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Puddle Jumper
Posts: 33
| If I am riding my Vision on a weekend, everything seems fine, but when it sits for a week the battery runs down and I have to charge it. There obviously is a draw somewhere. Are there any obvious places to check and how do I check. Electrical things are not my thing.? This is kinda gettin annoying.
Thanks for the help guys.
Steve | |
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Cruiser
Posts: 207
| Uppps... missed the no trunk ....
Edited by Don07tncav 2012-09-22 4:46 PM
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Visionary
Posts: 4278
| Would it be the original battery in the bike that is dieing and you will not let it.
Have you done any electrical mods to the bike. Check them.
When you park your bike for a long time like that shut your kill switch off. That kills every thing. Specially for storage its a good idea. | |
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Visionary
Posts: 4278
| Hey I'm back is your trunk light on all the time. Open trunk push switch down and see if light stays on. Even hold switch down and check with meter | |
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Visionary
Posts: 8144
New Bohemia, VA | Is your battery clean? | |
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Visionary
Posts: 3773
Pittsburgh, PA | How old is this battery that is loosing a charge? My cars battery completely failed on me at 4yrs of age... | |
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Cruiser
Posts: 126
Meadow, Texas | Also having a problem with my battery. (And I was going to search the archives for info.......) Specifics on bike - Have bike for three years now - 11k miles, w/no trickle charger prior to this. But a few weeks ago I went out to start bike and it showed error 3 and my check engine and battery light was on. Started up fine but went to 16v on gauge. Shut it down and checked the battery terminals - a little loose but nothing major. Got Trickle charger and hooked it up to charge through the trunk. Called dealer and talked with him and he thought I might decide on getting a new battery - have one on order. Have ridden it since the first oops with the gauge showing low 12v and jumping to high 14v but when throttle is as idle drops back to low 12v. Yesterday went for a ride and it went up to 16v then would drop back to mid to high 14v and then back to 16v. Drove it back home and called dealer to set up time to get new battery.
My question is - Am I right to assess that the battery is saying it's farewell or could the regulator also be at fault?
Also - no new electronic additions.
Am I in the right area for fault or should I check others. | |
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Visionary
Posts: 8144
New Bohemia, VA | I don't know much, but it could be both the regulator and the battery. I have a general rule for cars, and one for motorcycles when it comes to batteries. A car, I'll run that mug until every once of juice is gone, then I'll replace it. I've literally had a battery DIE for no apparent reason. I thought the electrical system was bad, or some secret switch had changed. I called the Jeep tech and went around and around. It started the day before just fine. He kept saying "replace your battery". Guess what, it was the battery. On the motorcycle, too much depends on a good battery, not an OK battery, but a good battery. If it starts to give me any sign of trouble, I'll replace it. So far, just once on the Vision at the 3year mark. The fuel pump was dying, but before it was diagnosed, I put in a new battery because of the age of it. Keep the top of the battery clean, I learned that in the Army and working around construction equipment. A clean battery will last much longer. Never have used a trickle charger, I ride everyday, to include the winter. The only dead battery I've had on the Vision is when I left my trunk light on. We can get all scientific with this stuff, or we can learn from experience. The first step in troubleshooting this, is take your battery to one of the autoparts store and have it load tested. If it checks out good, and it's under 3 years old, keep it. If it's the orginial battery, dump and get a new one.
Edited by varyder 2012-09-23 8:20 AM
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Cruiser
Posts: 208
Wichita, Kansas | To check for parasitic battery drain, get a DVM ($9 at Harbor Freight) and disconnect the NEGATIVE battery connection. Set up the DVM to read 10 Amps. Clip the red lead on the battery negative terminal. If that reads below 0.2 Amps, then you can switch it to the 200mA range. I've never done that, but given the battery size and how long it should last if not on a trickle charger, I would expect a reading of 10-20 mA at the most. If it reads more than that, go the fuse box and start pulling fuses while watching the meter. The only ones that should be drawing power is the radio (for station memory and possibly the main computer (for time keeping). If anything else makes it drop, that's the circuit with the problem.
If your battery is charged and not reading a high parasitic draw, then it's just a bad battery which is not holding sufficient charge. Get a new battery and a battery maintainer (trickle charger) and use it whenever you're off more than 2 - 3 days and your new battery will last 5- 6 years. | |
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Cruiser
Posts: 208
Edmonton Alberta, Canada | Posted 2012-09-23 7:21 AM (#124119 - in reply to #124092)
Subject: Re: Battery Running Down
Offline
Cruiser
Posts: 195
Location: Wichita, Kansas To check for parasitic battery drain, get a DVM ($9 at Harbor Freight) and disconnect the NEGATIVE battery connection. Set up the DVM to read 10 Amps. Clip the red lead on the battery negative terminal. If that reads below 0.2 Amps, then you can switch it to the 200mA range. I've never done that, but given the battery size and how long it should last if not on a trickle charger, I would expect a reading of 10-20 mA at the most. If it reads more than that, go the fuse box and start pulling fuses while watching the meter. The only ones that should be drawing power is the radio (for station memory and possibly the main computer (for time keeping). If anything else makes it drop, that's the circuit with the problem.
If your battery is charged and not reading a high parasitic draw, then it's just a bad battery which is not holding sufficient charge. Get a new battery and a battery maintainer (trickle charger) and use it whenever you're off more than 2 - 3 days and your new battery will last 5- 6 years.
-----
KansasGuardsman,
SSG, US Army,Retired
08 SSG Street
Serial 000612
Hooah
+1
Through proper dianosis, find theproblem, first. rahter than geusing and throwing parts at it hoping to resolve it by luck.
PS this the reason I personally do not belive in battery tenders as they leave you thinking you have a good battery at home only break down on a ride. My bike is parked from Oct to April, in an unheated garage, no tender, no battery removal or disconect. In spring it rolls over a little slow, but has not left me having to charge the battery. 4 years now and no problems, however I have not altered anything as far as electrical goes, eg no driving lights, no led lights, no trailer harnes, just out of the box stock! | |
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Visionary
Posts: 4278
| LarryinMD - 2012-09-23 7:37 AM Also having a problem with my battery. (And I was going to search the archives for info.......) Specifics on bike - Have bike for three years now - 11k miles, w/no trickle charger prior to this. But a few weeks ago I went out to start bike and it showed error 3 and my check engine and battery light was on. Started up fine but went to 16v on gauge. Shut it down and checked the battery terminals - a little loose but nothing major. Got Trickle charger and hooked it up to charge through the trunk. Called dealer and talked with him and he thought I might decide on getting a new battery - have one on order. Have ridden it since the first oops with the gauge showing low 12v and jumping to high 14v but when throttle is as idle drops back to low 12v. Yesterday went for a ride and it went up to 16v then would drop back to mid to high 14v and then back to 16v. Drove it back home and called dealer to set up time to get new battery. My question is - Am I right to assess that the battery is saying it's farewell or could the regulator also be at fault? Also - no new electronic additions. Am I in the right area for fault or should I check others. Bike amp gauge has nothing to do with battery. What it is telling you is the charging system. So if your going from 16v to 12v to 14v the stator is going bad or regulator. Stators can fry the regulator. Some place here is a download for the shop manual if you find it there is a section that tells you how to check. | |
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Puddle Jumper
Posts: 33
| Plan on getting a volt meter and checking it out. Thanks for the tip!
Steve | |
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Cruiser
Posts: 83
Bolivar Missouri | My regulator was going out and the amp gauge was jumping up and down . A friend's battery kept going down in his cc , the GPS was the culprat | |
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Battery Running Down