New rider and 250 owner - won't start!

[Truant]

2007 Ninja 250 was last running and starting fine 3 days ago. Tried to go on a ride earlier and she wouldn't start. Hitting the electric starter button does nothing, turning the key to "on" doesn't even switch on any of the dash lights.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, but please be patient. I'm not very mechanically experienced, but I'd like to take a stab at it before I get it hauled to a shop.

[cbinker]

Start with checking the battery connections. Me personally I would use a nearby hill turn the bike to "On" click into second gear and start rolling down the hill while holding clutch lever at about 10-15 release lever and go ride.

[InvisiBill]

If you get absolutely no lights at all, either the battery is completely dead (or disconnected) or the Main fuse is blown.

[Truant]

Originally Posted by cbinker

Start with checking the battery connections. Me personally I would use a nearby hill turn the bike to "On" click into second gear and start rolling down the hill while holding clutch lever at about 10-15 release lever and go ride.

My friend recommended the same thing actually. My street is already at a slight incline, so that might work. However the end of the block is a stoplight and relatively busy intersection so I might try that last.

[Truant]

Originally Posted by InvisiBill

If you get absolutely no lights at all, either the battery is completely dead (or disconnected) or the Main fuse is blown.

I have a battery tender and a few spare fuses, so I'm going to take a look at this first thing when I get off work. Thanks!

[csmith12]

Welcome and good luck!

[xXecuterXx2]

You can also attempt to jump it, start as you would jumping another car, BUT DO NOT HAVE THE DONOR CAR RUNNING, with its alternator and its battery combined it will hurt your ninjette. You don't even need keys, just pop the hood connect em up and try to start it, I REPEAT DO NOT HAVE THE CAR RUNNING. Good luck

[ninjunk]

Is the kill switch turned off? Is the neutral and oil pressure light coming on?

[Truant]

First off, thanks for all the great advice and kind words!

I haven't had much time the last few evenings to work on my ninjette but I did check the fuses at least. They're all intact. I popped the battery and put it on my trickle charger all night. It was topped off this morning when I left for work - so hopefully that works.

If that doesn't do anything, I will try some of the other things that have been suggested in this thread. Will keep yall updated.

[jkv45]

If you have a volt meter, I would read the battery before trying to start it - it should be 12.7V or above if it's fully charged. Then read it as you turn on the key. It should still read 12.5 or so. If that checks out, read it as you are hitting the starter button. You should see over 11V as it's cranking. If at any time it drops below 11V it's toast - even if it read 12.7 V before putting a load on it.

A battery can show fully charged (green light) but drop off to nothing when under any amount of load.

I'm thinking that's what's going on.

Other things to check would be all of the connections to and from the battery and where any grounds attach to the frame.

[Truant]

Hey everybody... Turns out it was the battery all along!

After a night on the trickle charger I checked the amps. When I was hitting the starter the amp reading dropped from 12.48 to 10.5ish. I immediately got changed and went for a ride (except I didn't get farther than the block before I realized I left the petcock in the off position). At this point though, I'm more curious as to how the battery managed to completely drain over 2 and half days...

But she's alive and I couldn't be more stoked right now. Thank you all who chimed in with your experience and patient advice for a complete newb. Now I gotta buy a multimeter of my own.

[jkv45]

Originally Posted by Truant

Hey everybody... Turns out it was the battery all along!

After a night on the trickle charger I checked the amps. When I was hitting the starter the amp reading dropped from 12.48 to 10.5ish. I immediately got changed and went for a ride (except I didn't get farther than the block before I realized I left the petcock in the off position). At this point though, I'm more curious as to how the battery managed to completely drain over 2 and half days...

There could be some type of draw, but chances are the battery just went bad. It's not unusual for a battery to be perfectly fine one minute and completely dead the next.

I had a car battery go bad while I was in a store. Started fine and drove a mile, shut it off and was inside for 10 minutes, came back out and it was completely dead - no lights - nothing.

[dcj13]

How old is this battery? Was it well maintained?

[Truant]

Originally Posted by dcj13

How old is this battery? Was it well maintained?

The battery is supposedly 6 months old, though I'm not sure how well it was maintained. Would maintenance just consist of pulling it out whenever I plan on not running the bike for long periods of time?

I just bought the bike off craigslist and when I was test riding it, I started it up cold multiple times.

[csmith12]

Originally Posted by Truant

Would maintenance just consist of pulling it out whenever I plan on not running the bike for long periods of time?

Not really, while that might get you by in a pinch, doing only that will significantly eat into the total service life of the battery. Head to wal-mart and buy a battery tender jr. Max price will be $26, they can be had cheaper on sale or from other sources but they can help add years to the service life of your batteries.

Just do it!

[jkv45]

Age of the battery doesn't really matter - they all go bad sooner or later.

I had my OEM Yuasa battery in my SV from '06 until '13, and it's wasn't completely junk, just getting progressively weaker.

I've never used a Tender on it, just charged it in the off-season (kept in a fairly warm garage) for a few hours every month at 1A. A Tender may be better, but it will last a long time if you keep on top of it when not riding. No need to remove it from the bike to charge it.

I learned an interesting thing at a EV competition from one of the top teams. They are using standard automotive batteries and running them completely down before charging - over and over. They can get additional voltage (over 12.7V, closer to 14V IIRC) by repeated deep cycling. They have some batteries that are 5 years old and still going strong. Just completely goes against everything you hear about how to get maximum battery life.

[dcj13]

Originally Posted by Truant

The battery is supposedly 6 months old, though I'm not sure how well it was maintained.

If it is a standard flooded lead acid battery (FLA) and it wasn't charged that whole time (and bike wasn't ridden), the battery probably is toast.

What the other guys have said about battery maintenance is sound advice. I just replaced the 7 year old (still functioning) battery in my K75 with a FLA Yuasa last week.

[Truant]

I already have a battery tender, it's a Black and Decker model Bm3b (what I used to charge my battery when it initially died on me a week ago). Should I plug in my tender every time I decide that I won't be riding for like every three days or week?

[dcj13]

Originally Posted by Truant

I already have a battery tender, it's a Black and Decker model Bm3b (what I used to charge my battery when it initially died on me a week ago). Should I plug in my tender every time I decide that I won't be riding for like every three days or week?

A week or two of non-use (and no charging) for a good FLA battery is no problem. Six months of non-use (and no charging) for a good FLA battery will turn it into a bad battery.

It's not a bad idea to hook the bike up to a battery tender if you haven't ridden it for a few days and you're not sure when you're going to ride again.