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WAITING TO GET JUMPED

Q:I accidentally left my key on all night on my 2009 Harley- Davidson Road Glide, and now my battery is completely dead. Is it okay to jump it from my Dodge pickup or another vehicle?

NICK STEIN CYCLEWORLD.COM

A:It is always better to recharge a battery slowly, especially if it has been drained completely dead. If time or circumstance doesn’t allow, then jumping from another vehicle is a viable option. It really doesn’t matter what the jumping vehicle is; the most important thing is to not treat the process casually.

Connect the positive (red) terminal of the dead battery to the positive terminal of the good battery. On the negative (black) side of the process, the most important thing is to make your last connection cable to a good chassis/engine ground. Why? Discharged and charging lead acid batteries can produce hydrogen, which is explosive. You may have heard of the Hindenburg. Many lead-acid batteries are sealed and the gas should escape, but the safest thing is to connect away from the dead battery. If time allows, the best thing you can do is connect the jumper cables as described with ignition off on both vehicles and wait awhile before starting the jumping vehicle, and then wait awhile to start the jumped bike. Keys off, the two batteries will naturally attempt to even out the voltage difference (charging the dead battery) more gradually than if you were to immediately try to jumpstart the dead motorcycle. This extra time allows the dead battery to get at least some level of charge in it before expecting it to operate on its own again. If your truck battery is in good condition, it will not go dead charging the much smaller motorcycle battery.