motorbike switch

Motorbike hasn't ever liked starting when weather is cold. It's a bit oldish but also needs a service now I think but it won't get that for a few weeks. Last year I got some practice push-starting it before I got new battery. But have seen that even with everything off there is a small current being drawn to somewhere deep inside (not by lights or anything I could disconnect easily. Now hill-start in morning is no problem, push-start is okay, but tires one out very fast.

Charging battery while still connected in motorbike didn't seem to charge it very well. It's a trickle charger and maybe if bettery is in bike the little current being drawn from battery uses up much of the trickle current. Also sometimes ground connection wasn't great, lots of metal bits on bike actually don't conduct well or don't connect to ground I found. And there's no good grip for a crocodile clip to get hold of.

I push-started bike after donating blood one evening ... :-P urgh. And another evening there was almost zero power in battery, push-starting was hard.

I added a switcheroo to my motorbike between battery and everything else. It allows battery to be isolated completely from bike circuit so if bike is not being used for a weekend battery won't discharge. It also gives me a reliable place to connect battery charger clips to.

Switch was lovely for 3 weeks. (my battery lasting > 1 week is SO SO SO nice). Anyway now switch is stuck on (in off position) now since yesterday. oops. Presumably burnt out? Thankfully burnt out so that can still drive bike! >;) Not sure how long it will last! Have tools with me in case. Must open up and have a look. Presumably the fuse right there on bike is 15 amps for a reason!

I decided a 2 amp switch was worth a go as I've nothing else handy. The first thing connected to +ve terminal is THICK cable, 15A fuse and funny potty thing. I've an old kettle switch and toggle switch of unknown ampage and a spare but too large 20amp trip-switch at home. Don't have enough electrical junk :(

peats.ie don't seem to have switches on their website. OHHH ho ho! Maplin have 20A ILLUMINATED toggle switches >;) Hmmm, red, green, blue or amber, ... what do you think? :) Anything more than 10A often have leds in them. radionics.ie maybe.
maplin.co.uk/Toggle Switches

Update: (Dec 2) My 15Amp switch is COMING slowly I hope. In the meantime the switch on bike is actually still working out quite well. The switch mechanism goes through phases of not working and back to working. Weird but theory is that plastic is going soft inside.