Topic: Electrical problem and no kick or roll start

[vince.whirlwind]

Hello,
1978 CB550K with 1 year old, proper fit, Duracell battery. No electrical mods. Original wiring harness and fuse panel, reg, alt etc.

10% of the time (after a strong start and riding the bike so it's hot to warm) I turn the key to ON and all I have are very dim OIL and NEUTRAL lights. Head and turn lamps are dim, tail light is dim. So I try to kick start the bike or roll it and nothing. It won't start.
Last night I rode it, stopped for an hour, started it, was running fine and had bright lights for the 45 second warm-up then it just died. I had to jump start start it from a car and I'm not so sure that's good?
This bike (when the electrical gremlin is sleeping) will kick start first kick from dead cold 90% of the time.
Shouldn't I still be able to push or kick start it even with the slightest battery power showing up on the indicators?
I've heard that jump starting from a car isn't so good for the battery but is it really bad for the electronics because I've had to do it a couple of times in the last couple of months because of this gremlin?
Thanks

[calj737]

It sounds as though you are not getting a good charge sent back to the battery. Is your headlight the stock unit or has someone replaced it with a higher wattage bulb? If so, these draw a great deal of wattage.

You also need to understand, these bikes do not create a surplus charge from the alternator until the bike is revving past 2,500 or so. If you ride in city traffic, lights on, stop and go, you are probably not generating surplus charge and running fully from the battery storage. This will drain your battery within about 30 minutes.

It is also possible, that you have some corrosion near the frame ground, the battery NEG terminal, or other critical connection that is defeating the charging. So you need a multimeter to accurately diagnose the source of the problem.

Use the following diagnostic flow chart to determine exactly what is failing -
http://www.electrosport.com/media/pdf/fault-finding-diagram.pdf

As for jumping from a car battery, it's fine. As long as you never reverse the polarity while jumping, you're not doing any damage to the bike.

[vince.whirlwind]

Thanks calj737.
Very helpful.

Cheers,
Vince