Battery drained after riding

[BigDogBro1]

Its cold and raw here today but I took it out for a 20 minute ride of which was enough to weaken the battery before . I checked the breaker it wasnt tripped and now that the breaker has been rest it turned right over and started quick . I will pick up the meter and check it out too, but so far all seems fine and tomorrow is suppose to be warmer so time will tell, thanks again guys!!

Just keep in mind the the tripped breaker may have tripped for a good reason so keep and eye on it. It could be an underlying problem no yet uncovered.

Enjoy the ride!

 

[mml03102]

Purposely I did not put it on the tender yesterday and I picked up a multi tester and when I got home from work I tested the battery and it read 13.4 and then I checked it running at low idle and it read 14.5 . I went for a ride for over an hour and when I got home it had the same readings and the breaker wasn't tripped either , shut it of turned the key and it started right up , I'm f`n happy about this!! Im going to check everything with my meter just to learn how and the reason it tripped might be the led lighting system that was put on it , some of the lights worked and some don't so I disconnected it from the power and it hasn't tripped since, Im thinking about taking it all out.

 

[Srodden]

Gotta love the easy solutions !

 

[bearman]

After reading the threads here , … Im picking up a multi meter this morning …

Like my sig says, if you have a Big Dog you need a meter. You can troubleshoot many things with one.
Check your voltage around 3500rpms, it shouldn’t be more than 14.8 to 15 volts.
And as far as it draining the battery after 20 minutes of riding (without a working charging system), you have to remember that the headlight stays on even in daylight. If you could turn off the headlight you could probably ride for hours without a working charging system.

 

[mml03102]

I picked up a meter yesterday

 

[Th3InfamousI]

1. Set volt meter to 20a.
2. Check voltage at the battery, no charger hooked up. Note down number.
3. Install charger and let it cook the battery for less than a minute.
4. Check the voltage now with the charger on the battery and its charging voltage.
5. The volts should be higher than static battery voltage. This shows the charger is putting out.

Exactly you gotta have the tenders on the battery they don't put out any juice until they are hooked up to the battery.

 

[BWG56]

Exactly you gotta have the tenders on the battery they don't put out any juice until they are hooked up to the battery.

:2thumbs:I checked it on the tender and it was 13.78, diconnected it and it was hovering around 13.76. turned the headlight on and watched it drop to 12.40, put the tender back on it and it went back up over 14.0. Just seems odd that it would sit on the tender for 5 weeks and hardly start, ran the bike for about 40 miles and the battery is charged up again. Sounds like its the battery after 2 yrs but I replaced the old one and had both of them load tested and they both peaked at 800 amps, even the one that I took out and it sat for a year on the work bench with nothing hooked up to it. The stock battery was 270amps and these last 2 I bought were both 310amps.
I'm thinking maybe install a cut off/disconnect, so it won't run the battery down while it sits. Any thoughts?

 

[Sven]

I'm thinking maybe install a cut off/disconnect, so it won't run the battery down while it sits. Any thoughts?

Only if say you have an alarm, an ecu, clock, etc. Then again, if say the current drops, the charger knows to kick it up a bit like a volt/reg would.

Then again, we want a high amp rate past 1.4a rating. If using a 12v/12a battery, a 1.4a rated charger would work. We have a 12v/14a charger, we'd want a 1.5a rated charger so we leave the battery connected and let the clock/alarm run.

If we use a 1.2a rated charger on a 14a battery, we are under the rating of 1.4, we move the decimal over 1 = How the battery is rated in charging amps. So if you are using a 1.2a rated charger to charge a 14a batter, ain't gonna last long. It's undercharged. Get it?

Check your charger's amp rating. WATTizz it?

 

[mittens]

Harbor frieght, has cheap meters for 4.99.

I have one in every tool bag/ vehical... car, boat, garage, go bag. for that reason. very handy for sure.

 

[BWG56]

Only if say you have an alarm, an ecu, clock, etc. Then again, if say the current drops, the charger knows to kick it up a bit like a volt/reg would.

Then again, we want a high amp rate past 1.4a rating. If using a 12v/12a battery, a 1.4a rated charger would work. We have a 12v/14a charger, we'd want a 1.5a rated charger so we leave the battery connected and let the clock/alarm run.

If we use a 1.2a rated charger on a 14a battery, we are under the rating of 1.4, we move the decimal over 1 = How the battery is rated in charging amps. So if you are using a 1.2a rated charger to charge a 14a batter, ain't gonna last long. It's undercharged. Get it?

Check your charger's amp rating. WATTizz it?

I checked it and its 1.5, so I'm good on that one and will check my others, and yes, I gotz it thanks

Harbor frieght, has cheap meters for 4.99.

I have one in every tool bag/ vehical... car, boat, garage, go bag. for that reason. very handy for sure.

I always used these but just recently switched to a better tender, (so I thought) and now is when I'm having some problems. I've had some HF ones go bad also, but their cheap enough.
Now that I understand them more, I will have to check them periodically to make sure their working.

 

[Srodden]

I checked it and its 1.5, so I'm good on that one and will check my others, and yes, I gotz it thanks



I always used these but just recently switched to a better tender, (so I thought) and now is when I'm having some problems. I've had some HF ones go bad also, but their cheap enough.
Now that I understand them more, I will have to check them periodically to make sure their working.

Ya it's best to use a good battery tender and not a harbor freight special. I haven't had a good experience with the harbor freight tenders jmo.

 

[mittens]

I said harbor freight Volt meters, not harbor freight battery tenders..

the 4.99 volt meters are cheap and easy to keep around.

this is what i am talking about.. I know its not a fluke.... but 4.99 and can always have one around.

 

[BWG56]

Why yes you did, my bad

 

[bearman]

Nothing wrong with a cheap meter, as long as it works.

In my 30 years of experience using and buying meters, I probably have bought about 6 cheap ones (5-10 bucks), one $20 one, and two $50 meters, I have had two meter failures, one of the cheap ones and one of the 50 buck ones. I have never bought one of the $200 (or more) Fluke meters. I have used the Flukes, and I can’t justify the price.

I recommend the $20 meter if your going to use it more than a few times. The only reason is that the leads (wires) break on the cheap ones after a few uses, and of course you never realize it till you need the thing and then you have to re-solder the ends on the wires to make it work. You can buy good leads for the cheap meter, but they are $15 in the store.

For the tool roll on the bike you need something small like this.

Minn Kota MK-BM-1D Digital Battery Meter: Fishing : Walmart.com

It doesn’t do much, but it beats nothing.

 

[mittens]

thats a awesome little meter, Will have one in my tool roll for sure.

 

[mml03102]

I ended up buying a cal hawk for 7 bucks at deep discount