Hey All,

Well I thought it was as simple as just a bad battery, well it's not. Went to ride my King here a few weeks ago and the battery was dead, I thought that was strange since the battery is only about 6 mos. old so I charged it. All was well until I let it sit for 2 days and it went dead again. So at this point I figured I had a bad battery. Anyways I've charged it 4-5 times over the last couple of weeks just waiting for a day off work so I could pull it and replace it. So I pull it out today and take it to where I bought it, they test it and tell me it load tests fine, so i must have a draw. So this is where I need some help because I don't know anything about electrical. Any ideas on what to check?

Thanks,

 

if tests were correct and battery is really OK then:
have you added any electrical items to bike?
do you have an electrical drain from an alarm light?
are battery connections tight?
do you have a digital multimeter? about $25 at sears...excellent to tests things on bike and around the house.

 

Very good advice to get you started, no meter no chance of finding problem, unless you are either very lucky or you have fitted something recently and can isolate it.

One other thing you must get, if you have not immediately found the problem, is the circuit diagram. If you have this (it spans over a number of pages) then I would urge you to study it carefully over a cuppa well away from the bike before you dive in to repair mode. I have a simple philosophy - It is difficult to "think" when you have tools in your hand...

Once you have a meter and understand the circuit, you need to check if you are drawing current from the battery. Start at the battery, attaching the meter (in current mode - and assuming you are now proficient at working a meter).

If you are drawing current, pull 1 fuse at a time and watch the meter. look for the meter to show you have stopped drawing current when you pull a fuse. When that happens, you know where about your problem is on the cct. Go back for a cuppa and study that section of circuit and then, well, happy hunting

 

Thanks, I'll go buy a meter and start hunting.....