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Wonder if I did something wrong

2K views 14 replies 6 participants last post by  GIMPYRDR 
#1 ·
Good morning everyone.

Sunday night I re-installed my left side grip on my bike, this time using golf grip and lighter fluid, and it is tight as can be.
At the same time I pulled the connection from R/R and put some dielectric grease on the male connector, then reattached
to the R/R. Wiped off any excess grease, then wrapped the whole connector with electric tape for good measure. Attached
it back to my battery tender and left her alone until this morning. It is in the low 40's here, so I decided to ride. When I
went to start it didn't sound like she had full cranking power. Am worried now that I messed something up... Does any of
what I have said sound like I could have cause a potential issue? I meant to check the light on the battery tender before
I removed the cable this morning to see if it was green, but completely forgot.
 
#2 ·
Can't imagine you would have messed anything up, unless you yanked loose a connection somehow in working with the R/R connector. Putting grease on it for electrical connections will not hurt, but will keep it from corroding. Could be just a fluke, and something else is wrong. Hard to say.
 
#3 ·
will check the voltage when I get home...
 
#4 ·
On the R/R which is the icon for this group, there appears to be a ground wire coming out of the harness. Mine does not have that, only the plug that connects to the r/r. Should there be a ground that goes to the chassis/frame?
 
#5 ·
One of the wires to the r/r is a ground, so you don't need a separate ground wire.
 
#6 ·
Ok, so the plug from the harness to the r/r has the ground built in...

I put dielectric grease on the mail end of the connection and attached the r/r, then wrapped with electric tape as an extra measure. Should be good to go, right?
 
#7 ·
I would say it was the low 40's that will affect the starting of the bike. Plus how old is the battery and is it one of the higher CCA batteries. This is not good to say but with my bike with out a real good charge, my bike would not crank over fast enough to get it started in that cold temperatures. My bike sets outside covered, but not in a garage.
 
#8 ·
Mine stays in the garage and when I park it I always hook up my Battery Tender.
 
#9 ·
#10 ·
Thanks Hoss...
 
#11 ·
I agree with Hoss. If you are still using the old wet cell battery, colder temps make it harder to start. Change over to the agm maintenance free battery. It has higher CCA. Also, consider changing your spark plugs to the iridiums. I ride year round and have noticed that my bike has been easier to start. Such as yesterday morning when it was 34 degrees. I am going to see what happens this morning. Its suppose to be 28 degrees.
 
#12 ·
Am going by Advanced Auto today and picking up a maintenance free battery and a set of NGK Iridium plugs.
 
#13 ·
My bike started on the second try this morning. Now to wait until January when it gets down in the upper teens and lower twenty's. Just an FYI, I rode home from work one morning this past Jan. When it was 13 F. My bike didn't like it and was very vocal in letting me know. So below 18 F, will require a few stops to let the bike warm back up.
 
#14 · (Edited)
My bike started on the second try this morning. Now to wait until January when it gets down in the upper teens and lower twenty's. Just an FYI, I rode home from work one morning this past Jan. When it was 13 F. My bike didn't like it and was very vocal in letting me know. So below 18 F, will require a few stops to let the bike warm back up.
When it gets cold up here in the Great White North, I put a commercially made cover over the grill on my pickup truck in order to keep more heat in the engine and passenger compartment. Before I had the cover I used a piece of cardboard to block onrushing air to the radiator. Unlike the truck which has several inches between the cover and the rad, if you mount a piece of cardboard to block the rad on the Vulcan it will be tight against it with little or no space for any airflow. So cut a small hole (probably from 2-3" up to the diameter of the fan blade will be sufficient) centered on the fan to allow some airflow if it is needed. Monitor the temp gauge as conditions change to determine if you need to increase/decrease the size of the hole.

The reason the hole must be centered on the fan blade is to avoid flexing the plastic or metal blades back and forth as resistance changes during rotation of the blade in and out of the airflow if it is not centered. The flexing will cause fatigue and the blade can shatter under stress, flying apart while rotating.

This will allow you to ride home without stopping to warm up the bike. :smiley_th
 
#15 ·
Thought about doing that Hoss as someone else posted something similar a long while back, but decided when it gets that cold again I will steal the Boss's truck instead.
 
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