This week, I had some time to work on Erica again.
The first thing I did was take another look at the battery I’d taken from Erica and tried to rejuvenate. The electrolyte was looking quite low in some cells again, so the battery may not be salvageable. I topped up the cells with demineralised water again just in case.
The smart charger at least showed a usable voltage after topping up this time, which seemed like a good sign.
The battery cage has seen better days, as there is a surface coat of rust on it. I’m not too worried about that at this point, that will be a cosmetic issue to fix later.
I decided to clean the battery terminals before refitting the battery.
The battery once again seemed to have enough charge, so I replaced in its original location.
I unlocked the fuel filler cap retainer and added a few litres of fuel to the tank.
I put the seat back on top and tried kickstarting the bike a few times.
I wasn’t able to get ther to fire up and there was still no activity on the lights, so I reconnected the charger and tried the key in the Park position. To my surprise, the tail light came on! There’s clearly a bit more work than I thought to be done with the electrical system.
Finally, I slid the rubber for the kickstart lever back on, as I;d left it after never fully removing it some time ago.
I’ll have to go over the wiring diagrams a few more times and order some replacement terminals before I tackle re-soldering the missing wiring inside the headlight – while I’m at it I’ll give the switches and fuses a thorough check as well.
Fred Builds Bikes 