where did my voltage go ?

[andy york]

Ok. The saga continues. New regulator putting out good voltage at rpm (14.1) so went for a ride last week. 4 or 5 hour ride,couple hundred miles, starts when I need it,etc.... This morning I get up to ride out to the old farts club and no juice. dead. headlight won't even glow.

What in the world could be draining the battery? (new battery)

Seems like there was something about this somewhere but I can't find it. Couldn't find the hot and ground flapping in the wind spewing 12 volts either   lol

[Craig]

Here is how I find grounds like this:

 

1. Make up a test light.  Use any 12V bulb holder with some wires to alligator clips.

2. Disconnect the + side of the battery

3. Connect one side of the test light made in step one to the positive battery terminal

4. Connect the other side of the test light to the positive battery cable.  This puts the lightbulb directly in series with the battery, any current being drained will light the bulb.

5. Pull fuses one by one until the bulb goes out, that fuse controls the circuit with the ground.

 

Do normal ground isolation on that circuit.

[andy york]

Thanks. I will get on this when I get home. Funny when you hear it again you think    oh yea thats right!

knew I had seen it before...

[luhbo]

(I think) I remember I read something about connecting these recs directly to the battery. Do you have yours connected directly to the battery or can you still switch it off, together with the ignition?

 

Hubert

[Trevini]

I think you may be referring to my bike Hubert.  I fitted an electrex reg/rec which had a bit of a drain when connected directly to the battery . About 40mA if I remember correctly.  It wouldn't drain whilst riding, or overnight, but it would be sluggish to turn over after a week or two.  I cured it completely by making the live feed relay switched through the ignition switch.

 

Which reg/rec do you have Andy?

[andy york]

I went to the local duc dealer since my mind was telling me that some of the 1990's ducs had 2 wire systems like ours. I was correct.

I bought an aftermarket one( I think I mentioned it ....I'll have to look in another post.) It puts a good 14.1-14.2 volts at 3-3.5k rpm so I'm happy.

I took all the positive leads off the battery and went through each one. No light at all. I'm guessing 40-50 mA would not glow much of anything.

The regulator runs straight to the battery. It is fused.

I will keep digging. 

Trevini or Kiwi Roy will have to walk me through "live feed relay through the ignition switch".

thanks

[andy york]

It is a "Rick's" regulator from rick's motorsports electrics 

[Kiwi_Roy]

The first thing to do is make sure the battery is really discharged and not just disconnected.

The main ground on the spine framed bikes is clamped behind the seat release lock this often works loose.

Some will argue but I say remove from there and put under the adjacent gearbox bolt.

Clean and Vaseline the battery terminals.

 

Please point us to the exact model Ricks regulator you purchased

i.e. a link to their page

http://ricksmotorsportelectrics.com/

[docc]

Roy, I agree that the cable lock for the seat is a bad place for the ground, but I don't think anyone has found it there but on your V11. Surely some PO or technician must have misplaced it there instead of the gearbox bolt.

[Kiwi_Roy]

Docc, perhaps you are right, that's where it was on mine, I just assumed mine was normal.

I know of at least 3 bikes that went into meltdown mode because the main ground worked loose.

 

Here is one, not mine - you can't quite see where the main ground is going to because it's hidden by the main loom 

but it looks like it could well end up under the seat lock screw. The wire with no insulation is the black wire from regulator case to battery negative. Under the seat release is neat and tidy, out of sight out of mind, until this happens.

[docc]

Yeah, that's a spectacular shot of czakky's loom. I've always taken your grounding advice to heart adding grounds and keeping them fresh. Here's a photo from the Workshop Manual showing the (intended) factory location:

 

[andy york]

Rick's regulator #10-00.My battery ground goes to the tranny. per Docc's pic. The Reg has a "Boss" cast into the back side

That can be tapped,and I did, and ran a ground to the Timing chest cover.

  I think all in all I in good shape except for the milliamp draw that may be happening. she's sitting in the garage with a meter hooked up and I will be checking and recording voltage for the next couple of days.

will see what happens  

[docc]

Once my Hawker is fully charged (there are different ways to do that alone!), and it settles into its normal 12.84 volts, my Sport takes about 5-7 days to drop to 12.6.

 

Just one reference point for comparison.

[docc]

BTW, that pic of the melted loom makes me wonder if the black painted cases make for grounding issues . . .

 

Worth cleaning all the paint off under the grounds and using "star washers" to dig in to the metal.

[andy york]

Thanks for the reference there Docc.

Mine may have been a touch low to start with....

Monday afternoon 5:15 pm-12.61v

Monday evening    7:55 pm-12.52v

Tuesday                  8:30 am-12.30v

Wednesday            8:30 am-12.13v

                               2:00 pm-12.13v  Bike did start at this voltage

Thursday (today)    9:00 am-12.05v bike started

 

So there is a Small draw from somewhere I just don't have what it takes to measure it

I will investigate the hookup "live feed relay "