Starting in the 4th Season... only 8 volts!

[chris56]

This year my battery was on the end (only 8 volts) after the 4 month of Winter Sleep, so I connected a charger the first time for some hours. She is still OK now, no reason to change it (built 2018!)
After the start you should always make a longer trip (50-100 miles) to stabilize the Voltage! All together she runs perfect, but after 100 miles I got the second "Transmission ..." Error message (24Kmiles) in my display, stressy time for my dealer now, would have been better during the winter...

But the akku of my old TomTom Go GPS did not wake up, so I changed to the new "classic" Model (100,-) where I can plan my routes now on the computer and send them direct to the GPS - that's really one step over the old one! (I use always the "Car-Versions" no problem)

By the time I ordered also the two air-filters - 25 Euros for both, they are the same that Moto-Guzzi, Aprilia' and Spyder ST/RS use, the BRP price here in Europe is 45 euro each!!

During the winter I had the time to study my new "TomTom Bandit" camera - the quality is much better now. Look here:

A cold but sunny day here in Austria

 

[Little Blue]

Battery and GPS

Well a good day to you.
Batteries are a little tricky sometimes, because they don't like it to hot or to cold. Also they need to be checked and charged at least once a month. Keep the voltage at 12.8 volts or better/higher.
I have a battery tender for my Spyder Battery. I keep it on during the non-ryding months.

Spyders and Rykers are hungry for battery voltage. I try and Ryde my Spyder for a hour trip or more. This will help keep your battery fully charged.

As for your GPS sometimes these things will fail. Don't know why, but they do. ....:thumbup:

PS: How is your weather going this week?
If you want please post up in the Post 'Weather News' thank you and enjoy some ryde time. ......:yes:

 

[Mikey]

I take it that you do not use a tender for your battery when in storage, too bad you should, it will help with the life of your battery!! At least I would give it a good charging and take it somewhere to be load tested, just to be on the safe side! And it sounds like it's time for a new drive belt if you are getting a trans light on your display!! Seen a video on youtube don't look like a big deal to do! Good luck and have a great season!!:2thumbs:

 

[Beginner]

Keeping it short.

I'm not ball busting just giving you a heads up that not all companies have a working agreement to use other people's satellites. Let's say company x has only 2-3 satellites, that is going to be crappy coverage to start with. Second, if you haven't been to Chris 56's neck of the woods, he is in one of the worst areas to get great gps service (beautiful mountains, awesome views, looking down at the clouds). Very high mountains and valleys will interfere with the signals. Lastly, think about how gps works, you send a signal to a satellite in space, it bounces a signal back, all while the blue marble is spinning and the satellite is flying around the spinning blue marble.

So if company x has few satellites, think of it as a flashlight pointed towards a basketball, the light will not hit the whole basketball, only part of it. Sometimes it hits an area at such a weird angle it can make people appear to be elsewhere on a map. Bottom line, accurate and reliable gps systems need a lot of satellites to use. I didn't even mention weather related issues or other phenomena that can affect signals. I'm no scientist, I don't even have a lab, but I have stayed at a holiday inn express before.

I had to give this explanation to a couple of government employees who didn't understand why the gps system they spent millions on (they bought a gps tracking system from a company) wasn't working that great. Needless to say they went and spent a couple of million more in a couple years on another system. Don't worry, they have deep pockets, yours and mine.

 

[Beginner]

Watching that video I would love to ride those mountains. I have only been to bavaria (Germany) and down into Austria (salzburg)once. Great food, nice people, cold water, big mountains. What my friend had to do to get his license in Germany was insane, can't imagine it would be much different in Austria. The roads were so well maintained where I was, maybe it was jus the touristy areas, of course it was summertime too.

 

[RICZ]

Electrical parasites are eating away at your battery's current supply as soon as you turn the bike off. The longer it's off, the less current you have for a restart. That's why I connect my Battery Tender as soon as I return home, if like now, riding opportunities are few.