Battery won't hold charge (here we go again!!)

[btswanfury]

OK, so after my jubilation at getting the new battery installed and getting the bike to start reliably, we have hit the same problem.

After installing the brand new battery, the bike started with no problems. We took the bike out for some practice driving in empty lots, etc.

We had about 4 days of bad, rainy, cold weather and as such, didn't ride or start the bike (temps in the low 40s).

This morning, we went out and tried to start the bike, and the lights were out. Like, dead out.

We tried to bump start it twice, no dice. Pulled out the voltmeter and lo and behold, our brand new, $80 battery is putting out 3.8-4.1 volts.

In the meantime, we put maybe 4 or 5 miles on the rig, total, and parking lot speeds. We are very careful about making sure the bike is OFF when we park her (like off-off).

So...it sounds like something might be leaching juice out of the battery.

Thoughts? Thanks!

Marc

[Dwight]

Sounds like there is a short someplace that is draining the battery down on you.

To confirm this, charge the battery up. Then with everything turned off (key and the Big Red Switch), hook up the positive cable to the positive post of the battery and put a meter or a test light in between the negative battery post and the negative cable. A short will show up by lighting the bulb (perhaps only dimly) or through a voltage reading on your meter.

Sadly, there is no quick and easy means to find the short that I am aware of.

You can start by pulling one fuse at a time to try to determine which circuit has the draw; the test light will go out, or the meter will read 0 volts.

Good luck, and have patience,

Dwight

[driftingfocus]

You can start by pulling one fuse at a time to try to determine which circuit has the draw; the test light will go out, or the meter will read 0 volts.

Good luck, and have patience,

Dwight

Do you mean pulling them from the regulator?

[BOUNTY HUNTER]

You can start by pulling one fuse at a time to try to determine which circuit has the draw; the test light will go out, or the meter will read 0 volts.

Good luck, and have patience,

Dwight

Do you mean pulling them from the regulator?

************************************************************
No, pull one fuse at a time from the fuse block located under the headlight. You should have the old style ceramic fuses w/ the pointed ends that BMW, Mercedes, VW, etc. used in the cave-days. They are located under a black plastic cover (smaller than a pack of smokes) that has a single slot-head / Phillips-head screw in the center. I hope this helps. Do you still have the 35Amp RPOC alternator?

[driftingfocus]

You can start by pulling one fuse at a time to try to determine which circuit has the draw; the test light will go out, or the meter will read 0 volts.

Good luck, and have patience,

Dwight

Do you mean pulling them from the regulator?

************************************************************
No, pull one fuse at a time from the fuse block located under the headlight. You should have the old style ceramic fuses w/ the pointed ends that BMW, Mercedes, VW, etc. used in the cave-days. They are located under a black plastic cover (smaller than a pack of smokes) that has a single slot-head / Phillips-head screw in the center. I hope this helps. Do you still have the 35Amp RPOC alternator?

We have whatever the 95 Tourists had. The original owner drove her for 4 years, and only lightly (only 2200mi on the odometer), and then the next owner basically had her garaged for 10 years. The mechanic who then bought her overhauled the engine (new pistons and cylinders, among other work) and did some maintenance, but other than that, she's basically a low-mileage 95 Tourist - no modifications, etc.

[BOUNTY HUNTER]

You can start by pulling one fuse at a time to try to determine which circuit has the draw; the test light will go out, or the meter will read 0 volts.

Good luck, and have patience,

Dwight

Do you mean pulling them from the regulator?

************************************************************
No, pull one fuse at a time from the fuse block located under the headlight. You should have the old style ceramic fuses w/ the pointed ends that BMW, Mercedes, VW, etc. used in the cave-days. They are located under a black plastic cover (smaller than a pack of smokes) that has a single slot-head / Phillips-head screw in the center. I hope this helps. Do you still have the 35Amp RPOC alternator?

We have whatever the 95 Tourists had. The original owner drove her for 4 years, and only lightly (only 2200mi on the odometer), and then the next owner basically had her garaged for 10 years. The mechanic who then bought her overhauled the engine (new pistons and cylinders, among other work) and did some maintenance, but other than that, she's basically a low-mileage 95 Tourist - no modifications, etc.

**********************************************************
Pay very, very close attention to any change in engine/gear tower (front, top of engine) noise if you are going to continue running that original 35Amp RPOC alternator for much longer. The alternator shaft can snap in 1/2 and dump the alternator gear into the camshaft & crankshaft timing gears which will stop the fun immediately. Either find an old 14Amp alternator, buy the Big$$$ newer Denso alternator or run the rig "total-loss" w/ a big deep-cycle battery to prevent engine damage. E-mail me if you need more info. I'd be happy to help you out. Wish you were closer to New Hampshire.

[driftingfocus]

You can start by pulling one fuse at a time to try to determine which circuit has the draw; the test light will go out, or the meter will read 0 volts.

Good luck, and have patience,

Dwight

Do you mean pulling them from the regulator?

************************************************************
No, pull one fuse at a time from the fuse block located under the headlight. You should have the old style ceramic fuses w/ the pointed ends that BMW, Mercedes, VW, etc. used in the cave-days. They are located under a black plastic cover (smaller than a pack of smokes) that has a single slot-head / Phillips-head screw in the center. I hope this helps. Do you still have the 35Amp RPOC alternator?

We have whatever the 95 Tourists had. The original owner drove her for 4 years, and only lightly (only 2200mi on the odometer), and then the next owner basically had her garaged for 10 years. The mechanic who then bought her overhauled the engine (new pistons and cylinders, among other work) and did some maintenance, but other than that, she's basically a low-mileage 95 Tourist - no modifications, etc.

**********************************************************
Pay very, very close attention to any change in engine/gear tower (front, top of engine) noise if you are going to continue running that original 35Amp RPOC alternator for much longer. The alternator shaft can snap in 1/2 and dump the alternator gear into the camshaft & crankshaft timing gears which will stop the fun immediately. Either find an old 14Amp alternator, buy the Big$$$ newer Denso alternator or run the rig "total-loss" w/ a big deep-cycle battery to prevent engine damage. E-mail me if you need more info. I'd be happy to help you out. Wish you were closer to New Hampshire.

Is it really that much of a concern on a bike with so few miles?

[Bilgekeeldave]

The RPOC (Russian Piece Of Crap) 35 amp alternator is a crap shoot because of wildly varying metallurgy and quality control. Some people have gone may KMs with the RPOC and had no problems, others have had their engine trashed when the alternator let go.

You may already have the good alternator on your rig.

The RPOC has a plastic cover on the end, the more reliable 14 amp alternator has a metal cover on the end. If you are not adding extra load, like a heated suit, extra lights etc., the 14 amp alternator puts out sufficient current to handle the demands of the rig, at a fraction of the cost of a Denso alternator.

Dave

[btswanfury]

Ok, so here's the question.

Once we've identified what circuit is causing the problem, then what? We're not electricians. Would it be smarter to take it to the local bike shop, tell them to perform a parasitic battery drain test, and let them sort it out?

Also: The horn does not, nor has ever worked since we've owned the bike. Coincidence?

Thanks!

[chicagorandy]

The 15yr old horn might just be rusted and dead. A voltmeter is your friend, as is a simple 12V test light.

Also pictures would help....a LOT.... in determining just what you're working on for a voltmaker. 14amp, 35amp RPOC death machine etc.

Figure that the 'average' shop rate will be at least $75 per hour and electrical trouble shooting can indeed take hours and hours. Then decide if you would rather take it to the man or buy the testing tools and use us all as a resource. Again, one pic is worth a dozen posts back and forth.

[driftingfocus]

The 15yr old horn might just be rusted and dead. A voltmeter is your friend, as is a simple 12V test light.

Also pictures would help....a LOT.... in determining just what you're working on for a voltmaker. 14amp, 35amp RPOC death machine etc.

Figure that the 'average' shop rate will be at least $75 per hour and electrical trouble shooting can indeed take hours and hours. Then decide if you would rather take it to the man or buy the testing tools and use us all as a resource. Again, one pic is worth a dozen posts back and forth.

I can take a better photo tomorrow, but can you see anything useful in this photo I already have?



Bigger version here: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2630/4013191488_80402c1082_o.jpg[/img]

[btswanfury]

We have a multimeter. I'm willing to at least try working on the electrics, and so become a more educated bike owner in the process. It's just that sorting through a nest of wires is...daunting...for someone who can barely remember that red is positive and black negative.

[chicagorandy]

hard to tell from that view but does this match your alternator?

http://sovietsteeds.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9235

[driftingfocus]

hard to tell from that view but does this match your alternator?

http://sovietsteeds.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9235

I'm not 100% positive, but that looks right.

[Dwight]

We have a multimeter. I'm willing to at least try working on the electrics, and so become a more educated bike owner in the process. It's just that sorting through a nest of wires is...daunting...for someone who can barely remember that red is positive and black negative.

I can understand your reluctance - electrics can be confusing at first glance.

Fortunately, it's not that bad if you take it step by step. But, the first step is to determine if it is a short that is draining your battery down, or if it is a problem with the alternator not recharging the battery.

After you charge the battery to full again, you'll be able to test for a short using your multimeter. If you find that you do have a short, pulling one fuse at a time will tell you which circuit the short is in. You'd then use a wiring diagram to help you figure out where the short is. Basically, you'll do a visual/physical inspection of all the wires in that circuit. You'll likely find it's a slightly worn bit of insulation that is allowing a hot wire to touch ground; but, moving the wires about about while watching the readout on your multimeter will tell you when you've identified the culprit.

BTW - from the picture, it looks to me like you do NOT have the 35 amp hand grenade alternator.

Good luck,

Dwight