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Live From New York

1K views 9 replies 5 participants last post by  smedlin 
#1 ·
Hey what's up? After years of riding an '82 KZ I'm now riding my bro's '94 Vulcan 750.

The main question I have right now, which I will post in the main forum once I have the priviledge, is to find out if anyone knows of a jump pack that's made for bikes. Basically, even if I keep the battery on trickle charge, if I drive to work, by the end of the day it's a good chance it will be dead. I'm not in an area i could even think about bump starting it and I don't want to rely on flaggina taxi to give me a jump. Whay I'm looking for is a jump pack that is deally 5 or 8 lbs. max that could fit in a saddlebag or a back pack, that I could take with me on just about every ride during the winter in case the bike won't start.

Any ideas?
 
#4 · (Edited)
Darren something is wrong with the bike. Those 750's are notorious for stator and regulator/rectifier failures. One of those is bad. Post down in the 750 section and they can walk you through testing those components. The 'basic' test though, is to put a multi-meter on the battery and run the bike at about 2500 rpms. You should be up close to or over 13 volts.

Also, it's still possible you've got a bad battery. Every time a lead acid battery (and AGM batteries are still lead acid) drops below 12.4v, sulphate crystals form on the plates and eventually, this will impede it's ability to hold a charge. So once you determine what components have failed, you will want to load test the battery. This can be done on the bike, or it can be taken to a dealer or auto parts store and they can hook it up to machine that will load test it.

Also, jumping a bike is not the best solution. In a pinch? Sure, I'd jump a bike before I walked home too! But it's not something you should rely on. It stresses electrical components, and Kawasaki recommends NOT jumping. On a dual stator Nomad? Not necessarily the case. But on the notoriously limited 750, absolutely.

Fantastic bikes! Just gotta figure out what's going on with the electrical system and you'll enjoy it for many many miles.

By the way welcome! I hope you and your family where not impacted too badly by the storm.
 
#5 ·
+1 on Romans post. And darren I live in Northern Ontario and can vouch that Kowasakis are good in the cold. Wishing you great success in figuring out the problem and getting your bike back in shape. Enjoy and be safe.
 
#8 ·
Thanks for the responses everyone. I tried many different things over the years with KZ and could never her her to be reliable in under 45 degrees. New abtteries, stator work, electrical...everything. My brother tried the same things with the Vulcan (different mechanics, although they could all be incompetent).

So long and the short of it, while of course I would love to have a bike that doesn't need to have a jump pack as a back-up clean, at least for now, I can't ride without one. So....I'm still looking for one!
 
#9 ·
If you get a hold of sfair down in the 750 section, get a good multi-meter and spend a solid hour, I guarantee that you will find the culprit.

Now, if it's cranking and cranking and cranking and finally dies before you get it started that could be a different issue. But if the battery is dead when you walk out, I'd almost bet money you have a bad stator or reg/rect (common on the 750's). Don't just swap out parts though, diagnose the issue! Proper diagnosis is not changing parts to see if the problem is fixed!

Good luck!

If you absolutely MUST (and I warn you, making a habit of this WILL damage your bikes electrical system further). Black and Decker makes a small portable rechargeable jump pack. It uses a cigarette lighter to jump a car, but you could get a 5 dollar alligator clip/power port dongle and quickly convert it into an alligator clip jump starter.
 
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