bike wont start after new flasher relay

[onizthegnome]

i decided to change my stock brake light bulb and install an electronic flasher on my bike today. i left the bike naked out in the cold while i went to autozone to get the parts. i got back and put in the new flasher, a 12V 2 terminal NovitaTech Tridon LF12 240W. then i switched the key to ON and checked my blinkers and then i noticed that the blink rate started to slow down. so i tried to start the bike and all i heard was a rapid clicking sound from near the battery.
not sure if the new flasher caused this or because i left her out in the cold naked. maybe ill try to jump start from a car in the morning but right now its too cold outside.

[mrlmd]

The bike being naked had nothing to do with the dead battery. The plastic doesn't keep the bike warm. Put the battery on a charger, running the bike 15 min or 15 miles will not recharge it up enough in this cold.
Make sure the car engine is NOT RUNNING when you jump the bike from the car battery or all the electronics in the bike will be toast.

[onizthegnome]

thanks

[onizthegnome]

so i hooked up my bike to the car with jumper cables (did not start the car), because everyone said it would fry the bikes electronics. after 20 mins i tried to start it and all i got was the same clicking noise from the battery. it eventually stopped clicking after holding the starter for a while. then i put it in 2nd gear, went downhill and tried to pop the clutch. well i got my workout pushing it back uphill in the cold :| so finally i went to walmart and bought a charger. its a 1.5A 18W electric charger. 6v/12v automatic. it was the lowest amp charger that they had for $20. then i got home and read that i shouldnt use anything higher than 1.25A?! anyone know if this is really true? what chargers are good/popular for our batteries?

btw sorry for being such a noob, please bear with me cause im new to most of this.

[mrlmd]

That charger is perfectly fine and will work well.
Did you try to start the bike when it was hooked up to the car or were you using the car battery for 20 min to try and charge up the bike battery? That won't work, it will just drain down the car battery to eventually equalize the voltage in both batteries. If you connect up the car, just try and start the bike and after the bike starts, disconnect the jumper cables. If you do get the bike to start (and use the choke as you are supposed to), let it run a while. then turn it off and connect the battery charger for 4-6 hrs. or until it indicates the battery is charged.

[onizthegnome]

well i just got home from work. im gonna give the charger a shot since the car wasnt able to help my bike. thanks for the advise marc

[onizthegnome]

she lives!!! all i needed was to charge the battery installed the o-ring connector for easy charging in the future

[mrlmd]

Glad you got it started. It was simple - a depleted battery because of the cold.
If your charger is also a "tender" or "battery maintainer", depending on what you bought, either leave it plugged in continuously to keep the battery charge up, especially if you're not using the bike much in this cold, or just hook it up for 4-6 hrs. or so every 2 weeks. Do not start the bike and let it run for 5 -10 min to recharge the battery because you use more current to start it than the alternator will replace in that time. Either ride it for a half hour or more, or use the battery charger to keep it up. Put some Stabil in the gas and also some Berryman's B12 Chemtool or Seafoam (to clean the carbs), let it run 5 min to get it through the system, change the oil and filter, and wrap it up 'till Spring when you are done riding for the season.