Tech question for a friend

[eltristo]

My friend has a 95 VFR which he has not had running for a while.  We did some basic maintenance on it a couple of weekends ago - plugs, oil, new battery - that sort of stuff.  The battery at the time didn't seem to be giving much, so I took it home and charged it up.  I gave it back to him and last night he tried it out again.  He said the lights all came on, but after a couple of seconds.  Then he tried to start it, got one loud click, and everything went dead.  He turned it off, waited a few minutes, then tried again:  same deal.  Turned it off one more time, waited a few, and turned it on just to make sure the battery was still running the lights, and it was.  He left it at that.  Thoughts?

[DRKWNG]

I like cheese.

[Speeddog]

It would be worth checking that the battery cables have good clean tight connections, especially the ground cable.
Same for the hot cables to the starter and starter solenoid.

Um, how long is 'for a while'?

[MadDuck]

You can do the voltmeter thing, which is the proper way to go providing you know what you are doing with it. Don't laugh or scoff. I watched a friend of mine smoke a brand new digi meter in the blink of an eye because he though he knew what was going on. Or, you could put a brand new fresh battery in, which is most likely what you're going to end up doing anyway.  Old batteries that have been sitting awhile don't like to come up to full charge and basically can't hold a deep charge. Doesn't take anything to run lights. The starter is the heavy consumer.

You said new battery was in the bike? How new? New, new? Or just a different, fresher battery that had been sitting around? Other than that it could be corroded connections like Speeddog says.

[eltristo]

You said new battery was in the bike? How new?

Brand spankin' new, and told it was good from the shop - he tested it in front of me and said it was good, though I didn't check it at the time.  I did check it after the charge and it was showing around 13 volts - i don't know how to get an amperage reading, if that is even valid for a bike battery. 

Um, how long is 'for a while'?

A while, in this case, is about a year.

[MadDuck]

Then for everything to go black you must have poor connections somewhere or have blown some sort of main fuse. Depending on where and how it was stored a year is not so bad. Not that good but still....

[eltristo]

Hmmm.  Okay then, I'll let him know.  I'm pretty sure he just got a manual, so he should be able to trace the main wires.  Thanks.

[RUFKM]

Try a bump start just to see if the bike will run.  This doesn't do much but will isolate starter circuit problems.

[eltristo]

We tried the bump start - it turned a couple of times, but no go. 

[RUFKM]

Assuming cables are okay take the battery out of the picture by using jumpers from a car or truck.  The CCA's are way higher so you'll be able to crank extra to get the fire lit.

[eltristo]

Assuming cables are okay take the battery out of the picture by using jumpers from a car or truck.  The CCA's are way higher so you'll be able to crank extra to get the fire lit.

Like, connect the cables to the wires directly, or just have it hooked up?

[RUFKM]

Use jumper cables to assist the bike battery.  It may take a little extra to get the fire lit since it's been sitting awhile.  If you have the jumpers installed and it still won't turn over there's a problem in the starter or ignition circuit.  As I'm sure you know bike batteries don't carry much more energy than it takes to start on a good day.

[eltristo]

Righty ho, we'll give it a shot.

[RUFKM]

Hey Tristan did you ever get this fire lit?

[eltristo]

He has not reported back to me since I passed the info on to him, and I haven't been to his place.  I'll post back when I know more.