TOPIC:

i replaced my battery this year, just got the bike out. i charged it took a spin then a few days later it was dead, wouldn't turn over. i recharged it and had 13.4 v. road to work 15min. road it home tonight after a 12 hr shift.the bat now reads 12.4 v. i took the ground off the bat and i get .01v (multi meter on 20 v) from pos to frame. so i assume this tells me i have a drain or short somewhere. is there a better test? how do i go about tracking down the culprit ?
i didnt think had a problem last year,although i did replace the bat because i thought it was tiring. it didnt go right dead, but turned over slower, and had to be charged more often. so maybe the issue was there after all
i only had the body off for a repaint.no other meddling.

You put your DVOM leads between the Battery terminal and the cable that you disconnected? Using the meter as the continued circuit? Try it on AMPs, probably 10 AMP scale. This will show any Amperage in a current drw from anything switched on or short, green contacts in a switch to ground, etc.
Whats the charging volts across Batt @4K RPM?

Try this method of troubleshoting:

The Dreaded Shorting/Intermittent Electrical Problem!


Here is the most basic method I know(Taken from www.kzrider.com by member Patton)

1. Charge your battery and have it load tested if you can. The floating ball hydrometer can be used to check the specific gravity of the charged cells in the battery.

2. Disconnect the Black lead from the (-) Battery terminal... or Red from the (+) Battery terminal, it does not matter which one. Just 1, not both!

3. Connect one of the following test setups in series with the Battery terminal and lead:
3.1 A 12 V light bulb,
3.2 A 12 V test light,
3.3 A 12 V test buzzer or,
3.4 A 12 V horn... you get the idea.

4. With the Ignition Switch OFF, go through your harness and wiggle the wires while looking/listening for the test setup to go on/start buzzing.

5.With the Ignition Switch ON, repeat the test except this time the looking/listening for the test setup to go off/stop buzzing.Try to isolate the circuits by pulling fuses.

6. Be prepared to open the Ignition switch and check/test for solder joint failure and or circuit board micro breaks (don't ask how I know this).

7. Be prepared to pull the wires out of the Head Light to test for failures at or near the grommet.

8. Be prepared to open the harness at or near the Steering Neck for failures. This is where wires tend to exhibit fatigue due to repetitive movement.

9. Be prepared to open the left and right switch gear to search for rust and or broken parts. CAUTION: watch out for flying springs, ball bearings and stuff. Do indoors on White sheet (again don't ask ).

10. Be prepared to follow the heavy gauge wire from the Starter Solenoid (Relay) to the starter for bare wire exposure. Especially near bends and grommets.

11. If you can reproduce the fault symptom your are pretty much home free. Be prepare to find and repair/replace any internal wire breaks, insulation break downs, exposed wires, rubber grommet failures, etc. Often, shrink tubing will solve the problem temporarily until something better can be done.

12. I use a very good electrical contact cleaner/preservative called De-oxit made by Caig Labs in San Diego Ca. Their website is www.deoxit.com It can be purchased at Radio Shack and any other electronic supply store. I use it on all of my motorcycle’s electrical connectors,in my home entertainment center’s stereo patch cords and cordless phones charging cradles.

Bridge the fuse and wait for the smoke to come out of the wires.


Mark

Thanks for the info guys, aspecialy u Mr Wing. lol.
i'll try to check the voltage at 4000 rpm's tonight. hopefully my reg rec is ok, i replaced it a few yers ago.

Motor Head
placing the meter in line would be the same as step 3 in MFolks/Pattons write up , right?

Yes it would be the same hook up, but with a reading for the amount of draw. In can be small enough that only an LED would light up. But then your battery would take several days or more to go flat. Do you see the other fellow who was asking how to test a Rotor?
kzrider.com/forum/4-electrical/452301-ho...t-a-alternator-rotor
Turned out to be a Wire that had high resistance. Check for proper AC volts at stator output wires, then R?R output, following each connection and measure for voltage loss. While running and under load, lights on Etc.

thanks i'll check that.

i found the problem.
its all ma kawi's fault. no where in the manual is there a test to find the dumb ass .
i did some tests and was not getting added voltage with rpms. upon investigation i found that the green reg/rec wire was down under the bat instead of on the ground terminal where it belongs.
when i had the bat box out changing the bat the wire must have fell down there. the bike sat without bat all winter. when i put in the new bat i didnt notice the wire down there and had been running the bike with no added juice for a few days.
So there u have it, Ma Kaw needs a section in the manual for dumb asses like me.
Thanks for the input guys.
i now have 13v at 1200rpm,and 13.7 at 4500rpm. i will check it again when the bat is fully charged since 13.7 is a little low.
since i have an aftermarket reg/ rec. i'm not sure how to test it. the man says to unplug the green plug, but it dont have that green plug anymore ?
1 more D A question. the man says to check the rec resistance,set the ohm meter at Rx1 or Rx10. mine just says 200 , 2000 , 20k, 200k , 2000k.

That Murphy sure gets around, doesn't he!

Motor Head wrote: That Murphy sure gets around, doesn't he!

he's pretty buisy with me. i dont know how he has time for everyone else.

Congrats on finding the problem!

Here's how I track down shorts:

Disconnect neg cable.
Insert 12v test light between neg terminal and neg cable.
If you have a fuse box, start removing fuses until the light goes out, this will give you the circuit to check.
No fuses, try unplugging harness connectors, if light goes out trace from there.