battery discharged in a week

[dgeoughea]

I have a relatively new bike that I am trying to get up and running. I took it into the shop when I initially got it to have some basic work done on it like cleaning the carbs, replacing a leaking intake boot, etc. I actually ended up having to get a jump to start the bike to get it down there, so I got the guy to charge the battery while he had it. He said it charged and tested as okay. I put about 100 miles on it over the next couple of days then went out of town. Between the trip and the weather, it sat for 7 days. I got on for a short ride and cut it too close on gas. When I switched to the reserve, it turned over about 8 times getting slower and slower. I let it sit for a bit, got it started and back to my house. The next day it wouldn't turn over at all.

The battery I have now came with the bike and I don't know how old it is. I have a new one coming both as a replacement and as one less variable. I've seen a ton of threads on cleaning corroded connections, and they all at some point refer to another, better thread vaguely. Is there a definitive post/faq on this somewhere? I was hoping to find more detail on both the cleaning and preventative measures for the future.

Also, my right turn signal doesn't work (front, rear, or dash display light). Could that be causing some constant drain?

[CatatonicBug]

The problem is that each situation is different, so it's hard to say "this is what to do every time". You definitely have an issue with the turn signal, but it may or may not be related to the battery drain.

If the battery is older than 3 years, I'd suggest replacing it. It may be a bit pricey, but at least you know you won't be stuck on the side of the road because of it. Does the turn signal light and not flash, or not light at all? Does the other signal light and flash like it should? Corrosion is one of the biggest issues on these old bikes, so I'd start with the turn signal ground connections, then the turn signal switch. Get all the corrosion off of it all, then put it back together and coat with dielectric grease to prevent the corrosion from returning.

If the turn signal issue does not fix the battery drain, another place to check might be the big white plug behind the fuse block mounting plate. It's wires come from the alternator, and if you run the bike for a minute, and that connector heats up, you have corrosion in there, and you need to take care of that. The heat is your power leak. Mine was entirely melted... Lots of other possible places, but that should get you started until someone else chimes in.

[skids]

Another thing to think about is cleaning your keyed switch. If it has enough metal dust between coontacts, it could run a small current in the off position.

[Ivan]

The first check is to make sure you are charging. Charge the battery enough to get it started, then take a reading onthe battery with a volt meter. Just put the leads matched up with the positive and negative on the battery. If you don't get 13-14 volts, it isn't charging.

If you do get the voltage and it only too a few seconds of cranking to drain the battery, you probably need a new battery. This is a simple check as well. Just leave the volt meter hooked to the battery and try to start the bike. If the battery is fully charged and the volts drop to less than 10 when cranking, the battery can't hold the load anymore and it needs replaced.

If either of the above aren't true, its time to start trouble shooting a key off draw. It isn't hard, but will take some 'splainin.

Check the first two and report back to us.

[dgeoughea]

thanks

Thanks for the help, especially pointing out the ignition switch if it comes to that. I'm going to get the battery charged today so I can try to see if it is in fact a charging problem. I really hope its not too complicated. I'd like to get the thing back on the road and I'm getting impatient.

It's been raining out all week (I don't have a garage) and now I'm getting sent out of town, so I haven't been able to do too much. I've got a brand new fuse block just sitting waiting to get installed too. Its been like this every time something happens with the bike...

[BossMaverick]

If you do need a battery Napa has/had them on sale $45.00 as of two weeks ago. They might be off sale now but I thought I'd give you a heads up in case they still are.

[dgeoughea]

charging system seems okay

So I just got back in town and there was a break in the rain. It turns out I kinda got unlucky in that the old battery is no good even though it was charged and tested okay a week and a half before. It looks like the charging system was fine. When I put the new battery on, the voltage was about 12 off, went up to 13 when idling, and went higher when I took the bike up to 3500 rpm.

I still am going to try to check for any constant drain/corrosion in the electrical system.

As always, thanks for the help guys.

[oldyam80sg]

Voltage should be 12 to 12.5 off and should be even higher when idling.Also at 3500 rpm battery voltage should be around 14.I had this problem with a battery turns out it was bad and not even a year old.

[dgeoughea]

broken insulation

When I put the new battery in, I checked the current to the bike when it was sitting there off. It pegged my little meature at 250+ mA. As such, I followed the instructions for cleaning any corrosion on the ignition switch. The contacts were all in great condition when I got it apart. I checked again for the current from the battery with the head light and turn signals off of the bike and there was none. The right turn signal had not worked since I got the bike and to this point, I thought it was just a broken switch. When I reassembled the turn signals and head lights, I noticed that one of the turn signals had a wire with insulation that was smashed for lack of a better word. I'm assuming last time the PO had the headlight off, he crushed the wire.

Would this wire being smashed/grounded cause the symptoms of my problem (drained battery, constant current when in the off position)?

Now both turn signals work, the ignition switch still works, and I didn't have any extra parts when I put everything back together.

[CatatonicBug]

Would this wire being smashed/grounded cause the symptoms of my problem (drained battery, constant current when in the off position)?

Now both turn signals work, the ignition switch still works, and I didn't have any extra parts when I put everything back together.

I would say, since after you found the smashed wire and fixed it, the turn signals work, that very well may have been the issue! Good detective work there! Keep an eye on the battery for the next few days, but you may have fixed it!

Always feels good when there are no extra parts. BTDT way too many times!

[Ivan]

And you have found the most common cause of a draw, a partial short to ground.

Most of the time this occurs when a punk teenager decides to run a drywall screw through the wiring harness to hold his new bass box in the back of his trunk.

I always dreaded slow draw problems when I was a tech. It was always a headache. Easy enough to isolate teh specific circuit, but most of the time it was on a wire that went all over the place. Dome light circuit on a Caddy was the absolute worst. Probably had 5 miles of wire by the time it got to all teh little lights inthe doors and under the dash and the rear view mirrors etc. ugh.