Hi savages. I'm a new member and am just starting what will probably be a long list of questions. So here we go with some background info.... 86 650. New to me. 18,000 km. Po said it was running last summer but it came with a 2001 license plate on it. No battery. I hooked up a spare battery via boostercables. The bike started turning over on its own. I disconnected the battery pos. Pos wire very warm. Starter very warm. Tried again. Smoke from pos booster clamp. Disconnected again. Hmmm. I think I have an electrical problem. :'( .  So I went and bought a multi meter for testing purposes. Problem is, electrical is not my forte... I have no idea where to start. I did a search for starting troubleshooting but got no hits. Long post short, can some one point me in the right direction to start testing? Or direct me to a troubleshooting walkthrough? Any help is appreciated. Oh, and after reading over 100 pages on rsd I gotta say this is a very informative site with lots of helpful ppl. Love it.  Thanks...

Okay I will try beating the relay. I should add that my seat is already off and my relay is unbolted from the fender by po. Does it need to be attached, grounded to work?

Thanks for the quick replys Okay so.... I beat the relay and then hooked up power. Now all lights came on. Switched key on. Pulled clutch hit starter and high speed clicking from relay. No smoke no heat. Battery is back on charger (battery tender).  Battery went from 12.3 v to 11.3 v when disconnected. I will wait for another full charge and try again. Is there instructions on the tech page for testing the decompression solenoid? Thanks again.

Thanks for the link. I'm sure I could hear the decomp clicking lightly each time I hit the starter button. I think if I get a good charge on my battery things may happen. We will see...

Thanks OF. Yes I am aware that the tender is not a proper charger. It's been on all night and is now sitting at 13.1v with the tender disconnected. I will be picking up a proper charger today from my buddy. My intent was to see if I could get thebike to turn over. I'm sure the relay was stuck. After smacking it a few times and thenhooking up power, the lights came on but I feel the battery was too low to do much more than click click click from the relay. I'm just about to go out and try again and see what's what. Gas has been drained from tank and carb and will be replaced with a gallon or so of fresh before I try to actually start the motor.

OF.... So the unit is a Deltran battery tender junior. It came with my vstar so I don't know much about it. Without it hooked up my battery reads 13.12v. Withit hooked up my battery reads about 14.5v. It says output 12v at 750 Ma

It is a 4 step computerized charger, so it might just have been interrupted part way through its cycle.    Unhook it, unplug it, plug it back up and hook it up again and use your volt meter to judge what it is doing as it goes through its 4 cycles.

Justin is right, if it leaves you up at 13+ volts endlessly it will hurt your battery.

I suspect being a smart charger it is struggling with a not so optimum battery (yours) and may be doing some strange stuff.



  Perfect for all lead-acid, flooded or sealed maintenance free batteries (AGM and gel cell).
   Complete 4-step charging program (Initialization, Bulk Charge, Absorption Mode, Float Mode).
   Automatically switches to float / maintenance voltage after fully charging the battery.
   If the battery voltage drops too far under load, full charger output power resumes.
   Solid state two color LED indicates stage of charger.
   Spark proof.
   Reverse polarity protected.
   12' output cord.
   5 year warranty

So... Im guessing it's not a good idea to try to jump start a motorcycle off a car. Took my starter apart. Care to guess what I found inside? That's right... Broken magnet parts. Dang. So trying to start it is on hold for now. Time to try and sort out other issues on this machine. Signals come on but don't flash and the front caliper came in a separate box. So on to it I guess.