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Can you jump start the bike through the battery tender connector?

2K views 37 replies 11 participants last post by  golden chicken 
#1 · (Edited)
There is a SAE connector hanging off the battery in the 2023 model (and maybe others as well).

Is this connector safe to jump start a bike through? Or is it meant exclusively for charging the battery?
 
#2 ·
Where is the SAE connector wired to?
If it is wired directly to the battery, I'd say there is nothing different from wiring your battery to another one to jump start the bike.
 
#4 ·
If you need a jump because the battery is just slightly too weak to start the bike on its own and you don't have the tools handy to take the seat off, like if you accidentally left the parking lights on for 2 hours, maybe. In this case, I would rather see you connect the jump pack to the connector and leave it for 30+ minutes to charge the battery up.

If the battery is mostly dead, no.
 
#5 · (Edited)
Yeah. I was just thinking if I could use the existing SAE connector to both charge the battery and deliver a jump start - whatever is called for. But seems like that is not the case. For the jump start, one would need to go to the battery terminals directly. Or yeah, you could just charge it up. But that would take time. And may not even be possible, if the bike is not at home.
 
#6 ·
No!

The SAE connector cannot handle the heavy current required for the Starter to move the engine. If you look on the specs of Batteries they give the CCA ( Cold Current Amperage ).

This cheap Gel one rates @ 120 amps


When the Starter button is pressed there can be well over 50 amps going through the Starter Relay.

You might get away with it for a few seconds but fuse would most likely blow and the wires would most certainly heat up and probably melt and cause a possible short. Don't do it!
 
#7 ·
When I had a car on the road I bought one of these,

Power Pack Jump Starter eBay

And tested it on my SV and it works on a depleted Battery but has to be attached directly to the Battery terminals.

As my SV is my only Automotive transport I keep a spare cheap Fully charged Gel battery in my Kitchen. Luckily I've only had to use/swap it once when I accidently turned the ignition key too far and put the Bike in ,"Park Mode " and left it not noticing the parking lights were still on and it flattened the battery Doh!! :O
 
#13 · (Edited)
Well, folks - it seems like the "jumping from a running car will fry your bike" may in fact be an old wives tale (at least in this day and age). There is electrically no difference in the voltage put out by the car battery or the alternator of a running car (12-14.5V), such that the current drawn by the bike pretty much depends on the bike itself, and it will draw the same current from either source. In theory, the car battery can supply higher currents than the alternator.

I have always had the car running every time I've jumped another car or a motorcycle. Full disclosure, I am an Electronics engineer and from what little I remember about electricity, this thing never made sense to me. In fact, I thought it was a good idea to have the car running, so you don't impact its battery negatively.

Ok - fight me.

EDIT: Here's a thread on Reddit that makes sense to me. We can do more legitimate research here.
 
#16 ·
I have always had the car running every time I've jumped another car or a motorcycle. Full disclosure, I am an Electronics engineer and from what little I remember about electricity, this thing never made sense to me. In fact, I thought it was a good idea to have the car running, so you don't impact its battery negatively.

Ok - fight me.

EDIT: Here's a thread on Reddit that makes sense to me. We can do more legitimate research here.
What is the current output of a Car's charging system at idle ?

What is the safe maximum charging current of a Motorcycle battery ?
 
#15 ·
Not an EE here but... from what I understand the problem isn't when you connect the car and bike batteries together with the car running but when the motorcycle engine starts and both charging systems are running at the same time. Car charging systems are very different than moto charging systems (variable output alternator versus permanent magnet generator with shunt R/R) and I think the risk is that it can fry the diodes in the R/R or something like that. In any case, there is no reason to take the (real or imagined) risk as a car battery has plenty of amps to start a bike without the engine running.
 
#20 ·
Car charging systems are very different than moto charging systems (variable output alternator versus permanent magnet generator with shunt R/R) and I think the risk is that it can fry the diodes in the R/R or something like that.
Unless there is a short or something in the motorcycle - in which case it will draw the max current a source can supply.
The key problem as I see it is that the R/R in a moto is typically a shunt type, i.e. shorts the stator to ground to control voltage. So instead of diodes in the R/R frying perhaps it is the mosfet or whatever electrical device that does the shunting that gets fried because the alternator will see it as a short and drive it to failure.
 
#37 ·
I was under the impression that you have to have some voltage in the battery to jump start a fuel injected bike to run the ECU and fuel pump and injectors.

Mad
You can BUMP start a FI bike with a low battery as long as it's still got enough voltage to run the pump and injectors. You can JUMP start a FI bike with a totally dead battery as the jumper cables supply what it'll need almost regardless of the condition of the bike battery. If the battery is shorted....game over, so it can be dead but not actually mechanically defective.
 
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