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Himalayan flat battery

Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2019 10:17 pm
by RocketRR
Hi all I have had a problem with my Himalayan if left for a few days the battery discharges and of course the bike fails to start and the dash blanks.
Quick charge and it's off no problem at all and obviously ok if left on optimate overnight.
It seems to be if the bike is left over 4-5 days and once charged is fine while in use.
When running the battery charges fine approx 14v and it's a new high quality battery so I am guessing the regulator is drawing current while off. Anyone else had similar ?

Re: Himalayan flat battery

Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2019 7:09 am
by Haggis
No need to guess. Next time you are going to leave the the bike for a few days just disconnect the battery. Reconnect when you return and if it's flat you have a battery fault , if it's good then you can start to investigate if your R/R is faulty.

Re: Himalayan flat battery

Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2019 8:04 am
by RocketRR
Sorry didn't say that has been my standby plan if I know I am not using the bike for a few days.
Yes if I disconnect the battery it's fine so I know it's not that and plus it's a lovely new Honda battery lol.

Re: Himalayan flat battery

Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2019 8:28 am
by papasmurf
I have had new "high quality" batteries fail within days of use.

Re: Himalayan flat battery

Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2019 8:43 am
by stinkwheel
Take the key out and put it in your pocket. Get an multimeter and connect it in SERIES with the battery positive.

On most modern bikes, you will see a spike in current as it is connected followed by it dropping (because of the presence of semi-conductors). You are measuring earth leakage, a very small amount is normal. So for example, I checked my wifes CBR600 the other day because the battery was flat and it had a leakage of 9mA. To put that in perspective, it would take it over a year to flatten the 12Ah battery it has fitted at that rate.

So low leakage, probably not a problem. Higher leakage, start unplugging things one at a time until it drops... Start with the reg/rec.

There's a caveat. I said to put the key in your pocket because most multimeters only read in a milliamp scale. If you power up the fuel injection/lights with the meter connected, it'll pop the meter fuse. If you have an unusally high earth leakage or something is coming on by itself, it could also pop the meter.

Further to the adive haggis gave. One way of testing the battery itself is to charge it, leave it on the shelf and check the voltage every few hours. It should settle at a steady voltage in the 13-14v region. Another option is some better equipped garages and motor factors will have a battery load tester. This stresses the battery by making a huge demand on it and looks at how quickly it recovers.

The following is just a partly related anecdote that shows how weird these things CAN be. A friend kept finding his bike with a flat battery (it's a huge diesel car engined bike, so the battery is enormous). One day he found the bike had been moved and had a flat battery. Now this is odd because it was locked in a shipping container in his back garden.

He also has CCTV which he checked and sure as hell, his bike, in the middle of the night, started rocking about by itself. This happened three or four times up to an hour apart, then it rolled forwards about 4 feet and stopped. So do we need a mechanic or an exorcist here?

It turns out, there was some cracking on the bundle of cables leading into the solenoid. In particular, on the main live feed to the ignition switch AND on the trigger wire for the starter solenoid. Enough damp had got in that a current started to flow between the two wires, activating the starter motor. The movement then separated the wires slightly, breaking the circuit. This cycle was going on for most of the night, activsating the starter for half a second at a time and flattening the battery. This particular night, he'd parked the bike in gear and it made contact for long enough to roll the bike forwards on the starter motor.

Re: Himalayan flat battery

Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2019 10:35 am
by Wheaters
A few years ago a work colleague of mine bought a Vauxhall Corsa. They parked it up on their steep driveway and for safety (so they thought) to stop it rolling back it was always parked in first gear, as well as with the handbrake set. When the car was six months old, their son was awoken in the night by strange noises. He looked out of his bedroom window and saw that the car was right up against the garage door. Even worse, it was in flames! The car burnt out and the garage and house suffered significant fire damage - the window frames, barge boards and soffits of the house were melting in the heat. By all accounts the family had a very lucky escape.

The only explanation can be that the starter motor somehow activated itself and moved the car up the driveway then overheated until the wiring caught fire.

Re: Himalayan flat battery

Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2019 1:15 pm
by RocketRR
Ok off with my Avo 8 in that we trust lol

Re: Himalayan flat battery

Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2019 10:45 pm
by RocketRR
Think I found it let's see after a few days sitting.
Has anyone had a problem with the rear connector to the instrument panel as after removing and refitting it changed how the charge reacted and the battery drain also??

Re: Himalayan flat battery

Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2019 10:50 am
by Haggis
The instrument panel will always have a small current draw for the time clock but can't see how that would affect your charging rate.! That's not to say yours doesn't have a fault though. 🔧🔧👍

Re: Himalayan flat battery

Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2019 8:20 pm
by RocketRR
Looking at the electronics in the control instrument unit there are some interesting chips which look like they have some control over the switching of the charge warning light it's not like the good old days of the Lucas switching box it seems to be logic control so I guess if this has a bad connection it may cause an issue let's see ????
Battery had held charge today let's see what the weekend brings