Jumpstart from another bike?

[becket1]

I know I can jump a bike from a car (did a search). Can I jump it from another bike? My battery is down, and before I dig out the charger, I have another bike in the trailer right next to it; just figured I'd ask, before I did something stupid....again.....

[road_king]

Originally Posted by becket1

I know I can jump a bike from a car (did a search). Can I jump it from another bike? My battery is down, and before I dig out the charger, I have another bike in the trailer right next to it; just figured I'd ask, before I did something stupid....again.....

I suppose you could, but if a charger is available why?

[becket1]

Because I can't charge it until the AM, and I want to ride that bike first thing in the am . I'll jump it, Thanks!

[HogDreamer]

If there is someone around in the AM who could push the bike with you on it you can start it that way. Or if you have a steep driveway. That's the way I always started my bikes when the battery was worn down.
Just a thought.
I would be curious though if you are able to get your bike jump started from another bike. Seems like a awful small battery to be successful but I guess you'll find out.
Good Luck!

[becket1]

I live at the downslope end of a rooty dirt road, and nobody to help anyway. No biggie, I will let you know how it turns out. Hopefully it isn't my switch; I think I left the key in the acc. position when I removed it, went to start it tonight and not even a sound. Can't even get enough juice to see the oil light. And I always wondered about it if I or another were on the side of the road, and pushing failed for whatever reason.

[HiAngle]

I've seen bikes jump other bikes.

[timbo]

Don't know how old your battery is but if you keep having to jump off your bike all the time your going to drastically reduce the life of your stator. You ought to look into getting a Battery Tender.

[Bikertrash99]

No reason you can't jump start from one running bike to a dead bike. That in itself is not problem.

A problem lies in the current loss you get in most sets of jumper cables. It seems like there just ain't enough oomph left for jumping from bike to bike. I prefer to jump a dead bike from a NON-running car or truck. It's worked lots of times for me and my buddies, with no problem.

It seems like fuel injected Harleys are a SOB to push start. It ain't gonna happen with a completely dead battery, as you need fuel pump pressure. If you have that, then you need a couple of engine rotations just so the ECM can grab some sensor input, before it'll fire off the injectors and spark plugs.

[ss-serenity]

I've always wondered about push starting a fuel injected bike with a totally dead battery. If you have enough hill, will it eventually start? Are you hurting anything by trying?

[LexKing]

Yes, you can jump start from one bike to another. Do not jump from a running bike. It can cause problems with the voltage regulator or stator. Costly fix either way!

As others have said you need to look into getting a Battery Tender. I use the Battery Tender all the time. All my bikes (and most of the people I ride with) have the Battery Tender pigtail. For this reason I made a 4' to 6' jumper cable from pigtail to pigtail and carry it in my tool roll. If you try this make sure that you reverse polarity in the cable (ie test before you hook to the other bike). Wire gauge ~12-14. Pigtail ends are available at larger automotive parts house.

Lex

[mlewis]

There are ‘booster’ cables and ‘jumper’ cables; you might carry a set of booster cables because they pack easier as they are small gauge wire. These will work from either a car or another bike battery if the downed battery is only lacking a top-off charge. Say your riding buddies charging system took a dive and his bike stalls, if one of you were carrying booster cables you’d just hook them up between the two bikes for several minutes to allow a charge transfer and the recipient battery should be ready to fire.

Jumper cables are large wire gauge and are usually capable of immediately transferring charge from a good host battery source to a recipient load.

Exception here might be if the recipient load happens to be an extremely drained or shorted out battery. This exception case can be hazardous, particularly if you choose to run the engine/charging system as the extreme load may damage components of the host charging system.

I’d recommend to never run the engine of a host bike or car to charge a downed recipient battery, unless you’re sure what condition the recipient battery is in.

[road_king]

Originally Posted by ss-serenity

I've always wondered about push starting a fuel injected bike with a totally dead battery. If you have enough hill, will it eventually start? Are you hurting anything by trying?

Push start EFI bike will not work. Need a power source to run the fuel pump.