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By MartinC
#91911
Hello, fellow Himalayan owners. I think I have a problem with a parasitic draw of my Himalayan 2018. The problem seems to be in the Recharging circuit (this houses the RR unit). Even when the bike is completely off, this circuit draws 3.3 mA, as seen on the picture. I'm not completely sure, but the circuit shouldn't draw anything, it should read 0 mA. Can somebody help me, and check what kind of draw is on your Himalayan?

The measurement is easy. Just grab your multimeter, and set it on mA (direct current). With the bike off, open the fuse box, and remove the bottom 25A white fuse (it's called F1 fuse in manual). Measure the exposed contacts in the fuse box (polarity doesn't matter). Exactly like I measured it on the picture. What kind of mA reading do you get? Thanks for the help!
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By windmill john
#91912
There are lots of articles, videos regarding parasitic draw. 3 mA sounds totally normal. I think things under 25 mA are okay.
Now... where do you find even that small drain is.....

Don’t forget you have a clock on a Himalayan. Don’t know the wiring diagram, but maybe even the clock circuit, or the earth from the clock goes to the R/R area?




John
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By PeteF
#91913
There's a processor in the instument cluster which keeps track of time, trip mileage etc. That will draw a little bit. Not sure but the ECU way draw a bit when "off" as well.
Are they connected to the circuit in question?
I always find auto electrics circuits are interconnected in some way.
By MartinC
#91916
So I completely removed the RR Unit from the bike and it still shows 3.3 mA draw. Maybe it's completely normal, and I'm just needlessly panicking :) It's just my battery goes dead after a few days without starting the bike, so maybe the battery is the culprit. It keeps the 12.36 V after a full recharge, which I guess it's not 100% healthy battery.

Anyways, there are only two circuits drawing the power while bike is off:
F1 (Charging circuit) - 3.3 mA
F2 (Main fuse) - 0.7 mA

Other circuits, like Instrument Cluster, Horn, Lights, ABS etc. draws 0 mA. I think logical place for clock or processor keeping track of mileage would be connected to Instrument Cluster Circuit, but I may be wrong. I compared it to my friend's RE Classic 500 EFI, which draws 0.3 mA altogether. Altough, it doesn't have any fancy digital clocks, odometers and such :)

I'm enclosing the wiring diagram for Charging circuit (F1 fuse), it seems that it's only connected on RR Unit or am I wrong?
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By Rattlebattle
#91919
I’m no auto electrician but I did once manage to trace the source of so-called “dark current” that was flattening the battery on my MX-5. I didn’t use a wiring diagram to do so. I disconnected the +ve battery lead and connected the multi- meter between the battery +ve terminal and the positive lead and took the reading. I then simply removed each fuse in turn until the dark current reduced significantly. It turned out to be the aerial, which on my (much missed) Mk 2.5 MX-5 automatically extended when the ignition was turned on.
I’d be inclined to adopt the same approach. It is of course entirely possible that a 3.3ma discharge is normal, which is why I imagine you are asking another Himalayan owner to check theirs, but if nobody confirms or disproves this then my suggested way of testing may be of help. Like I said, I’m no expert but I believe dark current is an unexpected source of current drain, over and above what is normal. BTW I think that the ECU probably draws a small current to maintain any stored fault codes. It’s a long time since we all had to replace the CMOS battery in our PCs.....No doubt a competent person will correct me, but the method I used in ignorance did work. Good luck.
By Roobarb
#91920
If I have this right you'll have 100 days on a fully charged battery before flat. I'm inclined to feel a 3.3 mA draw is nothing to worry about and as others have said probably just what the ECU requires to hold memory/time.

Why/how did this issue present itself?

3.3 mA over 24 hours 0.0792A per day.
8A hour battery / 0.0792A per day gives around 100 days until flat.
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By Rushour
#91925
This seems to be a common problem on nearly all Himlayans - no-one seems to have found the cause as yet but mine has to be on an Optimate when not run for longer than about 2 weeks - fitting a Lithium battery made no improvement.
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By PeteF
#91936
Mann wrote:
Mon Aug 03, 2020 8:35 am
After a full charge your battery should be holding 14.2v (ish) 12.3v is way to low.
Well, not necessarily. A battery should charge at around 14.2 with the engine running and a good battery might hold that, but 12.5 is more usual and is fine. The real check is the voltage under load. A good battery won't dip below 12v with (say) the lights on for some time.

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