Battery Parasite By Bashan (Read 6,238 times)

[royldoc]

Think I'm gonna have to install a main battery switch on the magnum. It has set for about 3 weeks without a charge on it. I have been using the charger for the mojo. Tried to start it the other day for an errand run that I was going to have to take a highway so didn't want to ride the 50. There is only a few bridges that cross over the Missouri river. The battery was completely dead, zero volts on the meter. This is a fairly new AGM (absorbed glass mat battery). This is the second time this has happened. Last time it only set for two weeks. I usually try to start it at least once a week. But I have been very busy lately. I suspect the digital dash is the culprit. I already tested the charging system and the battery so I know it is a parasitic drain.


Roy

[drifter]

Apr 12, 2012 20:28:20 GMT -6 @null device said:

Try checking out the starter solenoid for resistance across the big terminals. It should indicate an open circuit. Be sure to zero your meter.

Rather than mess around with your scooter rectifier/regulator and LCD display wiring, I suggest you put a battery disconnect switch on your scooter.

CHINA BIKE battery regulators are like fuses.

So many guys come to me begging the need for a new battery when they need a new regulater.

me included.

Don't buy the ones at scrappydawg, they are not made right, filled with window silicone in stead of heat despersent.

[Alleyoop]

Just a heads up, most of your batteries are made in China for those that did not know. There are only a couple in the U.S that make batteries and they make them for the different companies that sell them in volume and put there trade mark on them.

And like anything else they are made to whoever is contracting them Specs which can be quality or cheap.
Alleyoop

[royldoc]

This is an Extreme Magna power battery. Marketed by:EPM Products, Baltimore,MD
MADE IN U.S.A
I'm not sure who manufactured it though.

Roy

[Bashan]

As mentioned earlier in this thread, faulty diodes in the R/R can also drain down a battery. To some degree you can test your R/R with a multimeter to see if you have a bad diode. I'm not 100% certain what the circuitry of my R/R is but I think this diagram is pretty close:

The voltage regulator portion of it is based on what I've read. That part seems impervious to the multimeter. Testing on the rectifier part however seems to fit the model. Most multimeters have a diode setting that measures the voltage drop across the diode. You set your multi to the diode function which is the triangle with the line:

Diodes pass current in the direction of the triangle from positive to negative. Testing with the red on the positive side will give the voltage drop across the diode:

To finish the test swap the leads and a functional diode will block the current:

If I remove my rectifier from the scooter and I've got two pigtails with three wires each:

To test one of the yellows to red would pass through the single diode that's circled in red:

Swap the leads and it should block the voltage:

If you get any current passing the wrong direction your R/R is toast.

To get the diode below it I test green to yellow:

You can do the other yellows the same way:

Things get a little murkier when you test through the green to red and get multiple diodes:

But when you swap the leads you still should get:

If you don't.....well....you know...

So by using the diagram I can isolate each of the diodes in the rectifier portion of the R/R to make a fair evaluation as to whether it's causing the drain or not.

[justguy1]

Ok.. going to try this again.... Here is my off/on Switch that I installed today....

[rapidjim]

Jan 12, 2013 3:20:04 GMT -6 drifter said:

Apr 12, 2012 20:28:20 GMT -6 @null device said:

Try checking out the starter solenoid for resistance across the big terminals. It should indicate an open circuit. Be sure to zero your meter.

Rather than mess around with your scooter rectifier/regulator and LCD display wiring, I suggest you put a battery disconnect switch on your scooter.

CHINA BIKE battery regulators are like fuses.




So many guys come to me begging the need for a new battery when they need a new regulater.

me included.

Don't buy the ones at scrappydawg, they are not made right, filled with window silicone in stead of heat despersent.

You seem to have a problem with scrappydawg. This is not your only thread that you say not to buy from him.

I have bought a lot of parts from him and have not had problem one.

Jim

[Alleyoop]

Jan 13, 2013 19:33:57 GMT -6 justguy1 said:

Ok.. going to try this again.... Here is my off/on Switch that I installed today....

I would Have the screws going the other way and not to the outside. I would have put a toggle switch but that is just me.
Alleyoop

[justguy1]

The reason the screws are that way (really didn't want it to go that way) but its to hold the switch in place.. its under the seat so really don't affect me.. I like this switch cause not only can I shut the battery down, but its a good theft deterrent. Take the key out and it won't start..

[poppajon]

Hi Bashan, My jcl 250 a has all the bells and whistles, I use a small Deltran battery tender and never have had a problem with the stock Yusa batt.

[Bashan]

My Fashion will bang right off too as long as I keep it on a tender. My point was that a scooter shouldn't show more than 10ma drain with the test at the beginning of this thread. If you do, you have parasitic drain and it is technically a malfunction. If it is in the LCD dash as I believe mine is, it probably won't get any worse and you can just deal with it. If it turns out to be the rectifier/regulator, which you might determine from the tests I outlined higher on this page, you have a problem that needs attention.

I know a guy quite well that was an engineer at the Harley Davidson test facility in Talladega, Al before they shut it down a couple of yesrs ago. This guy knows motorcycles and this guy knows electronics. He started listing the drains on a modern motorcycle and it's a wonder they hold a charge overnight. There's the ECU's always active components like the CMOS, there's the clock, the alarm, accessory chargers, and ad infinitum. He said they would test the motorcycles that Milwaukee sent down exactly like the test at the beginning of this thread. The engineers thought 20mA drain was acceptable but the bigger bikes would sometimes soak up 35mA! He pointed out that the bigger bikes didn't have that much bigger of a battery so the drain became a problem. Scooters certainly don't have those kinds of electronics but ECUs, clocks, alarms, and accessory chargers are becoming more common. For most scooters 10mA should be your upper limit, more than that and it's a problem.

[mike6736]

Well here if Florida I have had mine set over 3 weeks and she kicks right up. When I ride it I run all 4 head lamps and a gps and all the added lights to the rear and never have a problem. My GPS is direct to battery so it not removed or turned off there coiuld be a problem and had happened once, so now I remove it and place it under the seat when not in use

Magoo

[skunkhome]

Well, parasitic loss is has nothing to do with what you plug in when you run the bike. What you can run while on the bike rolling depends on your charging ststems ability to replenish the power used. Parasitic draw if you have it is busy running down your battery while you sleep. I have a parasitic draw of 50mA with the key off and the RR unplugged. I am going to have to find the drain but if it is the instrument panel then I am not sure how to isolate the clock if it is the issue. Surely it is wire separately if it is always on and the dash only activates with the key.

[Bashan]

Do you have an alarm system? Anyway, if you can isolate the power feed to whatever component you're trying to test for drain you can set your multi up in series in the supply line. The red lead of the multi would go in the supply line headed for the red terminal of the battery. The black in the other side of that wire. Don't just ground the black, you'll read 12v DC from the battery. You want to test ma trickling through the supply wire to that component. If you have a security system I'd test that too.

[cyborg]

JESUS CHRIST ALMIGHTY LOOKIT THE SIZE OF THAT FUKIN MILLIPEDE!!!!!!!!!! how'd you like to wake up to that crawling on you in your bed!!!!! WOOOHOOO!!!! my wife would faint and i'd have a coronary!!!! right after i soiled myself of course,,, And of course the vespa has a wrist watch battery operated one in the gauge cluster that you have to tear the whole handlebar pod apart to get to the battery so it goes unchanged