Battery Reinstall, No Spark?

[BorgBiker]

Yesterday, I pulled a bonehead maneuver and accidentally left my key in the on position while eating at a pizza shop down the street. I was there about an hour and a half, and during this time my Odyssey PC680 battery ran down. I had my brother help me push start the Max, which was surprisingly easy. I then rode around town for about 30 minutes to charge up the battery. But when I got home and turned the motor off, I found I hadn't charged the battery enough.

So I pulled the battery and did a slow 2amp charge on it for about 4-5 hours, then put it back in. In order to remove the battery, I had to remove a bracket, and I had to disconnect some of the couplers that were connecting things together, but I did reconnect them when the battery was reinstalled. When I turned the key, the lights came on strong, the servos made the right noises and everything seemed fine. I though I was good to go.

But, this morning when leaving for work, I try to start the motor and it seemed as if there's no spark. The starter spins the motor nice and fast, but it never 'catches'. I have now double checked the connections, even disconnecting and reconnecting them.

Is there something I missed?

 

[gamorg02]

battery might be shot. try jumping it off a known good battery, like a car for example see if that helps. if it does the battery is probably gone esp if you tried it on a 2amp charge.

 

[Rollie]

Check your fuses .

 

[tmosel]

Does your charger work with AGM batteries?

 

[BorgBiker]

The PO installed the battery right before I bought it, so it's only 6 months old.

The charger is new, but it's not an expensive charger. I bought it from Harbor Freight, this is the first time it's been used, seemed to work like a champ.

The starter spins the motor very nicely, this usually would tell me the battery has enough juice. I did check the battery with a voltmeter and it is reading @ 13.4 volts. Having no experience with this new type of battery though, I am willing to entertain the idea that the battery was killed but is faking it somehow.

I was thinking more along the lines of maybe a connecter isn't fully seated or something like that. Has anyone had a similar experience?

I will take the battery out, and check the connections tonight.

Never had to jump a bike off a car, but it seems like I heard that it's not recommended. Any thoughts?

 

[gamorg02]

i've done it plenty of times. i wouldn't turn the car on just to make sure there's no voltage spikes though. 12v is 12v.

 

[jfeagins]

See if the bike will still push start. IF it doesn't, my bet is on you having left a small connector separated someplace under that seat.

If it does start up by pushing, my bet would be a weakened battery, whereby the voltage is dropping below the level required to fire the bike, even though the starter is spinning good. Check the voltage WHILE cranking to see what it's dropping to. The black boxes on our Maxes are kind of finicky about voltages.

Also, be sure your plug wires are firmly re-inserted into the coils too. Could be they got pulled out and not pushed all the way back in.

 

[alorio1]

You may have the rear coil connectors crossed, very easily done, don't ask me how I know........

 

[BorgBiker]

Ha! What a relief! It was as simple as I hoped. There are some wires running transversely just behind the battery, I had unplugged a small connector during removal, and then during re-installation I did not think to look at these wire's connections, since they were not required for bracket removal.

In short: I unplugged a connecter I did not need to, and didn't reconnect it due to it's location/my ignorance.

Thanks for the help guys,

Marcus