cold starts

[zxr400baby]

Hi Everyone
After readying the cold starts herre a few mths agho i wasent getting that my zxr but about 3weeks ago i did ..
This have work 4 my zxr try it ..
I start the bike but when it cut out its cold its strugglingt to start and it wasent happying in doing so ..then last week i got geared and keep say my battery was flatish?? my boyfreind nah its ok put it on a 4amp trickle charger battery charger said 3/4 i went to start the bike thyis week bike would fire but not start the battery sounded so after i slamed my leathers down in temper i shouted at him .. he tryed so what he did was put my battery on a 4amp trickle charge over nite and it said 3/4
but the batteery was looking for the charge now my zxr starts 1st time ticks over ..i been out for a few days and batery went back on charge for a few hrs again my baby fireed up a gain in the rain in cold ..try keeping battery top up on a 4amp trickle charge even if charger does say its ok..get back to this forum and lets up all know good luck all
julie xxx

[RedexRobB]

I reckon you just need a new battery as it sounds like its not holding its charge, mine has been absolutely fine even when we had heavy frost on wednesday morning. I also found it can help to take the battery out and keep it indoors.

[superman]

cold starts aint the problem i dont think, just keep the bike hooked up to an optimate. its the hot starting problems you need to get round, my old zxr didnt have them put you could tell the difference between hot an cold starts.

[Jamz]

As RobB says, in my experience once a battery dies like that nothing can recover it. You might get a few weeks or months out of it by trickle charging it, but you'll always be expecting it to be dead.

Riding all year round I expect my battery to last 12-18 months before it's screwed.

[cargo]

The type of batteries found in bikes and most cars are NOT designed to be cycled from discharged to charged they simply will not tolerate it.
Much less then 11 volts would be considered discharged................
Once a battery is discharged it starts to sulphate and even if you charged it some battery performance is lost repeat that process and soon enough your battery is toast and no amount of charging will fix it.

The small sealed type battery found in ZXR400 and other bikes are particulary prone to this. It is vital to battery life that your charging system on the bike is working correctly. Also if you leave your bike sitting for any length of time you need to keep the battery maintained with a suitable charger such as an Opimate.

Storing your battery indoors is a good idea.................. cold and damp will discharge your battey rapidly as will an alarm or clock if fitted on your bike


In use on your bike the battery is nothing but a storage unit that is constantly being charged as it supplies power for your ignition lights etc etc it does not and should not discharge with use on the bike and should last for years. It is the discharge and recharge that kills them.

The toughest job you battery does is start your bike on a cold morning..............any weakness in the battery will be highlighted at that time I've found that ZXR400 will not start on a weak battery even though the engine is turning over.

Every winter I have six batteries that I keep fit and healty with 2 Optimates rotating the chargers to keep every battery fully charged. They live in my kitchen in the warm and I've not lost one yet...................I have forgotten about a battery that was in a bike in my workshop..................it was toast in a matter of weeks.

You can find out everything you need to know about batteries here.............

http://www.batteryuniversity.com/index.htm

[Jeppo]

Luckily my battery doesn't seem to struggle to bad starting in the cold weather, though if i accidentally flood it trying to get it to tick over it takes a few presses to get it going, though thats normal

its the hot starting problems you need to get round

yea my bike sometimes has hot start problems, it just turns over very slowly, and mite need a few goes to fire.....why is this?? Because if i leave it to cool down rather than kill the battery when its hot, it starts dead easy....???