why is my battery getting drained

I noticed that my battery is not charging as it suppose to there is plenty of water in it. When I put it on a trickle charger/maintainer the battery will not charge is it possible the battery is just dead? Thanks in advance:)

Yes, it sounds like the battery is hosed.

maybe take it to an auto parts store and have it load tested

If the battery load tests bad,and the new one won't charge, then it's time to check the charging system.

I'd try this first before spending money for either a new rectifier/rectifier and/or stator:

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.

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.

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.

A maintenance charger will not charge your battery. It has to be fully charged for it to keep it there. Bob

... and remember, a fully charged battery reads 12.6 - 12.8 volts - after resting for a few hours after charging.

If it reads only 12V or close to there, it is only capable of outputting around half its max power, and may need replaceing soon.

If you do end up finding your stator is pooched I have one I can sell you. You ride an 1100 right?

tinlizzie37 wrote:

A maintenance charger will not charge your battery. It has to be fully charged for it to keep it there. Bob

It will charge a dead battery but it might take a couple of days.

bountyhunter wrote:

tinlizzie37 wrote:

A maintenance charger will not charge your battery. It has to be fully charged for it to keep it there. Bob

It will charge a dead battery but it might take a couple of days.

Just to get everyone on the same page, by maintenance charger, I'm assuming you mean a float charger. This type of charger will usually charge your battery to the proper voltage, then "float" a very small current to keep it "topped off". You don't want to keep your battery on a charger that full time as you'll kill it or it'll explode and make a royal mess (I never thought battery acid what THAT corrosive!)

I have a nice Schumacher Batter Charger/Tender that I like very much: ( www.batterychargers.com/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductName=94026717 ).

I have that charger as well and it works great. You can pick them up at Walmart for around $20

Any properly designed charger for lead acid batteries will "float" charge to the correct voltage which is about 13V - 13.2V range for a "12V" battery. That means the charger is trickling in a very small amount of current all the time which is OK. You do have to monitor water levels to make sure they don't get dry.

Battery makers actually publish the correct float charge voltage for their batteries as well as the temperature coefficient of the cell. Lead acid gel cells are usually a little different than wet cells. but not so different you can't use the same charger. The type of charger you don't want to use is a "dumb" charger that just dumps in current and has no way of tapering off as it reaches full charge. You want a self regulating charger that has built in temperature compensation.