03 gsxr battery Drain

[chris87ltd]

i have a battery drain that i cant seem to find. i did what my manual told me to do (check voltage between - post and - terminal) i have a bout 11 to 12 volts there, i have every thing disconnected but my gauge connector and stater relay and when i disconnect it the drain goes away (gauge) but also if i disconnect my main ground with the gauge still connected it also goes away, but then when i connect my GP (gear position) sensor it comes back. Anyone have any ideas?????????

[Motorcycle Forum]

[Easy Rider]

i have a battery drain that i cant seem to find.

Let's back up a step or two..........

What got you here in the first place ?? Maybe you have a TINY drain in the instrument cluster that is "normal" for that bike. The voltage method you mentioned does not tell you how MUCH the drain is.

If you connect everything else and disconnect the instruments, does the drain go away ?? Is it there with the ignition turned OFF ??

A LOT of folks end up chasing things like this when the problem really is just a battery going bad.

[Rickster]

Sounds like you simply have an old battery that is being drained by all the small things (like the clock) that don't turn off with the key, you should be showing "OVER" 12 volts when the bike is not running, if your are showing less than 12 I suspect you just have an old tired battery.

[chris87ltd]

12 volts isn't a tiny Drain. all tests were done with key off. i would under stand the weak battery if i didn't have 11 volts between negative terminal and negative post. a weak battery would go dead regardless of a drain.

[Rickster]

The drain or draw of power from a battery isn't measured in voltage it's measured in amperage, and to test for that you need to put a load on it, but if you are showing less than 12 volts with out a load than your battey is sick, also I don't know what it is that your calling the negative terminal, and negative post, but you can't measure voltage between two negative points, you have to go between a positive and negative, just take your meter, (set to measure voltage) and put one probe on the positive post of the battery, and the other probe on the negative post of the battery, you should read about 12.4 volts on a healthy battery, car/boat/truck/motorcycle doesn't make any difference just so long as it's a 12 volt system, if you are showing less than 12 volts, than start the motor and check at the same points again, if the voltage goes up (more than about .3 volts) you know your charging system is working properly and you just need a new battery, if your still not convinced just take the battery out and bring it to a garage to have them do a load test on it for you.

I'm just trying to save you from a bunch of work looking for a problem that most likely is nonexistent, batteries are the weak link on any system and 90% of the time when you start having elect problems it's the battery.

[Easy Rider]

12 volts isn't a tiny Drain. all tests were done with key off. i would under stand the weak battery if i didn't have 11 volts between negative terminal and negative post. a weak battery would go dead regardless of a drain.

This is NOT meant to be an insult......really it isn't......REALLY.....

But it is obvious that you don't really understand electricity, at least not enough to be troubleshooting and drawing conclusions. Honestly.

If you have ANY device ACTIVE....clock, computer chip, electronic odometer......ANYTHING......you will always read ~12V from cable to battery terminal. Always. And you should read about 12V from negative cable to negative post too.......if the other cable is connected, that is.

So.......if your bike has any of that stuff that still draws a tiny bit of power when the bike is off........what you are doing proves NOTHING, because it would be normal.

Read Rick's post again. Although a little wordy he's got it right.

[chris87ltd]

sorry i read the manual wrong. thank you guys for your help. but i think i have another problem. when the bike warms up my voltage drops to like 12 13 volts and my lights flicker. would this be my generator

[Easy Rider]

when the bike warms up my voltage drops to like 12 13 volts and my lights flicker. would this be my generator

Maybe but probably not.
Nominal battery voltage, when fully charged, is about 12.6 volts.

What the "normal" charging voltage is depends on your specific bike and what speed the engine is running at when you measure it. At idle, it might be a tad below 12.6; faster than idle, it probably should be above 12.6.
13 is probably OK.

How close do you have to look to notice the "flicker" ??
If it is really noticeable, it could be a regulator problem, a loose connection or.........a really weak battery.

[Rickster]

Starting the bike from cold will cause a drop in battery voltage that needs to be made back up, the regulator senses this and charges the battery at a slightly higher rate till the battery is back up to normal, than cuts the charge back to just enough to maintain a slight charge condition with all the systems on the bike satisfied.

[chris87ltd]

the flicker is pretty noticeable. and it has a new battery. but it only starts when the temp is about 190 or so. and the volts drop to about 13 to 12.6 and then jump to 14 again. so i guess rick is wright but why do my lights flicker

[Rickster]

I suspect it's happening when the charging system is switching back and forth between charge & maintain, a slight change (ie between 13V, and 12.6V) will not be noticeable, but as the difference increases it can be seen as a flicker in the brightness of the lights.

14 Volts is a pretty high charge rate, you might have a problem with your voltage regulator putting to much charge back into the system, the only real down side to this is it might cause your battery to have a shorter life.

When your battery is either charging or discharging it causes a chemical reaction that creates a sludge to form at the bottom of your battery, this is normal wear & tear and can't be avoided, when the sludge gets thick enough it comes in contact with the bottom of the plates in the battery, this causes a short inside the battery and renders it useless and will need to be replaced.

The rate of charge is directly linked to battery life, to much is as bad as to little, either will cause premature battery failure, have your dealer check your charge rate, but don't expect them to do anything if it is just slightly high, because I don't think it's adjustable on a motorcycle system, so the only cure is to replace parts in the charging system.

Like everything else that is mass produced there are slight differences in every part, the difference in charging systems is why some bikes will have batteries that seem to last forever, and another bike of the same model will eat a new battery every year.

[chris87ltd]

ok thank you. i was looking at the service manual and it say to turn the light's on high and raise the rpm's up to 5,000 and voltage should read between 14 and 15 and it is. so i guess every thing is fine.

[Easy Rider]

so i guess every thing is fine.

"Everything" might not be fine.

What caused you to start looking into the battery/charging system in the first place ???

Excessive flickering can indicate a bad connection somewhere........sometimes INSIDE the battery.

[chris87ltd]

the battery is new.

[Easy Rider]

What caused you to start looking into the battery/charging system in the first place ???

the battery is new.

This is going nowhere fast.

Once more:
What caused you to start looking into the battery/charging system in the first place ???

If the battery is new AND was fully charged before installation AND you still have an electrical problem........it is probably because the charging system is shot.