Flat Battery on my bike

[chunkolini]

I also had my satnav fitted, which no doubt adds to low level drain. I will take that off when I am not using the bike, sloppy lazy habit leaving it on and likely to lead to it being nicked. Re phone charger all I leave fitted is the fag lighter thingy, but satnav and chargers socket are wired straight to the battery.
Here is my cheapo meter, any hints on how to use it gratefully received.

 

[ajlelectronics]

If you see a currant drain

Will a raisin drain the same way? ;-)

 

[chunkolini]

Stoppit!!!

 

[voipio]

I have a multimeter almost identical to the one Chunkolini pictured.

To use the multimeter to measure battery terminal voltage, put the test leads into the sockets marked COM (black lead) and VnmA (where n is omega for ohms). Set the switch to 20 on the DCV range. Connect test leads one to each of the battery terminals. Read voltage.

To measure the current, remove test leads from battery. Keep the black test lead in the COM socket and put the red lead into the 10ADC socket. Set the range switch to the 10A range, disconnect one of the bike's battery leads and connect the test meter between battery terminal and the disconnected wire. The meter will read the current being drawn from the battery in amps (e.g. 0.02A is 20mA). Do NOT electric start the bike as this could fry the meter or leads! If the measured current is low and you want to read it with higher resolution, set the range switch to 200m on the DCA range and connect the red lead to the VnmA socket before putting the test leads back in circuit.

Hope that helps.

 

[chunkolini]

That sounds like what I am looking for. I will finish my coffee and go take a look.

 

[chunkolini]

Thank you Voipio.
After a few brain dead moments and wrong holes I got somewhere. (Hmm are the leads supposed to get hot was my best one)
So engine off and measuring across the battery terminals I was getting 11.6v and with the engine ticking over 13v.
These sound about right from internet and manual browsing.
Measuring the current drawn I was getting a big fat 0. Then spotted that the wires to sat nav and charger were not connected. Plonker.
With the fag lighter connected I was getting 0.04 amps
With that and the sat nav I was getting 0.26 amps So not a huge draw but it might account for the flat battery?

 

[ajlelectronics]

Could be Chunks, depending on the battery capacity. If it is like my BMW, it is around 20Ah. That means you can run for fewer than 100 hours until exhausted.

 

[Wallace]

Does the ignition switch have a parking light position that's easy to select when switching off and engaging the steering lock? I spent ages chasing an intermittent flat battery/charging fault on a friends bike, parked it up one night in the dark and found out the parking light position was easy to select and you couldn't see the sidelight bulb in the daylight as the bulb was blackened with age!

What voltage do you get across the battery when you rev the bike up?

 

[chunkolini]

Nothing as daft as that.
I remember calling out the AA because of a kill switch when I was just starting out

 

[DanielW]

Doit the proper way and add the accessories to the reg circuit via a fuse block and then if you still get a flat battery after 4? days then you know its not the accessories.

 

[Robotstar5]

Doit the proper way and add the accessories to the reg circuit via a fuse block and then if you still get a flat battery after 4? days then you know its not the accessories.

I use something like this relay is triggered by a switched live (ignition etc.) on bike and provides 3 fused outputs for accessories.

 

[Gareth J]

So engine off and measuring across the battery terminals I was getting 11.6v and with the engine ticking over 13v.

11.6 is a bit on the low side, a newish, charged battery should be more than 12 as I recall (maybe approaching 13v?).

13v on tickover sounds about right, rev it a bit if you have enough hands and see what it peaks at. If it flies up past 13-14v the reg/rectifier is probably duff but it sounds like you'll be alright with that one as most bikes with a decent alternator will chuck out over 14v on tickover when the rectifier's gone.

If alls well with the charging system and it is the accessories draining the battery you could just disconnect them until you get time to sort it

 

[julianthegypsy]

Thank you Voipio.
After a few brain dead moments and wrong holes I got somewhere. (Hmm are the leads supposed to get hot was my best one)
So engine off and measuring across the battery terminals I was getting 11.6v and with the engine ticking over 13v.
These sound about right from internet and manual browsing.
Measuring the current drawn I was getting a big fat 0. Then spotted that the wires to sat nav and charger were not connected. Plonker.
With the fag lighter connected I was getting 0.04 amps
With that and the sat nav I was getting 0.26 amps So not a huge draw but it might account for the flat battery?

0.26A is a lot. That's an amp every four hours. A 20 amphour battery is dead after its used 10, as the voltage will have dropped too low, so you're talking about flattening the battery in forty hours, or under two days.

 

[chunkolini]

The satnav has a permanent fitting and just clips out of it. I will keep it in my pocket when not in use.
I should wire them in properly, I will get round to this eventually. Straight from the battery is very lazy.
I will take it out for a proper ride tomorrow, been to the pub today, it had been on a trickle charger for about two hours this morning' Sounds as though I am ok.

 

[mike 109444]

Thank you Voipio.
After a few brain dead moments and wrong holes I got somewhere. (Hmm are the leads supposed to get hot was my best one)
So engine off and measuring across the battery terminals I was getting 11.6v and with the engine ticking over 13v.
These sound about right from internet and manual browsing.
Measuring the current drawn I was getting a big fat 0. Then spotted that the wires to sat nav and charger were not connected. Plonker.
With the fag lighter connected I was getting 0.04 amps
With that and the sat nav I was getting 0.26 amps So not a huge draw but it might account for the flat battery?

11.6v strikes me as a bit low. If the bike had been run before (even a few hours before) metering I would have expected to see 12v. The 13v reading shows that your charging circuit is working (would have liked to see it a tad higher)
If you run it for say 10 mis (tick over should do it) then turn off and take a reading. Should be 12v then leave standing for say 30 mis to 1 hour and take a reading. If it drops to the 11.6v then you have something draining it or batter is not holding a charge, could be one of the 6 cells (each cell = 2v) on way out.

 

[voipio]

If the battery voltage drops below 11V for any length of time, damage to it will result, so worth bearing in mind.

 

[chunkolini]

Just had it on the trickle charger for another couple of hours.
12.6v off the battery and 13v with the motor being revved. Sounds as though it was the satnav draining the battery.
Sorted, thanks everybody for your help.

 

[Wallace]

Don't want to start you worrying but I would expect around 14V being revved, are the lights on?

 

[chunkolini]

I was not revving it hard, sy to about 3500rpm. I was in my garage and it has a loudish pipe.

 

[Wallace]

3500rpm you should really be getting more than 13v, more like 13.8v.