2 batteries in 1 week??...WTF!!!

[justblaze350]

ok first battery died on me tuesday (nothing turns on, clock is dead). took it to autozone they said it cant even hold a charge. only been in the bike for 8 months and i ride my bike 6 days out the week with about 17k miles on it...go to the store where i bought it on wed(thank god for extended warrenties) swap with a new battery and charge it for me...come back thursday night to pick it up they said to ride for an hour straight to fully charge it...rode for about an 1hr 1/2 to a friends house....i noticed that when ever i put on my turn signals if i left them on for more then like 5 seconds the other blinker would start to blink dimmly (<--is that a word??lol) and shortly after that i would get a beeping noise that i could hear over everything until i turned the blinkers off...sat at my friends house for about 5 hours then rode home same results w/ blinkers...rode for about 20 minutes the next morning and didnt touch it till bout an hour ago sunday when i wanted to go for a ride and to my amazment the battery is dead AGAIN!!!!

so looks like i got some work to do in tha AM but dont know where to start
was thinking of trying to jump it with my car then check signal wires???? have no idea!!....so wat do you guys think the problem is/where to start checking/tips/advice, anything would be helpful...only diag tools i have is a test light and a cheapy multimeter from walmart

bike is an 06 katana 600
thanks in advance

[Newbie2it]

Replace the battery/or recharge it and reinstall, Whatever works for you. Dont rehook up the negative cable yet however. While the key is off. Put the test light on the battery Negative and touch the other side to the negative cable end. Is the light lighted, if so, is it on bright? or very dim. Either way, one by one, pull the fuses till the light goes out.. Now you just identified which part of your bike is drawing a load. If the light was extremely dim, chances are it was just the clock draw, However if it was cherry bright, then you have a dead short. Time to start looking at your wiring for a chaffed or pinched wire someplace.


As for jump starting it from a car.. Just make sure the cars not running.

[TheSteve]

Instead of the test light, use your multimeter set on amps. Make sure it can hold at least 10 amps. Then do what newbie2it says. Thatll give you a concrete number. If youre above .05 amps while off, you've got an electrical leak. Or, if theres no leak, start the bike and check volts at the battery while its running. If its not 14v or higher at 4500rpm you've got a bad alternator on your hands.

[brooder]

As for jump starting it from a car.. Just make sure the cars not running.

Why does everyone say that? They're both 12V systems.

[DumbLuck]

car alternators and batterys are MUCH larger than a skoot's. 80 to 110 amps for the alt, 750 cold cranking amps for a battery average. a skoot is maybe 10 amps, with 30amps (starter draw only this high) where the main fuse or breaker pops. I've had to replace all sorts of parts on multiple bikes because some dim bulb in the socket of life jumped a skoot with 50 or 100 amp boost

[TheSteve]

I've always wondered the same, but at the same time I've had to jump my bike repeatedly. Not condoning anything here but I've done it with the car running as well and nothing bad happened. I figure Ohms law pretty much says that for a given voltage and a given resistance (starter motor) only a certain amount of current will flow. Meaning that if the starter only consumes 30 amps at 12v, its still going to draw the same with the 12v from a car battery. At 14v from a running car its going to draw a little more (35a) but I dont think that small increase is enough to damage something in the starter circuit. Could damage something else, but I haven't seen it yet and I probably have more electronics on my bike than most.

I always figured it had something to do with the battery and how you're not supposed to run a big charger on bike batteries. I do it anyway, figure if something goes awry the fuses are there to protect the bike

[DumbLuck]

Ohms law is fine and dandy. It's Murphy's Law that always bites ya inna fanny. why ask for trouble?

[justblaze350]

ok finally got around to getting new batt and test stuff (dam tropical storms).....batt was reading 12.22v (dont think they charged it 100%??)so first thing i tested was the fuses w/ the test light(+ terminal connected and - terminal off, test light on - side of battery and fuses)....all of them did nothing till i got to the 10A METER fuse, light came on bright red (still dont know if thats good or bad), then did the same thing with my meter set to amps..same results but when i put on the METER fuse again it kinda sinched the contact on top of the fuse(fuse was still good but i replaced it anyway for further testing)!!.....

then i started the bike in N and idle...was reading 12.7-13.5v....revved it back and forth to 5k and hold, it never read above 13.9-14.04v...turned it off and was dropping slowly to 9.8v...WTF!!(then i remembered i didnt turn the ignition off...oops lol) then climbed back up STAYED at 11.96v

sooo im guessing it under charging and something wrong w/ the alt if not the whole thing??? can someone please confirm this or tell me how to test the stator/rectifer or anything else i need???

so who has the tutorial for the alternator removal?? lol

also i know the alternator is not supposed to be spotless but when i took the left side fairing off there was dark brown/black (not dirt)on the outside bottom of the alternator...is that normal or is that something fried???

[TheSteve]

Have you measured amps across that fuse while the bike is off? Pull the fuse out, and probe either side of that fuses terminals with an ammeter. Or, pull that fuse out for the next couple days when the bike is parked and see if it fixes the drain completely.

Oh, and charging at 14v on a low battery at 5krpm is ok. It should raise slightly once the battery gets more and more charged until it hits 14.4v. I'd say that your alternator is probably alright, unless its the one leaking current while off.

[justblaze350]

ok what about this......
got the batt back from an over night charge at autozone, put it in the bike and everything was reading fine...let it idle for no more than 5 minutes then shut if off...was going to the stealership so they can diagnose it...(i know they probably gonna charge me a grip but i dont have any loose cash w/ school and i have some credit with them..)got my gear on started it back up...everything still fine at this point (idles and revs just fine), popped it into 1st backing out my driveway i forget the side stand was down...bike then shut off and as im going to start it again the bike is really struggling to start.....hold the start button for like 2 seconds at a time and the bike just wont turn over (has the feeling of hesitation and just not enough juice to start)

soo i jumped it with my car and it started up with a quickness...rode to the dealership w/ no problems what so ever, pulled in the service bay turned it off then on again...same doo-doo

and btw i did do a leak down test and it turned up reading 0

[TheSteve]

Wow, 0 milliamps while off yet its still having problems? I'm not really sure where to direct you next. While cranking, does your headlight dim a lot? If not then its possible the contacts in your starter relay are going out and not allowing full current to flow. This is starting to get into random guessing though. From what you've said, the alternator IS charging the battery, there are NO electrical leaks while not running, and the battery is NEW. Those 3 things are the only things that can affect a battery running dead. Check your battery fluid levels again, just to make sure. And maybe next time it won't crank over all the way try jumping the starter relay with a thick screwdriver and seeing if it gets better. Sorry for the bad luck, hope you figure it out soon.

[rexazz2]

the best way to cook these little batteries is fast charging them
the last new dry charged battery I installed in buddies bike ,directions ( yeh I read them ) stated fill will acid , let soak for couple hours, 1amp charge for 6 or 8hrs
I found that it is nearly impossible to find a 1amp battery charger

The way it was explained to me by a battery rep was that the fast charge creates a lot of heat IE boiling, and it causes shorts in the battery

I would bet that autozone is probably hit with at least 10 amps

[TheSteve]

I found a 12v cell phone charger works pretty well. Most are around .8amps and will slowly charge it to about 13.2 volts overnight

[justblaze350]

I found a 12v cell phone charger works pretty well. Most are around .8amps and will slowly charge it to about 13.2 volts overnight

how exactly does that work???

well i just got the bike back from the dealership and their consensus is......i apparently have the worst luck in the world... Phone call from them a few hours earlier went like this...

service writer: "hey bro just calling to let you know your bikes all set"
me: "cool cool....so what did you guys find out?"
SW: "there's absolutely nothing wrong with the charging system and/or the wiring its just a defective batt...we can set you up with the OEM batt for $189.95 in stock"
me: "ORLY....so this is gonna be my 3rd batt in a week, your saying all of them are defective?"
SW: "yea man....what i found that if you dont go with the OEM replacements,a lot of parts just go to ****....blah blah blah"
me: "dude i dont care what kinda battery it is, no brand lasts just 2 F**KING DAYS!!!...
me: "did you look at it or did an actual tech look at it?"
SW: " well i am certified myself....blah blah blah
me: "dont mean to sound like a dick but i just believe that, whats gonna be 4 batteries now in a week & 1/2 all are just bum *** batts..."
me: " whatever just put it back together and i come scoop it up...CLICK"

so thank you... blankity blank of longwood for your very informative service writer acting as mechanic for the day...i will bite my tongue for now because im full expecting this 4th batt to take a **** on me by the weekend when this rant will continue!!
/end rant

[TheSteve]

Basically you find any old 12v cell phone charger laying around (or any 12v transformer, only old phones are 12v), cut the plug off, use a voltmeter to find which is positive and negative, hook it up to your battery and plug it in. It takes awhile but it does work. Make sure the transformer isnt near anything really combustible because it can get pretty warm.

Are you CERTAIN that there is zero power drain while the bike is off? I know you checked it and they probably did too, but I can't see how it would keep dying when its left off.