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OK, it may not be "GOOD" for the battery, but I've done it enough to know that it's also not catastraphic.
The dead battery will have a reasonably high resistince, and won't draw a huge amount of current from the booster pack.
I'm sure the current flow to the dead battery would be more than 1A, but I also know it won't be wire melting high current either.
I happen to have an old dead bike battery in my garage, and a 20 amp ammeter... I can use my car and see what the current draw is! (or blow a 20 amp fuse).... I'll let you know what happens.
SOAR Novice #113
I stand corrected as other people's experience proves that using a booster pack/car battery is not likely to do any harm. Practical experience rules .
[quote=djltoronto;754537I happen to have an old dead bike battery in my garage, and a 20 amp ammeter... I can use my car and see what the current draw is! (or blow a 20 amp fuse).... I'll let you know what happens.[/quote]
Cool, that's the real experiment we need. The dead battery needs to be capable of accepting the charge though, no sense of testing if no current is going to flow through it anyway. keep us posted.
NOTE: I don't visit this board frequently and do not accept private messages. You can reach me at GTAmotorcycle[At]aca{dot.}cc
My country is the world and my religion is to do good. - Thomas Paine
This is off topic but thought I would mention it anyway. Many years ago I had a Katana 600 that the starter died on. This was middle of July and my financial situation being kind of dire at that time, I could not afford a new starter. I would bump start that bike a few times daily until September when I could finally afford to replace the starter. We are talking approx 200 "bump starts". That had no negative effect on my bike.
now thats GHETTO
You want ghetto?
How about driving home from South River with no alternator... I had 5 batteries in the back of the truck and some LOOOOONNNGGGGG booster cables. When battery 1 went flat, swap the cables to battery 2.
or
A couple of friends got pulled over on the 400 just south of Barrie. The officer was concerned because they were riding closely side by side. When it was explained that one bike had no functioning charging system or battery and they had to ride close together 'cause the booster cables between the two bikes were only 8' long.
The officer laughed and left... I wonder what they would be charged with today.
Regarding bump starts...I believe the cautions against bump starts were targetted at vehicles with catalytic convertors. So how bump starting can damage the cat. Don't ask me how, I don't know.
I bump started my 1980 GS1000 at least once a week, didn't do it or the battery any harm.
I wasn't saying it was right or wrong, just what I recall reading. These were cautions against bump starting cars with catalytic convertors.
Personally, if I had a car with manual tranny, and it needed to be started via bump start, I would take the chance. That goes for a bike also. Can't see how bump starting it could hurt anything.
The worst that can happen is that you won't pass the next emissions test. Not very likely on cars and irrelevant on bikes. It's purely academical, IMO.
I bump started an 1984 Golf Diesel once in the middle of the winter. Two out of three heaters were toast and it wouldn't start normally, so I said what the heck, but never expected it to actually start that way. It did, although it was rattling and shaking like crazy for a while, not to mention smoking. If I didn't do it myself I would say it's impossible to bump start a diesel engine. I guess those two heaters were enough to get it up to temp after all, it just needed a good push .
NOTE: I don't visit this board frequently and do not accept private messages. You can reach me at GTAmotorcycle[At]aca{dot.}cc
My country is the world and my religion is to do good. - Thomas Paine
I did the same thing with my brothers Jetta TDI. His starter died, asked me to change it, he lives in Kitchener. I purchased a starter in Toronto. Got to Kitchener, the idiot at the parts counter gave me the wrong starter (it fit in but the drive gear was too short). Took it out, bump started his Jetta, lucky for us he lives on a big hill and drove it back to Toronto without a starter in the car.
I have a buddy that is a truck mechanic, he said they have bump started the diesel trucks when their booster fried. It is not ideal on a car or truck, its really hard on the clutch.
I'm a little confused with the pick-up truck and 5 batteries.
Once the thing is running you don't need a battery. At least that's my experience.
I had a 66 malibu that we needed to move, so we pulled the batt out of another vehicle put it in the malibu to start it, pulled out the battery and drove away.
ride - if you want to
Starter is not that much of an issue. The problem is when the engine and environment temperature are cold and there is no juice in the battery to pre-heat the cylinders (or heaters are not working, like in was my case). Diesels have no spark plugs and need certain temperature in the chamber for the fuel to ignite - something achieved by electrical heating before the cold engine is started. Add to that the 22/1 or higher compression ratio and you can imagine how hard it is to bump-start the beast . BTW, diesel batteries and starters were not much more powerful on diesels for no reason. This applies to eighties style VW diesels, I don't know if the manufacturers have figured out some way around those limitations in newer models. Back in the day diesel fuel freezing was also a concern whenever temperatures were anywhere below zero.
NOTE: I don't visit this board frequently and do not accept private messages. You can reach me at GTAmotorcycle[At]aca{dot.}cc
My country is the world and my religion is to do good. - Thomas Paine
Depends on the ignition and fuel system. Some old style ignitions (like magneto, for example) don't need any external power source (some, indeed, don't have any batteries at all), but most modern electronic ignitions do, and so do fuel pumps, relays and other equipment necessary for the engine to run.
I guess '66 qualifies for "old style ignition and fuel system" category
NOTE: I don't visit this board frequently and do not accept private messages. You can reach me at GTAmotorcycle[At]aca{dot.}cc
My country is the world and my religion is to do good. - Thomas Paine
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