Starting issue

[Acd92910]

Bike has been running fine for a couple months now, had to jump it a few times but once I charged the battery and put it back in it ran and started no problems for a few hundred miles. Now, it will run and ride okay, but it will ONLY start if I jump it. Any ideas on what the cause could be. I used the meter and it's 12v across the battery

[willandrip]

A six cell lead/acid battery that reads 12v across the terminals is discharged/damaged and only holding 50% charge or less.This will drop significantly when the starter circuit is operated leaving insufficient voltage to fire the ignition.

Look up battery voltage charts.

[Acd92910]

Thanks for the response


I'm still learning about the bike and a complete amateur in the electrics area, but it's a 12v battery, shouldn't it read 12 volts even when new?

[DonTZ125]

A "12v" 6-cell lead-acid battery should read ~12.8v with a full charge. Inspect your battery terminals for condition and security, as well as the fluid levels in the cells. Get the bike running, and measure the voltage across the battery terminals at 3k rpm.