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Battery Killer...


daword2011

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OKay, then Id hook the car battery up, and connect everything with key off, and just start diconnecting individual components to see any jump in about 3 amps, until you can isolate it, if it jumps dont plug back in with any power on. Id say since not blowing fuses, its in the starting circuit somewhere, as a starting point.

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Couple pages back someone said to pull all fuses you could find, did you do that?

It's the easiest way to isolate particular circuits. Though the change in behavior when you punch the start button sure makes it seem like it is in the ignition circuit.

Have you tried kicking on the starter with a direct connection to the battery?

And while it is odd, I would definitely take the batteries in to a shop to have them checked. When the weirdness sets in, check everything. And as someone said, go to a motorcycle joint, every generic parts store I've been to is unable to accurately check the small M/C batteries.

::EDIT:: Took a while to write this, but to go along with the ignition switch, if you take it apart, be careful of at least one tiny ball bearing and spring. DAMHIK.

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Wow this thread has really blossomed hasn't it? Gotta love remote troubleshooting.

You definitely have a short somewhere. No way you should have that kind of current draw with the key off, and the severe voltage drop when the key is switched on confirms that. How to find it? Like was suggested disable one circuit at a time until you find the culprit. Process of elimination.

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Anyone in/near College Station to check it out in person?

Second set of eyes can really help sometimes.

There are a few schools around there, know anyone else who works on vehicles?

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ok, grabbed one of my two giant batteries from my truck and hooked it up using some 8 gauge wire i had laying around. Turned the key and the bike came to life, i think it maybe because of the extra uumph of the huge battery. Anyway started pulling wires and decided to un hook the R/R... corrosion everywhere on the 3 wire harness. Cleaned the CRAP out of it and slathered on some di-electric grease. Swapped back to the bike battery and viola it works!! everything comes on and the bike turns over and starts, and healthily at that!!! Anyway unhooked the neg terminal and tested the draw and it was down to 1.12 amps. So i will let it sit all night and see if it drains the battery or maybe if the extra amp is because the ECU hasn't gone to "sleep" yet... Only time will tell! In the mean time... glad i have a bike that works again



Wow this thread has really blossomed hasn't it? Gotta love remote troubleshooting.

You definitely have a short somewhere. No way you should have that kind of current draw with the key off, and the severe voltage drop when the key is switched on confirms that. How to find it? Like was suggested disable one circuit at a time until you find the culprit. Process of elimination.

Thats what i did, went through everything over and over again but never looked at the R/R because the bike charged perfectly when it was running. I guess the R/R was back feeding to the short? Question is shouldn't the diode in the R/R prevent backwards flow? Oh i also decided to scrape up the connections at the battery and now when the bike is idling i gained to 14.18 volts of juice. I guess once the bike started it would jump through the corrosion? All i know is it works and I am happy that it does!

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Carbon is conductive. Dirty connections can give power a path to ground where there shouldn't be one. 1.12 amps is still too much current draw with the key off. The only thing that should be drawing current with the key off is the clock, and that doesn't draw anywhere near that much.

Where there is one corroded/dirty connection there are likely to be many more. Get in there, clean those connections, and make sure they're making good contact. All of them.

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Carbon is conductive. Dirty connections can give power a path to ground where there shouldn't be one. 1.12 amps is still too much current draw with the key off. The only thing that should be drawing current with the key off is the clock, and that doesn't draw anywhere near that much.

Where there is one corroded/dirty connection there are likely to be many more. Get in there, clean those connections, and make sure they're making good contact. All of them.

i think this weekend is time to do some of the things i want to do... Want to ceramic coat the headers and paint some shiny bits black... So that will be a good time to clean anything i can find! Thanks for all of the help and fast replies, it was a tail chasing moment but I think it will last a few days until I can tear the whole thing open. Hell if it burns down insurance will cover it :rolleyes: but really yall don't think it will burn up do yall? I even unhooked the neg terminal earlier just to be safe... figured if 1.12 amps is going somewhere that it might get hot over time...

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Maybe not hot, but it will definitely drain your battery in a day or so.

I had the infamous R/R meltdown about a month after I got my '98. I went through the entire electrical system. Replaced the R/R, and battery. Upgraded the 12G battery feed wire to 10G marine grade, and soldered all the major connections in the charging system. That was 40K+ miles ago. I have since replaced the battery twice (once under warranty), and the stator simply because I didn't trust it anymore. Whenever I have the bodywork off I clean all the connections. I don't use dielectric grease on them, but I do give them a good shot of DeoxIT, and make sure the contacts are tight. Hitachi connectors tend to get loose from vibration, and heat cycles which causes them to arc. That makes them get hotter, looser, and arc more eventually leading to catastrophic failure. I also put zip ties around the R/R, and stator connectors, and zip tie them to the subframe to keep them from rattling around in there. Some here have replaced those connectors with more robust models. I may do that someday myself.

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Can't be a short, as shorts give a clear sign of a lot of smoke :D

Sent from my GT-S5570 using Tapatalk

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Can't be a short, as shorts give a clear sign of a lot of smoke :DSent from my GT-S5570 using Tapatalk

A hard short does haha, soft shorts obviously don't :P

Maybe not hot, but it will definitely drain your battery in a day or so.

I had the infamous R/R meltdown about a month after I got my '98. I went through the entire electrical system. Replaced the R/R, and battery. Upgraded the 12G battery feed wire to 10G marine grade, and soldered all the major connections in the charging system. That was 40K+ miles ago. I have since replaced the battery twice (once under warranty), and the stator simply because I didn't trust it anymore. Whenever I have the bodywork off I clean all the connections. I don't use dielectric grease on them, but I do give them a good shot of DeoxIT, and make sure the contacts are tight. Hitachi connectors tend to get loose from vibration, and heat cycles which causes them to arc. That makes them get hotter, looser, and arc more eventually leading to catastrophic failure. I also put zip ties around the R/R, and stator connectors, and zip tie them to the subframe to keep them from rattling around in there. Some here have replaced those connectors with more robust models. I may do that someday myself.

Thank you for the awesome tips!

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I would really not recommend using dielectric grease, espcecially on a connector thats already seen damage, the grease is an insulator, which can make a not perfect contact surface (worse). Just clean and wd40 it, and test ohms on both side of connector

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Ideally your draw on the battery with the key off and everything connected as normal should be around .025amps or less. Yes, that is 25milliamps. anything higher will result in a dead battery in a short period of time of inactivity. I would be checking every connector you can find on the bike for signs of corrosion causing shorts across terminals. I have seen this cause parasitic draws by shorting out circuits but it will not cause to fuses to blow due to the corrosion limiting the current flow.Your 4 amp draw will definitely kill a small battery like that in a very short time.

Kevin

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