Alarm kept going off - Bike cut out

[Guest MadDogMcQ]

Jumped on the bike yesterday to go for a ride and the ignition wouldn't come on, so I armed the alarm again, disarmed it and put the ignition on again. The ignition lit up but the alarm started to blare away, so I disarmed it again.

While I was scratching my head wondering what the hell was going on, the alarm sounded again and continued to do so every 40 seconds or so. It was driving me nuts!!!

After lots of shitty looks from annoyed neighbours, the alarm decided to behave itself and the bike started up no problem, so I set off for my destination (the beautiful Trough of Bowland). Half way there, the bike came to a grinding halt. I farted about for 20 minutes or so and eventually it started again so I turned around and headed for home. About 3 miles from home it came to a halt again

I was just about to call the AA to get me a trailer ride home when I got my first real clue as to what was going on...... I noticed that with the ignition on, the Trip-Meter had zeroed itself!

Ahaaaa!!! That mean the battery has disconnected, I thought. I removed the seat and found both battery cables completely loose at the terminals. I whipped out a 10mm spanner, tightened them up and hey presto!

The previous owner had told me that he'd only just fitted a brand new battery. He didn't tell me that he'd forgotten to tighten the connections. Idiot!

My apologies for all the blue language aimed at DataTool throughout this episode - it was nothing to do with the alarm.

Tom

[Guest JamesCates]

Good thing it was only the losse battery terminals. Electric can be a real pain. Good advice in future if anything goes goofy to check the battery. Friend of mine in the states had somethign similar and it was also loose battery terminals. They can vibrate loose with time,s o always a good idea to check them once in a whiel. It can also over work the charging system, so not a bad standard maintenance practice.