I fried my wifes bike

[zamobro9]

ok heres the story, saturday i was winterizing my lawn equipment and decided to run my wifes dr 200, well the battery was sort of dead so I was gonna jump it off of my truck. I go and put the cables on the bike backwards and there were some sparks, I thought "oh sh t " and quickly reversed them.I then noticed
I had no spark or lights or ignition. Any body have a clue as to what I could have shorted? Any help would be appreciated.Yes you all can laugh now

[Bucho]

Someone told me a long time ago NOT to jump a bike's battery with your car/truck. The car battery is much bigger and will fry the bike's electics. Not sure if thats true or not. Hopefully someone who actually knows something will give you real advice instead of my hearsay.

I've always either took the time to use a trickle charger or just bump started it. Especially on a little bike like the DR200.

[Rut Row]

you probably blew the main - look on the starter relay for fuses - there should be a spare

[zamobro9]

I'll try that Kyler,btw I have jumped it before12v is 12v. It was just a split second mistake

[Damage Inc.]

It's not the voltage it's the amperage...14amp vs 90-130amp. Having said that I would jump a bike but not charge one. It is possible to over amp the batt and kill it.

[motojunky]

My buddy's wife has a DR200 and had a similar no-juice problem. It has been a while but I think I remember finding the blown fuse behind the right hand side cover. I doubt that you did any serious damage.

I have jumped bikes with cars plenty of times without issue. You just have to remember to hook the cables up correctly.

[Rut Row]

I have this bad image of a car jumping a bike... coming up short... crushing bike...

[the dude himself]

You can't push amperage, only draw it. The "no jumping bikes from cars" thing was started from older HD's regulators. They couldn't take the stress of 14.8 volts (from a running car) with a drained battery. Sitting still they wouldn't disapate the heat and would fry.

I've always jumped my bikes off of cars with the car turned off - the car battery is capable of delivering much a much higher amperage than the bike requires. With car to car you have one car running to provide additonal capacity - to compensate for the draw from the dead battery.

What year is the bike? Older models had diode blocks, and if you applied the current opposite the norm at the battery it would likely turn these to globs of blackish goo.

[frogman1981]

You can push amperage. That is what voltage is for. The difference in voltage of the 2 batteries will determine the amperage. If your dead battery is at 2volts and your charging battery is at 15volts. That could be a disaster. The lower amperage you use to recharge the battery the better. Low and slow.

[bonehead]

either way you mess up the wifes bike and you are fu@#ed