Battery continues to drain

[jeffro239]

battery

Thanks for all your inputs. Most recently I charged the battery fully put all yhe headlight wiring back to the way it should have been originally alll the lights switches everything works perfect. Rode for an hour that night stopped waited 20 minutes restarted fine. Next morning battery dead. Charged again for about three hours went for 20 minutesd stopped went back on the bike started fine after less than 5 minutes bike stalled i restarted it then I felt the bike wanting to die out. I had to keep it reved up so as not to stall because I knew it would not restart again. It ran really bad because the battery was dead got it home shut it off, checked the battery sure enough no juice would not start or even turn over. recharged all last night riding today runs perfect but probabaly will not last long. I had the battery checked in two different places both said battery was good I never added water but plates are covered. I was getting over 14.5 at 3500 rpms so I would have to think it is charging. When the battery isnt fully charged, I do not get the same 14.5 reading that I get with it full. I see no rust or corrosion at any of connections took fuse block off alll fuses getting proper volts. all connections are tight and good.

[DiverRay]

I see no rust or corrosion at any of connections took fuse block off alll fuses getting proper volts. all connections are tight and good.

Do you still have the round glass fuses?? If so, look into replacing the fuse block with one of TC's.
you show a 14.5Volt charge, but loose the battery in about an hour. You also loose it over night. This tells me you have a bad battery or are only charging with a few amps, NOT at full rated capacity.
See if you have a member close buy, and switch batteries for a short ride. If you drain his battery, it's the charging system. If he can't restart with your battery, it's the battery.

[Rasputin]

Battery

How did they check your battery? If they load test and such it can show as good but still not be good. Have them use a hydrometer or Hygrometer whichever is the right word and test each cell individually for its specific gravity. I have had batteries in the past with bad plates inside. They will be good one minute, hit a bump and nothing the next. The only way to test for that is the specific gravity test (I think). If two of the plates hit each other inside the battery charge is gone real fast. JMHO

[thewiz]

Diver and Ras have hit the nail on the heads ...

One thing though, and I don't mean to be contrary, Ras, but in 40years of workin' on cars at many different levels, I have never seen a 'bad' battery pass a properly done and interpreted load test. All battery testing, however, should include both gravity and load tests.

I also don't wanna' seem repetitive or brain locked .... but ....I have watched the test machines like they have in AutoZone and such do their thing and, franky, you can't see much and most of the operators are clueless. The whole test is automatic .... but with a load test meter and hydrometer physically in hand, 'ole school' me feels a lot more confident of the diagnosis. Jeffo, if that battery is new, I'd be wantin' them to exchange it out for me .... 'specially it if there's not a member in your area with a loaner battery you can try .... sometimes that's the quickest way to a solution. Ain't the internet wonderful?

Ras, a 'hygrometer' measures relative humidity ... a 'hydrometer' measures specific gravity of a liquid in relation to water at a certain temperature.

[Rasputin]

Yer Right

Hey Wiz. Yer absolutely right in that the test must be properly done and interpreted as I have had clueless operators tell me my battery was good. Walk into the parking lot, install battery and it would not even power the interior lights. It was just a thing I had happen once to a lifetime warranty battery. They apparently did not want to replace it. I went back inside and demanded a specific gravity test and poof I had a new battery. As for the hyd/hyg thing well i knew it was on or the other but CRS kicked in...Oh well.

[jetmechmarty]

Dead battery troubleshooting!

Do you have a test light? If not, get one, they're cheap. With a fully charged battery, disconnect the positive cable. Clip the test light to the cable and stick the probe on the battery terminal. If something is draining your battery the light will be on. It might be dim, but it will be on.

Remove the fuses one at a time, until the light goes out. Once you find the fuse that put the light out, you will need to refer to the wiring diagram and note what components are on that fuse circuit.

Put the fuse back in and now you must unplug the components in the circuit one at a time, until you put the light out again. This will lead you to the faulty component.

Good luck!

[DiverRay]

Remove the fuses one at a time, until the light goes out.

This is a great way to start. The problem is, if you have a battery with an INTERNAL SHORT, this will NOT show it. I've had a NEW, 96 MONTH car battery go bad. It drained BOTH batteries in the suburban I used to have. Pull everything, and the battery would be dead in one day. Hooked up, it would last about two days, as it had to drain the second battery as well.
If you need to show the "techs" at the local parts house, bring in the battery after charging, have them check the voltage, and then come back in one hour and check again. Quick AND positive proof, even for a "tech".

[petejw]

Sounds like the battery, my bike was doing the exact same thing. Even tho its a new battery it still could be faulty.

If you cant get a load tester, use the bikes starter motor, crank it with a fully charged battery, with a volt meter see what the voltage reads across the terminals, from memory it shouldnt drop below 10volts.

[DiverRay]

If you cant get a load tester, use the bikes starter motor, crank it with a fully charged battery, with a volt meter see what the voltage reads across the terminals, from memory it shouldn't drop below 10volts.

Close, but anything below 10.5 Volts, and no spark. A NEW battery should be about 12.0Volts cranking, and an older one in GOOD condition should be about 11.0 Volts.

[jetmechmarty]

If you use the test light in the example I gave, that should tell you whether or not the battery is bad. If you start out with no light, there is no draw = bad battery. Am I missing something?

[T99Ford]

It does sound like a battery problem. Jetmech has cited the cheapest way to test for parasitic load without a multimeter. It would work by taking the neg. cable off also, and you run less risk of sparking something (potential for explosion and all). It works equally well, since your current flow is ultimately from the positive terminal to the negative terminal.
I have to agree with Wiz on the load test. A specific gravity test compares the density of the elctrolyte/water mix against that of pure water at a certain temperature. This is effective for checking the state of charge and strength of electrolyte in the battery. It would let you know, for instance, whether the battery had been only filled with water, or if it contained a proper mix of electrolyte and water. It will not show you if the current flowing connections between plates are good or not. This is where the load test is efective. The load test pulls a controlled load (you control it). If you have a high resitance or bad connection between plates in the battery, only the plates from the resistance point on will contribute much to the load test current flow. If the bad plate connection is halfway through a battery, then only half of the battery will be fully available for the test, and the test would show a bad result. When thinking of plates, remember that essentially the plates are each just a 2 volt battery. They are all connected end on end (positive to negative), just like in a flashlight that uses two or more AA 1.5 volt batteries to achieve higher voltage.
The testers that the automotive shops use also perform a resistance test. The cheaper models do not account for variations in electrolyte specific gravity, temperature, or initial charge. The expensive models do, but are not readily available. Like Wiz said, the load test is the most accurate and inexpensive way of checking battery condition. The hydrometer test will test only for the fluid in the battery, not for the condition of the plates.

[Rasputin]

hydrometer

t71ford. From what I have been told the hydrometer test will tell you which cell of the battery has an internal short as the specific gravity will show differently than a charged cell. With a short in the cell the charge, or lack of, shows in the specific gravity. I am not a rocket scientist but I have been told this by very knowledgable people. The Canadian Tire with the fancy load tester said my battery was good. I went to another battery only dealer. He did the specific gravity test and told me which cell was shorted and to take it back for warranty. I did so and Canadian tire redid their test. They told me it was good again. I insisited on a specific gravity test. They complied and told me that it was indeed a shorted cell and replaced the battery. Both places ended up using the specific gravity test to decide which cell was bad in the end. They both concluded the same cell was damaged. I beleive it does indeed work. I may be proved wrong but that was my experience.

[T99Ford]

Rasputin: I am glad that you were able to come up with those results, and I was not trying to be contrary. But I want to clarify that a hydrometer cannot measure resistance. It measures specific gravity of a liquid (I use one frequently for beer brewing.
I have never seen a load test performed properly fail. I am not sure how the test was performed on your battery, or what equipment was used. By load tester, I mean a carbon pile resistor, whcih actually pulls a current load (0-2000 amps, variable) through the battery. If the battery can sustain this, then it is undoubtedly good. If it fails, then there may be a problem either with electrolyte, or with internal connections. If your fully charged battery passed the load test, then it was able to supply a minimum of half the cold cranking amps for a time period of 15 seconds or more. I am not sure the specs of your battery, but this would have been a good battery. I have a hard time believing that it passed the test described above, if it was adminsistered properly with the proper tools, particularly with the sheer volume of this I have done in my profession, and particulary since I have seen and equal amount performed improperly. The only bad load tests I have ever witnessed condemned a good battery, not condoned a bad one. But, again, I am not trying to be contrary or call BS as I was not there. I am just trying to help with the initial problem listed, and perhaps clear away any misguiding secondary info.

[jeffro239]

problem solved

Even though I had the battery checked at two different locations at different times, both said battery was good. They fully charged it,and then load tested it. Its a good battery they kept saying. Well yesterday I just went ahead and purchased a new sealed battery cost a little more but I was told a lot better put it in bike runs perfect no drain. It just goes to show that even though it was a fairly new battery, 4 months old they can be bad. Thanks for all you're help Jeffro

[thewiz]

Right On !! Jeffro ..

That's kinda' what we figured .... that's a pretty darn good lesson on batteries and charging systems though. Have fun