Battery Draining Fast

[neolewis85]

Been having issues with my battery draining fast. Originally thought it was my battery as I've had to refill it a few times using distilled water. I've bought a new battery but still having the issue.

My low beam has blown so at night I'm running my bike using the high beams but after about 2 hours of this my battery is completely drained. No tail light, dash lights, indicators, etc. However, if I switch my high beams off then all the lights kick back in.

I've also recently installed a camera system and LEDs that are connected to the battery but I ran them through a switch so when off they shouldn't be consuming any power.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

[fastbob]

When you say re fill I presume you mean top up. When you fill a battery you use sulphuric acid not water. So that might explain why the battery isn't working. If the battery is going dry then I suspect that the rectifier regulator is knackered.

[neolewis85]

When you say re fill I presume you mean top up. When you fill a battery you use sulphuric acid not water. So that might explain why the battery isn't working. If the battery is going dry then I suspect that the rectifier regulator is knackered.

 

I have installed a new battery but im assuming that if I have damaged the regulator it will still cause the issue. Could I use a voltmeter to test it?

[TimR]

When you say re fill I presume you mean top up. When you fill a battery you use sulphuric acid not water. So that might explain why the battery isn't working. If the battery is going dry then I suspect that the rectifier regulator is knackered.

 

If topping up distilled water is ok as it will convert to sulphuric acid from the chemical reaction within the process .

If its a regular top up its either

Leaking

Or boiling

As you say you have replaced battery and it doez the same its boiling/overcharging

And yes you can test a reg rec with multimuter with information found in a haynes or similar manual

Check also for basic voltage across battery( fully charged) when

Engine off ... should be roughly 12.3v

Start engine at idle roughly 13.4-14.5 v

Rev engine to 3 - 4 k rpm and it should not go over 14.8v

[fastbob]

No it wont convert into acid as such , but topping up with distilled water and then charging will cause the sulphate on the plates to revert back to acid . Usually if a battery has boiled dry its probably too late . Oddly enough when I used to sell bike battery's we used to offer to fill them with acid solution but many customers would refuse saying that they would fill it with distilled water then charge it thinking that this would miraculously turn the water into acid. ( I'm referring to traditional battery's not gel type ) Some were so convinced that this would happen that they would bring them back claiming the battery was faulty. Eventually we ended up putting a disclaimer on the receipts .

Edited January 6, 2018 by fastbob

[Chrissb6]

Check the battery terminals are tight, then check the voltage across the battery with the engine running if the voltage is above 14 volts l would suspect a faulty voltage regulator. This link here might be helpful

http://blog.jpcycles.com/how-to-test-motorcycle-charging-system/

[TimR]

No it wont convert into acid as such , but topping up with distilled water and then charging will cause the sulphate on the plates to revert back to acid . Usually if a battery has boiled dry its probably too late . Oddly enough when I used to sell bike battery's we used to offer to fill them with acid solution but many customers would refuse saying that they would fill it with distilled water then charge it thinking that this would miraculously turn the water into acid. ( I'm referring to traditional battery's not gel type ) Some were so convinced that this would happen that they would bring them back claiming the battery was faulty. Eventually we ended up putting a disclaimer on the receipts .

As i said topping up not refilling

I note the edit

[fastbob]

No it wont convert into acid as such , but topping up with distilled water and then charging will cause the sulphate on the plates to revert back to acid . Usually if a battery has boiled dry its probably too late . Oddly enough when I used to sell bike battery's we used to offer to fill them with acid solution but many customers would refuse saying that they would fill it with distilled water then charge it thinking that this would miraculously turn the water into acid. ( I'm referring to traditional battery's not gel type ) Some were so convinced that this would happen that they would bring them back claiming the battery was faulty. Eventually we ended up putting a disclaimer on the receipts .

As i said topping up not refilling

I note the edit

 

Yeah sorry about that, I hadn't checked the science at that stage. It was the OP who used the term refill but they probably meant top up.

[rennie]

I've only read this once so might have missed something!

Change the headlight lamp/ if it's a twin filament make sure it's fitted

correctly!

Always do the simplest things first