Jumped VFR750 with CAR BATTERY now bike won't show electrics

This is my first post! I hope it is well received.

I checked a lot of the electronic related posts for a few days before joining this website, I can't imagine going anywhere else for my questions. Especially because the local dealership encouraged me to try something that ended up frying my motorcycle.


Here is the issue.

1990 VFR 750F roughly 26K miles. Rode it to work Tuesday in 20 degree F weather. The bike wouldn't start after work, and I had to leave it there and walk home! OUCH. A few miles ain't too bad. Anyway, I figured it was too cold and took the battery out of the bike and brought it home with me.

Yesterday, Friday 25, I installed the battery and tried to start it and it wouldn't budge. Still too cold? I called the local dealership and they said hook the car battery to the motorcycle battery connectors (i didn't hook it up to the motorcycle battery while connected to the bike). With only my Jeep Wrangler head lights on (not the engine) I attempted to start the motorcycle...i thought I heard a noise, and all electrics cut out when I tried to start the bike.

Choke was fully engaged. After inspection, the 30AMP fuse was burnt out. I replaced it, and according to my voltmeter it is fine. According to the volt meter my battery (bought in August) reads maximum of 11.86V.

IMAGINE THIS IN YOUR HEAD
In front of the battery is the Fuse box housing. Connected to the fuse box housing are two connectors. The left one reads volts, the right one does not. The right one has a cable wrapping around to the right of the motorcycle...maybe it goes to the starter?

With the battery and fuse replaced, and the ignition set to ON, the motorcycle does not display any electics on the dash.

With my experience in motorcycles being absolutely zero, I am hoping for some suggestions on how to fix the issue, or issues.


Thank you for reading my post, I hope you all have a nice weekend. It is supposed to remain cold this week in Charlottesville, VA, but Tuesday 29 it should be in the 60's. I hope to be able to attempt to start the bike then, as it should be plenty warm for the engine oil! I HOPE!!


Email me or post a reply. I will be by the computer periodically throughout the day. Or if you're willing, you can shoot me an email...it goes to my iPhone and I would respond much more quickly.


Thank You!

Chris

 

Check your 10A D fuse.

 

You need a new battery, or charge the one you have. A full battery reads 12.8 open circuit voltage.

 

I'm gonna try a 10A D fuse first, before I think about a new battery.

C

 

You said the battery is new in August.
Check all the fuse while charging the battery
I doubt it is bad.....If no display mean no juice. So find the fuse and replace them.
Good luck keep us posted

 

I am at work, when I get back to my house I will download the VFR 750 owners manual. Sunday I will try to find the 10 A D fuse (located at the front??) and see if that solves my problems with a lack of display electrics. it also won't start though....im hoping the fuse issue will solve both the lack of electrics and starting issue.

I will let you guys no what happens tomorrow.

Thank you all for your input thus far.

 

Open the fuse box and check every single one...... .The bike was running so there should not be a big problems

 

I checked all the fuses. The 10A fuses and the 20A fuse at the fuse box on the front upper right side of the tank by the right handlebar. All of them OK. Bike still won't show any electrics when I turn the key to ON. HHHmmm, according to the repair manual I recently downloaded FOR FREE!!!! It says there is there starter relay switch by the fuse box at the battery. Could that be it?

C

 

She works!!!! The 30A fuse in the front box by the battery wasn't seated all the way. I cleaned the melted plastic and corrosion from the fuse housing away from the prongs and pushed everything down with a screw driver...well i'll be darned if the screw driver didn't initiate the bike to begin to turn over! the key wasn't even in the ignition, and it was set to OFF-LOCK. amazing. I almost hot wired my own motorcycle on accident. All the fuses work fine.

Im gonna go the the auto parts store and get a new battery or charge the two batteries I have. Not sure yet what i'll do...depends on cost.

Thank you everyone. I'll touch base later with up dates on it.

C

 

It may have been damaged, when the main fuse blew. There should be 12V at the red wire. This is the one that constantly feeds the ignition and the optional clock. If the 12V is not present, check for same at both ends of the main fuse. If it is good there, disconnect the battery and do a continuity check from the fuse to the red wire and check the condition of the connector. If it was not good at both sides of the fuse, recheck fuse, or wiring as required.

Man, I am a slow typer. Good job getting it going and not killing yourself, when shorting out the starter relay. It's a good thing that it was in neutral!

 

I would start by charging the ones you have and then get them load tested.

 

+1..........I am glad you got it partially fix

 

i am charging the original battery now. I have two. I am glad I didn't electrocute myself also. I took both batteries to Advanced auto parts and they said my main battery had no charge at all and had just under 12 volts. The older battery had some charge and about the same voltage.

Thanks for your help.

Oh by the way....what would have happened if the bike was in gear? b/c you're right, it was in neutral.

 

The engaged starter would cause the rear wheel to spin, which if on the ground, would cause the bike to lurch forward and cause all sorts of mayhem.

 

bat-trees

It might come back to life with a charge, but if it is an AGM and was overcharged it is probably toast. If it is a flooded cell check the level and add distilled water if low.

 

im not willing to take apart my battery and fill with distilled water. I would be worried about burns, leakage, etc. I'm not prepared for that risk. I'd just buy another one. However, I do believe the battery is AGM...it has a picture of a guy on a jetski, motorcycle, 4x4, and snow machine, and it says power max on the box and i remember reading AGM something. I'm at work again, and it's charging at a slow 2A rate. It's been charging since 1200 noon. I'll try tonight at 9:15pm ET. I hope my apartment isn't on fire!


Would someone be able to explain why a battery may be void of "charge" yet have a relatively good "voltage" reading? How is that possible?

 

You should read the battery manual first before charging like that... 2 amps is not slow.

Sorry to say this but you have likely cooked that battery--2 amps x 9 hours is 18 amp-hours...what is the capacity of the battery, 10 or 12 A-Hr? Oops...

AGM are not flooded so there is only a small amount of gel electrolyte available for the electrons to swim across. If you charge too fast it gets hot and vents out the electrolyte. If you overcharge, the cells boil off the electrolyte. So without enough electrolyte the battery may read 12 volts, but it has no path for current flow internally--it is a dry hump cell. AGM are very sensitive to charging voltage and current, and temperature. Now you get to go and read the AGM battery manual with your new battery...lol

12 volts is not a good voltage. 13.6 to 12.8 is good. Above 14.4 and you are boiling the insides.

 

I thought the VFR was specc'd to 15v? At least my 5th gen is.

 

Wow, where to start? On most battery chargers, the minimum setting is 2A, thus that is as slow a charge that can be applied. As long as it is not an old, manual charge beast, that 2A is just the max rate it will charge at. The rate will decrease as the charge in the battery increases. The battery will not overcharge, or catch on fire.

Battery voltage and battery power (charge) are two different things. This is why you have to load test batteries, to determine serviceability. The voltage will only drop slightly on a weak, uncharged battery, because the potential between the anode and cathode is still present. There just isn't enough of a difference, to be able to send out the electrons to do the work required. This is how you determine if you have a dead cell. If the voltage reading is only 10V, instead of 12V, one of the cells is not supplying the min voltage and is shorted out.

Don't get charging voltage and battery voltage mixed. The charging voltage is from the R/R and should always be higher than the battery voltage. Otherwise it won't be able to charge. Normal battery voltage is about 12.8V, when fully charged and rested. I had one that worked fine, for years, at only 12.4V. That just happened to be it's happy place and it never had a problem starting the 1100cc bike.

Good luck and be careful. There is enough power in a bike battery to kill you.

 

Now that the dust has settled, welcome to VFRW.

Just so you know, jumping from a car has been done many times, without incident. We'll probably never know what went wrong with your mishap, but the odds are that one of the jumper cables shorted, either by contact, or arcing. Check the connectors for any signs burns, or spot welding, if you're curious.