[The CyberPoet]

Change the battery in the multimeter anyway.

And post up where you're measuring the 10V drop (from what point to what point).

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[brooder]

I'll change the battery when I get home, but I'm seeing the drain when I place the negative metst lead on the negative battery terminal and the postitive test lead on the negative battery cable conneciton. Cable disconnected of course.

[The CyberPoet]

98+ still pulls power to the gauges (gas gauge, clock if present) -- that draw might account for the 10 volt draw. How many amps is the pull? Also, easy to rule out -- disconnect the connector at the rear of the instrument panel.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[brooder]

98+ still pulls power to the gauges (gas gauge, clock if present) -- that draw might account for the 10 volt draw. How many amps is the pull? Also, easy to rule out -- disconnect the connector at the rear of the instrument panel.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

If I knew enough about using a multi-meter, I'd answer that. I will definitely try the gauges, though.

[The CyberPoet]

OK, goes like this:

Bike should always draw voltage as long as some path exists between the battery terminals. That voltage should reflect either the storage capacity of the battery (engine of, measured between the battery terminals) or the charging system voltage (engine on, measured between the battery terminals), or the voltage draw of the accessories (if measured between the terminal and the ground cable with the engine off).

Amperage reflects how much power it's drawing. NEVER MEASURE DIRECTLY BETWEEN THE BATTERY TERMINALS FOR AMPERAGE -- IT'LL COOK PRETTY MUCH ANY SUB-$100 MULTIMETER (AND MANY OVER). To measure how much draw you have against your battery when the bike is off, disconnect the terminal and set the multimeter to it's highest DC Amperage setting, then measure between the terminal and the cable. With the bike off, 98+ Kat, this measurement should be about 1/10th of an amp or lower (clock, fuel gauge); somewhat higher (still under 1/4 amp) if there is an alarm system of some sort also involved. Anything drawing 1/2 amp with the bike off means either you've got something that *should* stay on but is really not intended for a bike, OR something that should be switched off but isn't (accessories), OR a short somewhere in the system (shorts usually read very high amperage).

Continuity (a function of Ohms reading, same as Ohms approximately equal to zero). This is used to measure resistance in a wire or circuit that is NOT POWERED ON. A healthy wire should have "continuity" from one end to the other (ohms approximately equal to zero), while adjacent wires that aren't supposed to be connected to each other should read non-continuity (ohms equal to one). A reading somewhere in the middle (say higher than .05 ohms and under 1 ohm) means that there is a path between the two leads, and in that path is either something with a difference in resistance (such as a bulb filament) or a bad connection (if you were expecting a zero reading). One of the easiest tests is for a good ground -- check the resistance between the negative battery terminal and a bolt on the engine -- there should be continuity, unless there is a bad connection or a bad ground wire.

Hope that helps!

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[brooder]

Actually, I have no idea how to set my multimeter to check amps. I'll have to check the book when i get home. I can't find it online.

[brooder]

Well, if I'm reading this right, I've got less than 1/4 amp draw. So I should be ok?

[The CyberPoet]

How much less?

Figure a 98+ stock battery is an YTX9-BS with an 8 Amp-Hour storage capacity. If the system is sucking 1/4 amp (aka 1/4 amp per hour), it would drain a fully-charged brand-new battery in about 32 hours.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[brooder]

If I was reading the gauge right, it's about 1/3 amp. I took it for a ride today and it runs fine. Tomorrow afternoon I'm going to check the voltage again and see where it's at.

And I did get a Yuasa battery, so I don't know what's it's storage capacity is.

[The CyberPoet]

Which model Yuasa (says it right on the front).

Q: What do you have that remains running even when the key is out?

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[brooder]

YTX-9BS. So what you said before.

I haven't hooked up anything that would use power. The only thing I've added is the illumiglo gauges and those use a switched hot.

[The CyberPoet]

You did change the battery in the multimeter, right?

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[brooder]

I just did. Went back out and tried again. I've included some fuzzy pictures to show you what I was doing. If they're too blurry, I can try to take them again.

First picture is of the way the cable is when I test. Two and three are the reading on the gauge and the gauge setting (30 mA). Four and five are how the test leads were setting. Just want to cover all the bases.

http://darkveil.net/Motorcycle/Pictures/Picture036.jpg

http://darkveil.net/Motorcycle/Pictures/Picture037.jpg

http://darkveil.net/Motorcycle/Pictures/Picture038.jpg

http://darkveil.net/Motorcycle/Pictures/Picture039.jpg

http://darkveil.net/Motorcycle/Pictures/Picture040.jpg

[The CyberPoet]

If I understand the readings in the pictures right, you're fine (it looks like the needle is about 8% of it's sweep across when set on 30 milliamps -- that would be 8% of 30 milliamps, or .08 * 30 / 1000ths = 2.4 milliAmps). 2.4 milliamps would take 138 days to drain a fully charged 8 Amp-Hour battery (or about 30 days to lower it far enough that it might have issues & need supplemental charging).

NOTE: 1 milli-Amp = 1/1000th of an Amp

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[brooder]

I thought I was doing that conversion wrong. Thanks for your help, CP. It kept me from going crazy trying to figure this out.