Trouble starting cold - choke doesn't help

[jonathan180iq]

Unless you are working in a state-of-the-art shop and you need industrial strength tools to get your jobs done, HF stuff is just fine.

I have plenty of things from there and have yet to have a problem.
So their stuff is made in China... just like everything else in this country.

[JWR]

I caught this one on sale at HF for 9.95.

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[mrlmd1]

There's always Walmart, Autozone, Advance, any number of places to spend $30 or less. Go online and search for a small battery charger, or battery maintainer, or trickle charger.

[alantf]

Got a decent bike charger/tender , last year, for €15 at our local supermarket, & things are usually cheaper in America.

[dentheman]

They are available everywhere everyone stated above. And if you can wait a few days for delivery you can get an excellent deal from Amazon.com. My daughter got me a 1.5 amp 6-12volt Schumacher charger/maintainer there for Christmas for less than $20. It will charge batteries that are not completely dead and maintain them for long periods of not being used or in cold weather.

I agree with mrlmd1, you don't want a charger that puts out more than 2 amps for the smallish motorcycle and ATV batteries, more powerful chargers are for car batteries.

[ArizonaKev]

Thanks all. I went to WalMart and picked up a Shumacher charger for $30, and it seems pretty nice. I took the battery out and am charging it up tonight - let you all know the results tomorrow.


AzKev

[ArizonaKev]

BIG thanks to Patrick and Jonathan. I went to WalMart and bought a nice little Shumacher charger/maintainer for $30. I got it home, took the battery of my bike, and charged it on the 2A setting as suggested. Went out the next morning when it was cold again, and with the freshly charged battery and the choke on, bike fired right up.

Thanks for the advice all!

:2tup:

Az Kev

[JWR]

I grew up in the era of, if it would turn over it would crank.

Today the battery must be very near 100%.

A good battery is one of the cheapest investments you can make.
An $80.00 battery will last from 5 years +++.

[jonathan180iq]

Originally Posted by JWR

A good battery is one of the cheapest investments you can make.
An $80.00 battery will last from 5 years +++.

Yep. Battery in my Metro is an '05 and it still cranks like a new battery.
That's unheard of in most cars.

[mrlmd1]

Originally Posted by ArizonaKev

BIG thanks to Patrick and Jonathan. I went to WalMart and bought a nice little Shumacher charger/maintainer for $30. I got it home, took the battery of my bike, and charged it on the 2A setting as suggested. Went out the next morning when it was cold again, and with the freshly charged battery and the choke on, bike fired right up.

Thanks for the advice all!

:2tup:

Az Kev

And what about ME? I suggested Walmart. (j/k) (not really)

You don't have to remove the battery to charge it, that's a PIA. Those small chargers usually come with leads to install permanently on the battery with a plug on the end left dangling in some accessible place under the seat to hook up to the charger whenever you need it. Like once a week or two if the weather's real cold and you're not riding the bike much. Don't forget, the bike's charging system is pretty puny and letting it run at idle for 10-15 min will not recharge what you took out of the battery to start it. Plug it in and put it on the trickle charger when it's really cold to keep it topped up.