

A low amperage, self-regulating 12V battery charger should do fine on a bike battery... just don't leave it on too long.

If your bike has been in storage or spent a long period of downtime, the carbs probably could use a good cleaning. This is my guess, since your bike is eight years old and only has 10k miles on it.

The hose you found is probably a vent/overflow hose - perfectly normal for it to be run through the framework and exit near the ground. Try to route the hose in its original position. On a lot of bikes the routing is critical to keep air flowing into the tank to replace the fuel that the bike is using.

[Scott58]

I bought a smartshot 900 battery maintainer. Great product.

[jrod]

Please do yourself a favor get the battery tender or the jr tender is the one a have and it works very good and around $30. it was the best $30. I spent and you could leave it on as long as you want hope this help. Ride Safe.

[nyrblue35]

yeah im going to def. pick up the battery tender + but was curious if i should hook it up every night, or just during the off season................ill be riding the bike every few days depending on the weather.

[Nibblet99]

Only on the off-season, after removing the battery from the bike

[Scott58]

The smartshot 900 has a quick disconnect. You don't have to remove the battery and you can plug it in when and as often as you like.

[cb360]

Careful charging the battery when it's connected to the bike - I fried a rectifier that way - of course my bike is much older - not sure if that's a problem with newer bikes. But it's a good idea to check your manual and see if they recommend disconnecting first.

[Keyoke]

Can be be a problem with some chargers, but the a product such as the Optimiser is designed for it - it's a trickle charger that can be safely plugged in to the bike every night...

There are several others as well - worth looking around the dealers and seeing what is available