Draining battery

[Green1]

Still having problems with the S4
Recently I changed the battery in the Triumph and I've left the bike three days and it's as dead as a dodo
No lights nothing at all.The battery now comes up as faulty and it wont even power a light bulb
So my question is what other than the useless alarm is draining it?
Will a dodgy rectifier put a drain on the battery even with the ignition off?   

Mick

[Bryanj]

Yes it would, but before that is there a voltmeter that is on all the time as a "cheap" moving iron voltmeter will draw enough to flatten a car battery in 4 days

[Lobo]

Hi Mick,

A method of troubleshooting this would be to connect an ammeter in series directly from the battery.. eg batt +ve to one lead on ammeter and other lead of ammeter to the main red cable you've just undone! Keep the bike 'dead'. Set the scale to (eg) 200mA. Then observe any discharge..
A discharge of 50mA would be 'tops', if no alarm then you should be looking at zero.

By then disconnecting voltmeters, alarms, pulling fuses (to narrow down a circuit) etc in turn you'll soon find the culprit(s) drawing those milliamperes. Modern alarms / immobilisers should not really drain a battery in < a couple weeks if the bikes not used.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Digital-LCD-Multimeter-XL-830L-Voltmeter-Ammeter-Ohmmeter-OHM-VOLT-Tester-uk-/301051973196

Or try Maplins... In Jan's BIKE Mag there's a brief article on electrics & a multimeter recommendation.

Cheers,
Simon

[SteveD CB500K0]

Sorry if you've already talked about this in other threads, but is the battery shagged*

*engineering term...

All my Triumphs, in fact all my modern bikes (including the VFR) destroyed batteries in about 5 years. Symptoms included going flat for no apparent reason, even after a charging cycle.

The only solution was a new one.

[Green1]

Thanks for the quick response guys
I've not tested anything yet because I've managed to lose my multimeter.Just visually checked the wiring and fuses all seems well.
The battery is a Motobatt less than a week old that replaced a year old one.5 years is good going Steve I've never had a battery last 2

As I wright this I have just remembered that the battery before the 2 Motobatt ones developed a bulge in the sides
Wouldn't that normally suggest overcharging.

[SteveD CB500K0]

I bought a Motobatt for the Tiger - they seem to be the best on offer nowadays.

You definitely need to get a meter (and soon!)