Jumpstart from the car

[er-minio]

Came back from xmas vacation, the bike after one month in the cold is dead.

Panel comes on, the fuel pump... pumps... but there's not enough power to start the engine.

Can I jumpstart from the car? I'm only worried that my car's battery is 100amp.

 

[Steptoe]

Yes.
Easiest way is remove starter motor cover and attach the live jump lead to the starter motor terminal and the neg to earth.

 

[ghost]

ide say yes,just dont have the car engine runnin durin the process,ive jumped bikes off cars and done no damage.

 

[Morticia]

I have jump started a bike from my car once....did not turn the car engine on, just made the connections with leads and into life the bike breathed..

Morticia

 

[Myke Rocks]

Jump starting

Why all the worries?
A motorcycle is just a car with 2 wheel missing - or vise versa.
The motorcycle won't care whether the car engine ir running or not, but it may start more readily if it is. (increased voltage)
As previous correspondent said, it is easier to access starter than battery terminals, so jump as he described.
Connect earth last, disconnect earth first.
Myke

 

[gwigglesworth]

Don't do it with the engine running if its a computerised car... you can wreck the cpu!!!

Normally safest without the engine running......

 

[STUBBS]

Why all the worries?
A motorcycle is just a car with 2 wheel missing - or vise versa.
The motorcycle won't care whether the car engine ir running or not, but it may start more readily if it is. (increased voltage)
As previous correspondent said, it is easier to access starter than battery terminals, so jump as he described.
Connect earth last, disconnect earth first.
Myke

only start the car if you want to wreck your bikes charging system

they both may be 12v but the cars charging system is much more powerfull than that of the bikes the cars battery has a larger amperage

much the same reason why you dont jump start a car from a bike

 

[bumpmuncher]

oh dear should i worry that i jump started a twin battery transit van off my bike then.


















over a year ago
















dont worry i left it with elevated revs for 20 mins to give the van some juce so it would not kill the bike electrics its done near 20000miles scince the on the same battery and alternator

 

[uncle dick]

I hate to butt in but there are a few guys struggling with Ohms law here. A battery / bike will draw the current it needs from the supplying vehicle. You won't / can't feed too many amps in. It is possible' on occasion, to 'spike' an ecu - especially if the non-start vehicle has a dud battery that won't act as any kind of suppressor. This is why many modern jump lead sets have surge limiters built in. For that reason, it's probably best to not start the supplying vehicle when jumping a bike so as to reduce the voltage and supply impedance slightly. If your car battery won't start a bike without its engine running then I suggest you go and buy a car battery first

On the subject of wrecking a GS charging system, remember that the alternator is basically the same as a polo or golf internally so it's pretty robust in motorcycle terms. If your alternator goes up in smoke, you've connected the leads back to front and blown the diode pack

HTH

Dick

 

[er-minio]

If your car battery won't start a bike without its engine running then I suggest you go and buy a car battery first

I've asked since my car, I have an old ugly merc, uses a huge battery with more amperage than the standard.

I'm pretty sure the battery itself will power-up the car without the engine running. I left the car with the lights on overnight more than once and the battery never had any issues
I was just worried about the much higher amperage.

My bike is not a GS but an R1100S Boxercup, altough all the "innards" are the same
Hopefully no need to remove the valeo covers since I have the metal "pins" where to attach the leads.

thanks guys

 

[uncle dick]

Just think for yourself, if a battery has 'too many amps' how come it doesn't blow up a side lamp bulb when you turn it on? The bulb 'draws' the current it needs - no more, no less. The current capacity of the battery is only a factor when you draw large amounts of current. A starter on, say, a transit would probably draw around 500A on a cold morning. A battery from a micra - rated at around 350A - wouldn't cope and then become the limiting factor. The voltage would drop significantly and the engine would either crank very slowly or not at all.

HTH

Dick,

ps The figures I've quoted are guesstimates - so no pedants looking up specs

 

[Myke Rocks]

Jump strting

only start the car if you want to wreck your bikes charging system

they both may be 12v but the cars charging system is much more powerfull than that of the bikes the cars battery has a larger amperage

much the same reason why you dont jump start a car from a bike

Sorry to disagree with you in boh points, BUT:
Many cars use the same alternator BMW 1200s.
I always start car engine & use it to boost bike battery for 10 mins before attempting to start bike.
In 50 years of doing this I have yet to damage a bike's charging circuit. I cannot think of any way one could damage a bike's electrics by doing so, especially such a robust system as Canbus.

On the second point, one will find it difficult to start a car from a bike simply because the battery is not big enough to support the cranking amps most cars demand. It has nothing to do with bike electrical system.
I have, though, used a bike to charge a car with a flat battery via jump leads, & started car after 10 mins or so.
Myke

 

[wreck diver]

whilst on the subject of batterys.
if i remove the battery on my 1150 gsa ,will i have to get the abs or the alarm reset at a dealer??
i have heard stories of abs light wont go out since battery was dissconected? needs to be reset.
or are they covering the fact that the abs was fked before?
cheers.

 

[Lord Snooty]

I jump started one of our school Suzuki GS500s from a Renault 2.0litre diesel van with the engine running yesterday morning - no problems.

 

[Greg Masters]

only start the car if you want to wreck your bikes charging system

they both may be 12v but the cars charging system is much more powerfull than that of the bikes the cars battery has a larger amperage

much the same reason why you dont jump start a car from a bike

Erm ... 0/10!



Greg

Edit: Myke Rocks is already there

 

[MattW]

whilst on the subject of batterys.
if i remove the battery on my 1150 gsa ,will i have to get the abs or the alarm reset at a dealer??
i have heard stories of abs light wont go out since battery was dissconected? needs to be reset.
or are they covering the fact that the abs was fked before?
cheers.

Dunno about the alarm but the ABS reset is a simple diy job (even if it needs it, which would surprise me.....)

 

[Rev Chuck]

So I was wrong in the summer when I was in St. Andrew's - away from home - and got a guy with a set of jump leads and a Skoda, to give me a boost, having got up in the morning and found some twit had managed to leave a light on on the bike all night.
However, I connected the positive lead to a sticky out bit on the lhs side of the bike (an 1150 Adv) and the negative to a wee bit of the frame where there was a wee bit of rust as an earth.
He started his Skoda engine, and we let it idle for a few moments, and then I started the bike.
Had no problems with bike since, and I don't really expect any. But if I've ballsed it up then you can let me know... TIA!

 

[dancata]

When my bike's battery goes dead after a cold night, I charge it with my spare laptop charger. It is rated for 19V, but when attached to the battery, the voltage goes down to 6, 7, 8 V and so on. I know it is charged if the battery voltage remains to 13V if charger is unplugged.

 

[IainMac]

Current drawn is set by the Starter circuit resistance and the available battery voltage as defined by Ohms law. I=V/R
Big car/van batteries will hold thier voltage better than smaller bike batteries so will be able to maintain the current required to spin the starter. Note a 12 Volt battery is still 12 Volts regardless of its size (actually more like 14V when fully charged).
Real risks are overheating the starter as they don't like to spin full bore for too long.
Starting of the donor vehicle is usually only needed for jump starting similar /larger batteries (after jump lead connection) to help with maintaining donor battery voltage/charge. simples

 

[er-minio]

At the end we jumpstarted it from one of the diesel vans owned by the garage where I keep the bike in.

I wasn't able to find the negative pin (it was covered by the spark cables) and used one of the random bolts on the engine (as you normally do).
The R1100S frame doesn't work.