Battery, fuse, or worse?

[beerpig]

Was in the garage one cold November day and decided to put the Valk (98 standard) away and get the snowblower out.  Decided to let it run awhile as it had been a month or so sitting on battery tender.  Took the tender off, hit the starter and cranked fine but did not start first time.  Hit starter again, made a big snap sound and nothing...not even dim headlight.  Thought fuse...pushed it in the corner to deal with later.  Now it is later.  Checked battery...reads fine on cheap meter (with lights, not real volt meter).  checked all fuses including main 30 amp.  swapped out main 30 amp even though old one looked fine.  Still do not get any response (no lights).    Is battery fried and I am getting bad reading from meter or do I have a starter short or some other devious malady?  I do not know what I can jump it with without doing damage and before i spring for a new battery (old one about 4 years old) I thought i would ask for help.  Could always try to push start but major up hill to get out of driveway and since no sign of electrical activity, thought would postpone the heart attack until I knew she would fire.

[Black Dog]

If the bike seems dead, but the battery is good, you may have smoked the starter relay.

Take a look at this link, and scroll down to the lower part of the page to the 'Relay' area.

http://www.rattlebars.com/mtz/starter.html

Could be it.

Black Dog

[Valker]

Try to see if it will start with a jump. If so, it's the battery.

[beerpig]

Thanks for the input.  Will check out the starter link.  I was afraid to jump it with my old jeep...thought it would be too much juice and i would fry something.  So...it is safe to hook it up to the jeep and let her fly? or should I use a plug in type emergency starter type unit? I would think they both would push a lot more amps then the little bike battery can muster.  Trying to jump it will will help with the diagnosis...just did not know I could without causing more headaches.

[Master Blaster]

It is safe to jumpstart it, It will only draw what it needs.

[John U.]

I've always heard to jump a bike from a non-running vehicle.
Let us know what happens.

[redflash]

You can also jump the two large studs on the starter relay, with the key on, and it should start. I had to do that when my starter button fried in '06 due to the usual cause of driving lights wired to the headlight by the previous owner.

[Gryphon Rider]

Check your battery connections.  Unscrew and reattach the cables.  If that doesn't work, try jumping from your Jeep battery without the Jeep running.  If that doesn't work, you have issues beyond a discharged battery.

[Rocketman]

Check your battery connections.  Unscrew and reattach the cables.  If that doesn't work, try jumping from your Jeep battery without the Jeep running.  If that doesn't work, you have issues beyond a discharged battery.

I concur.  I've had a similar situation with a bad ground.  Check both the connection at the battery, and at the frame.  Sometimes just reseating the connection works, sometimes you've got to clean it up a bit.

[beerpig]

Had a chance to jump it today.  Roared to life and begged for a spin.  too bad it is 40 degrees and raining.  note to self...throw away the old crappy meter I found in the bottom of the toolbox.  Thanks for the advice on jumping etc.  I will clean all the contacts around starter relay and fuses while waiting for the UPS man to come with new battery.  maybe the weatherman was kidding about the snow later this week.

[MP]

The meter may well be OK.  It cannot test under load though.  That is where the battery failed.