Jump Starting Motorcycles

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is it safe to jump start a motorcycle from a car

Yes - only if car is off
9
64%
Yes - safe with car on
4
29%
No - it will fry your motorcycle
1
7%
 
Total votes: 14

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JTChiTown
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Jump Starting Motorcycles

Post by JTChiTown » Wed Jan 13, 2016 11:06 pm

Reading a recent Facebook post from one of the esteemed online groups of Dallas Area Riders, I was surprised to see the comments I saw.

What does everyone else believe?

I'll explain my beliefs after a couple of days.
Jeff

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Re: Jump Starting Motorcycles

Post by milesmiles » Thu Jan 14, 2016 6:46 am

This should be good...
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Re: Jump Starting Motorcycles

Post by DarcShadow » Thu Jan 14, 2016 8:16 am

There is a small risk in damaging the bike, but I've done it several times with car off with no issues. The danger comes from the fact that the car is capable of supplying more current than the bike. However, unless there is something wrong on the bike, it will only draw as much current as it needs so there would be no need to worry.

What was the majority of the facebook post saying?
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Re: Jump Starting Motorcycles

Post by fixxervi6 » Thu Jan 14, 2016 8:43 am

I've jumped both ways, no issues.

Off is the way to go, all it is is a bigger battery, the bike will only draw the amps it needs so it doesn't matter if the car battery has 5X the amount of amps.
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Re: Jump Starting Motorcycles

Post by stoney812 » Thu Jan 14, 2016 10:30 am

I've done it before with the car running and never had any problems, because like DS said, as long as there is nothing wrong with the bike, it will only pull as much amps as it needs. I've even jumped a car with the bike a couple of times with no problems.

I think the biggest issue is getting full size jumper cables on the positive terminal on the bike battery without touching the frame and shorting it out. I've never shorted it before, but I'm always super careful since there only seems to be about an inch of space between the terminal and the frame on my bike.
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Re: Jump Starting Motorcycles

Post by LonestarCBR » Thu Jan 14, 2016 10:38 am

Car off, don't clamp to bike battery, just touch to terminal and remove immediately upon bike starting.
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Anybody can jump a motorcycle. The trouble begins when you try to land it. EK
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Re: Jump Starting Motorcycles

Post by DarcShadow » Thu Jan 14, 2016 12:20 pm

stoney812 wrote:I've even jumped a car with the bike a couple of times with no problems.
Did that once as well, had to jump start the Viper with the Daytona 650 battery. :-)
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Re: Jump Starting Motorcycles

Post by fixxervi6 » Thu Jan 14, 2016 3:34 pm

LonestarCBR wrote:Car off, don't clamp to bike battery, just touch to terminal and remove immediately upon bike starting.
What's the logic in that, they are both 12v batteries and unless the car battery is low on juice there should be no extra load on the stator
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Re: Jump Starting Motorcycles

Post by JTChiTown » Fri Jan 15, 2016 7:08 am

So good variety here. And I'm glad to see yall are smarter than the overall riders group.

The Facebook group was about 80% totally not safe to do, it'll fry your bike, etc. I only saw one dude who said it was safe regardless of vehicle on or off. Long story short, so long as you attach the cables correctly, there is no damage potential to a functioning motorcycle.
Jeff

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Re: Jump Starting Motorcycles

Post by LonestarCBR » Fri Jan 15, 2016 7:10 am

fixxervi6 wrote:
LonestarCBR wrote:Car off, don't clamp to bike battery, just touch to terminal and remove immediately upon bike starting.
What's the logic in that, they are both 12v batteries and unless the car battery is low on juice there should be no extra load on the stator
Simply to avoid damaging the bike battery (I'm assuming you meant the "touch to terminal" part). :HeadScratch:

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Anybody can jump a motorcycle. The trouble begins when you try to land it. EK
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