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COPYRIGHT 2001 Ehlert Publishing Group
The shocking truth.
Key in, switch on, choke set: vrroooom, your bike comes to life at the push of a button. The day it doesn't--the day there's a dull click that you feel in the pit of your stomach--is the day many of us start to think about our motorcycle's battery. But by then it's too late. The charge is gone. the battery may be damaged and the air is blue with muttered curses. And unless you're riding a lightweight, pushable bike or the rare scoot with a kickstarter, no juice means no-go. That drab hunk of lead and plastic nestled in the bowels of your bike may seem as interesting as a week-old newspaper and as fun to deal with as a collections service, but it's a real attention-getter when it fails. I'm going to tell you how to prevent that for as long as possible.
Coming to Terms
First, some electro-lingo to help it all make sense. Everyone has heard of volts, which measure electrical potential, but what does that mean exactly? I think of volts as pressure in a water tank--it has the potential to make water flow at a certain rate, but not until the tap is opened. Amperes measure electrical current once it's flowing through the wire (like gallons per minute when you open the water tap). With more volts, or higher pressure, you can generate more current or a greater flow rate. We use amp-hours to describe a battery's capacity--how long it can deliver a specific amount of current. For example, a 10 amp-hour battery can supply 10 amps of electricity for one hour, or one amp for 10 hours. The cold cranking amps...
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