To those of you who have push/bump started

[diulei]

How long did you have to ride around for the bike to start up properly afterwards? I was an idiot and left the keys in the ignition the other night and now the battery's dead. I successfully push started it and rode it around for 30 mins or so in the neighborhood, then grabbed my gear and went for another 20~25 minutes, came back, shut the bike off and it won't start again. So just wondering how long I should have ridden it around.

Pushing the bike up that hill is damn tiring.

[{PMS}fishy]

If you drained the battery all the way, it might not recharge.

If you have a battery charger, that would be a better bet then trying to let the bike do it.

I'd guess it would take a good few hours to do.

[Kurt'sSV]

Yeah, it won't recharge very well by just riding it when the battery is drained that much. You'll have to hook a trickle charger up to it, or take it to one of those auto parts stores that recharges batteries for free.

And yes, it ain't easy to push start an SV.

[diulei]

I'm pretty sure that the battery isn't 100% drained, I think I only left the keys in the ignition for 90 minutes or so (after dinner I went out for a ride and that's when I noticed).

The lights are also turning on right now, but I think I'm just going to buy a trickle charger and take out battery and charge it. Gotta deal with the stripped screw on the seat first though.

Thanks for the help anyways guys.

[No_Brakes23]

Delcati did the "Oops keys in park position" when he first got his Ducati 750SS. It was like that for about 10 hours. We eventually got it bump-started and he rode it for an hour. It was fine after that.

[luv]

YOu might want to consider a battery tender instead of the standard trickle charger. Maybe the guys here can illuminate any tech differences.

THe tender I use has a semi permanent clip that attaches to the battery. WHen I park the bike I fish the lead out from under my passenger seat to plug it in. Very conveniant way to keep the battery at a full charge.

-luv

http://www.kneedraggers.com/img2/tend-jr.gif

[NukleoN]

When I did that to my SV I just borrowed a trickle charger...used it at work (where my bike was stranded) and then re-installed my battery and rode home the next day. :D

[acer66]

once i left the park light for a little to long on, drained to battery all the way down, jump started it, rode 30 miles on the freeway never had a problem with the battery

[stingray]

charger/tender's the way to go. bump starting a twin is PITA.

if it drains all the way, start thinking about getting another battery.

this past season i kept putting it off and it finally crapped out on me when i needed it to run. good thing it was only practice.

[benz_bikes]

I was working on an old Honda v45 (V4 engine) this morning (1:30am)and it stalled with a dead battery. That is a real PITA to bump start. I have never had to push the SV (knock on wood)

[mojo mofo]

Make sure that when you run the biek you aren't just putting around the neighborhood. You need to ride for an extended (minimum 45 minutes I would guesstimate) at a relatively high rpm 6k+...think highway mileage.

[sugart!ts]

i had to bump start once, and i did it all by myself!!!! :D .. not fun!! rode it home after that (about 45 min) it was fine the next morning..

[Delcati]

How old is your battery? It sounds like it might of took a dump on you too. I did it twice with my 750SS and both times it was fine after running for like 20 minutes, with no highway riding. And the one day I had to left the battery on for 12 hours.
Just a thought.

[diulei]

Well the bike is an 04 so it's not much older than a year. It's holding a partial charge as the lights do come on.

I got myself a charger so I'm going to take out the battery. I think when I was riding around town I wasn't going fast / keeping the RPMs high enough. I've read that I should be above 5,000 for the battery to charge and wasn't over that much.

Thanks for all the input though!

[chrissilverm]

lead acid battery chemistry is pretty old school. running the battery to below 8-9 volts is bad for the overall life and charge cycles of the unit. (some manufactures this = death) storing a battery at low charge is also death sentance. i keep waiting for the lion batts for my bike.

[diulei]

Well I posted a few days ago about my dead battery, so I decided to get a charger.

Problem is, a little over a month ago I tried installing a new seat but one of the hex screws was in there way too tight and I couldn't get it to budge and ended up stripping it in the process. I put it off thinking I could live without the new seat for a while.

Now, seeing as how I have to get the seat out to get to the battery, I'm kind of stuck.

I got some screw extractors, drilled a little hole into the screw, put the extractor bit in and, of course with my luck, it still wouldn't budge.

I slowly turned the torque settings up, and in the process of my carelessness, the freakin drill bit actually snapped.

So now I have a dead battery, stripped screw, and half an extractor bit sticking out of the screw. :mad:

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[cucamonga]

Is there any way to work the extractor bit out with pliers or did it snap close to flush with the hex bolt?

[Darth Lefty]

Cut the seat off, get a new seat... Not ideal but it's a possibility.

[SVNerd]

diulei - I assume that the bike is rideable (?).

You could come by my place, and I'd be glad to take a look at it.

PM me if you're interested.

[diulei]

Thanks for the offer, what part of SD are you from?

[SVNerd]

diulei - I sent you a PM.

[diulei]

UPDATE:

Drove to the bike dealer/shop today to see what they thought about my screw situation. They told me to bring it in sometime, so I'll probably do that within a week or so.

After seeing all those bikes on the showroom floor I really felt like riding, so I push started it again (only took 1 try now that I've figured out how to do it), and rode around on a relatively straight stretch a little while where the speed limit is 50. I was doing roughly 50~60 in between red lights, remembering to keep the RPMs above 5,000, came home and voila, the bike starts up. So the battery seems OK, now I just gotta get that screw out. Good to know at least I can still ride it around.

Anyways, I appreciate all your input. Hope the bike shop has some luck with the screw.