Author Topic: Using a car battery while working on bike  (Read 1753 times)

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Offline Can550

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Using a car battery while working on bike
« on: September 27, 2017, 07:49:18 AM »
Hi
It may be a very dumb question but would like to know if I can use (have a spare one) a car battery with cables to power up a 1978 cb750k while working on bike’s electrical and syncing carbs. My battery is awaited in 3-5 days and thought would finish some of the works till battery arrived.

I have searched the forums and got mixed feelings. Amperage being way high, can it toast Parts/ wiring of bike ?
Thanks


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Offline BobbyR

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Re: Using a car battery while working on bike
« Reply #1 on: September 27, 2017, 08:38:53 AM »
It is not a dumb question. If you are simply using the 12V car battery to start the bike and run the lights there is no issue, I did this with my 78K with no problems.  You are only drawing current needed from the battery. You can think of this a "pull" and the bike will only "pull" what it needs no matter the size of the battery. 

IF you are using car charger you could run into a problem since with the wrong setting on some chargers you can push current for starting a car. This is also true if you are using jumpers from a running car.
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Offline calj737

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Re: Using a car battery while working on bike
« Reply #2 on: September 27, 2017, 08:53:59 AM »
This is also true if you are using jumpers from a running car.
The only issue with using a car battery to jump start a motorcycle is possibly reversing polarity. The bike will still ONLY pull what it needs. The running vehicle doesn’t push to the bike any more than the bike pulls.
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Offline Can550

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Re: Using a car battery while working on bike
« Reply #3 on: September 27, 2017, 09:09:41 AM »
Thanks guys
I did connect a spare car battery to bike with jumper wires. Started fine (after carb rebuild/cleaning) then next day it wouldn’t start but will show spark on points. No spark on 1$2 plugs. Checked caps and no resistance. Went to Honda and bought two caps, spark is back. While talking to Honda guy, he said I used car battery and that screwed up my electrical system and potentially this is why my plug caps have gone bad ????

Bike had not started in 3-4 years
I got scared that may have damaged rectifier or coils etc. Since I ran bike like this to sync my carbs.


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Offline Don R

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Re: Using a car battery while working on bike
« Reply #4 on: September 27, 2017, 09:49:01 AM »
12V is always 12V. There are mechanics that don't really understand the physics of what they are doing. I'd replace all four caps but that's just me. I always remind myself it doesn't cost much compared to troubleshooting the other two later on.

 Keep the polarity correct even with the bike battery. Advance tried to sell me bike batteries with the polarity incorrect for our bikes. There was a part number problem in their books.
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Offline Can550

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Re: Using a car battery while working on bike
« Reply #5 on: September 27, 2017, 10:24:03 AM »
Relieving to read these replies as I was really worried with 80Amps battery being used on bike is fatal (per Honda parts guy)


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Offline Geeto67

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Re: Using a car battery while working on bike
« Reply #6 on: September 27, 2017, 11:54:15 AM »
Thanks guys
I did connect a spare car battery to bike with jumper wires. Started fine (after carb rebuild/cleaning) then next day it wouldn’t start but will show spark on points. No spark on 1$2 plugs. Checked caps and no resistance. Went to Honda and bought two caps, spark is back. While talking to Honda guy, he said I used car battery and that screwed up my electrical system and potentially this is why my plug caps have gone bad ????

Bike had not started in 3-4 years
I got scared that may have damaged rectifier or coils etc. Since I ran bike like this to sync my carbs.


If you want piece of mind that its your caps are bad, you can always measure the resistance of the spark plug caps. Pre 1976 the resistance is 7ohms, and post 1976 the stock cap is 10K ohms resistance. Aftermarket ngk caps are usually 5 ohms. Caps on the early cb750s are considered burned out at 9ohms, and on the later bikes (like your 1978) 11 ohms. Putting a new lower ohm cap on the later coils won't hurt anything but ngk does make a 10ohm cap if you want to put the right parts on. There is a hondaman post about this that I used checking the caps when I was waking up a cb750 that had sat for 25 years (ran great by the way).

most people I know don't ever check plug cap resistance. Corrosion tends to be the enemy of them, as does sitting around. If they get used they tend to last longer.

edit: found the post  http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=67096.0

if you are worried about damage to your "electrical system", there really is only two kinds of damage that can happen - damage to the charging system components internally, and letting the smoke out of the wires. I am going to assume you would notice the smoke leaving the wires but if you want to check the charging system, get the bike running and put a multimeter on the battery leads to see the output. You want to see the voltage increase as the revs increase and you want to see it stop at right around 14v at redline. if it does that, then all is well.
« Last Edit: September 27, 2017, 11:58:11 AM by Geeto67 »
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Offline nuwonder

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Re: Using a car battery while working on bike
« Reply #7 on: September 27, 2017, 12:18:57 PM »
A nice spare car battery in the garage is a must! :) I used to have one and used it all the time when building a bike few years back. This reminds me to get one now, I actually prefer it to my old bike batteries which still work too.

Offline Can550

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Re: Using a car battery while working on bike
« Reply #8 on: September 27, 2017, 01:15:41 PM »
Stock plug caps on my 1978 cb750k are 5k ohms (US bikes came with 10k, whereas Canadian bikes came with 5k therefore plugs are DR8ES-L


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Offline Geeto67

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Re: Using a car battery while working on bike
« Reply #9 on: September 27, 2017, 01:43:59 PM »
Stock plug caps on my 1978 cb750k are 5k ohms (US bikes came with 10k, whereas Canadian bikes came with 5k therefore plugs are DR8ES-L


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either way, you can still test them.
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Offline Can550

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Re: Using a car battery while working on bike
« Reply #10 on: September 27, 2017, 02:58:37 PM »
Oh yes certainly
I did test
2 of them read 4.75 and 5.10 ohms and 2 read Zero


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Offline cb650

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Re: Using a car battery while working on bike
« Reply #11 on: September 28, 2017, 02:53:14 AM »
A car battery will crank a lot longer so give the starter some rest so it dont get hot
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