ST 1300 Honda 2006 won't start

[Chic]

Some bikes have a fuse just for the starter. Is it turning over at all?

Fixed it broken earth wire at fuel pump.

 

[TerryS]

What I do know is that if you hook up the cables backward, as I recently stupidly did on my son's Kawi to see if it would at least turn over after sitting for about a year and a half now, before spending the money on a new battery (which will be an inevitability anyway), you get to look for the main 30A fuse! Luckily there was a replacement in the fuse block, simple swap after correcting the cables and viola...worked as advertised! Imagine that...sigh.

I did the same stupid thing with my daughter's car; doing the whole Dad-splaining thing of how to jump start a dead car. Fortunately I was using a battery pulled from my 1100. Funnily ennough this did not work, and when she said "are the jump cables meant to be smoking?" I realised my error. Melted the cables, no other damage fortunately.

I have also seen jump cables get hot when the recipient battery is properly toast; I think they get internal shorts, and the current really races across those and heats the cables.

 

[Andrew Shadow]

An option would be to make the connections to the victim vehicle first and to the donor second and remove them in the opposite order? Then again if the donor vehicle has an old school battery with the six caps on top and electrolyte all over the top...

Or though it adds some bulk use/make jumper cables with a connector in the middle. No muss no fuss no spark no boom. But sure a little cable connection discipline works well enough and is free.

The reason for the recommendation to never connect the booster cables directly to the negative terminal of the discharged battery are two-fold;
1- to eliminate the possibility of a spark happening at the discharged battery's terminal when the connection is made.
2- to eliminate the possibility of a spark happening anywhere near the discharged battery from any reason. This could be something as simple as banging the booster cable clamp against something when you are approaching the battery terminal to connect the booster cable clamp or after removing it.

The salient point is that a discharged battery vents much higher amounts of explosive gas than a charged battery does, therefore the danger is greater than when making connections to the good battery. For this reason, it is recommended that you avoid making connections near it as much as possible. Because it is discharged, it is subjected to a much higher charge rate the moment that the booster cables are connected. The gassing starts as soon as the cables are connected and increases as soon as the engine starts. Even with booster cables that have a connector midway, you still need to disconnect the booster cable clamp form the discharged battery after the engine has been running and the alternator has been delivering heavy current to a discharged battery that has been generating explosive gasses. If you accidentally bang the cable clamp against something while doing so and create a spark, there is the potential of an explosion. Never attempting this connection in the first place eliminates these dangers. The same is also true of the positive battery terminal. However, most vehicles do not have a remote positive battery connection, so usually there isn't any alternative choice. When remote battery connections are available, the recommendation is to use the remote battery connections for the same reason, so that you can stay away from the elevated explosive gases created by the discharged battery that is now being subjected to a heavy charge current.

 

[ST Gui]

The reason for the recommendation

Yeah I got all that the first time. Not news.

The salient point is that a discharged battery

Not news either.
My method does pretty much the same thing.
I suppose if the vehicles were very close together and there was no wind or an confined area-- there could maybe be a problem. I understand the ATGATT mentality and it's certainly an option. I prefer to live dangerously and hold a cable in each hand.

 

[ST Gui]

Some bikes have a fuse just for the starter. Is it turning over at all?

That's the problem - this was all third-hand and I didn't get a chance to ask enough questions. I was called while the bike (ST1300) was being loaded on a trailer. I'm a little concerned that sending the ST off to the dealer to diagnose an electrical problem could be expensive. This particular dealer is pretty decent though so I'm hoping for the best.