Tracking down an electrical gremlin

Discussion in 'The Garage' started by double_entendre, Dec 29, 2012.

  1. double_entendre

    double_entendre It's nothing personal; just your existence.

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    I've got an 2006 FJR1300 and I've had a Blue Seas fuse block in it for a long time. All my accessories are wired through that. Grip heaters, my heated jacket, wife's heated jacket, HID lamps, etc.

    Something is draining my battery lately and I'm hoping that it's one of those items. Am I correct in assuming that I can just pull fuses one at a time and stick my multimeter's probes into the connections to see what's drawing current? I assume the draw on everything should be zero, right?

    Any other things I should track down?

    Thanks!
    #1
  2. motomike14

    motomike14 Thumper Crusader Supporter

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    Before you start pulling out fuses, locate your reg/rec and see what static test is available. If you're cranking out too many volts back to the battery, it will draw it down. After that, then I'd start looking at individual accessories.
    #2
  3. motomike14

    motomike14 Thumper Crusader Supporter

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    Before you start pulling out fuses, locate your reg/rec and see what static test is available. If you're cranking out too many volts back to the battery, it will draw it down. After that, then I'd start looking at individual accessories.
    #3
  4. Dolly Sod

    Dolly Sod I want to do right, but not right now Supporter

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    I assume you mean the battery is being drawn down overnight, or over a week or something.

    A quick way to see if it's your aux fuse block in the first place would be to hook your multimeter inline between the positive terminal and the main cable to the fuse block. Should be no amperage draw when everything is shut off. If your aux panel is drawing power, then pull fuses and check for draw on the individual circuits.

    Could also be a battery on its way out. How old is that Sucker?
    #4
  5. Midnightventure

    Midnightventure -

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    You can check voltage drops across the fuses with the key off. There is a tiny bit of resistance so if there is any current flowing there will be a voltage reading. Compare between the fuses and if one is a lot higher that is probably the problem circuit.
    #5
  6. emti

    emti Been here awhile

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    How old is your battery? removing fuses will work,. If the battery drains quickly the current across that fuse will be much higher than the others. Is there a accessory that is staying on? emti
    #6
  7. double_entendre

    double_entendre It's nothing personal; just your existence.

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    Thanks, all. It's a relatively new battery and the bike sits on a Battery Tender trickle charger much of the time. A week is plenty of time to drain the battery.

    Boon Booni, I've got both the positive and negative cables running directly to the battery. Are you saying to unhook the positive cable from the block and put the multimeter between them so that the power runs through the multimeter?

    Thanks!
    #7
  8. Dolly Sod

    Dolly Sod I want to do right, but not right now Supporter

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    Yes. Multi-meter goes inline when checking amperage. Most meters are fused at 10amps (I think), so don't go trying to start the bike or turning the key on, but for checking for parasitic draw it'll be fine.

    With all accessories and key off there should be minimal to zero amperage draw to your aux fuse block. If your aux fuse block is the culprit, then you can start pulling fuses and checking amperage draw across those terminals.
    #8
  9. anotherguy

    anotherguy Long timer

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    Always begin electrical testing by (1) charging and (2) load testing the battery. Age is no indicator of battery health. Only a load test on a fully charged battery answers that question.
    #9
  10. Dolly Sod

    Dolly Sod I want to do right, but not right now Supporter

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    If the story is this: Go out to bike, and find dead battery. Jump start bike, and ride to next destination and bike re-starts fine, even after sitting a few minutes or even a couple of hours. But if the bike sits overnight and doesn't want to start in the morning: My vote is for bad battery.
    #10