I built my bike and wired it myself using a thunderheart micro-harness.

I believe I have a parasitic drain because my battery slowly drains over time.

I recently viewed this video to show how to check for a parasitic drain:

My problem is that when I follow the video word for word, my multimeter shows a zero (0) drain. I thought maybe the multimeter was bad..I checked fuses, etc....so I went to Sears and bought a new multimeter and repeated the process. The new multimeter (Craftsman) ALSO showed zero (0) drain.

I find it hard to believe that I have a zero (0) drain especially since my speedo has a clock. I should see SOME kind of a drain, not zero.

Anyone got any ideas of what I might be doing wrong that would cause the multimeter to read zero?

Thx,
D

 

Check continuity of each lead of the multimeter to make sure one of them is not broken inside the insulation. Set the mutimeter on resistance and plug the leads in the proper terminals and touch them together, you should have a reading around .2 ohms. If it is still 0, then you do have an issue with either one of the leads or the fuse inside the multimeter is blown.

 

Leads work fine.

I just discovered that my voltage regulator is bad. Did the stator test first and it's OK.

So....I'm guessing having a bad voltage regulator is part, if not all, the reason why I was getting a zero reading on the multimeter. After I get the new voltage regulator I will check for a parasitic drain again.

D

 

Got the new voltage regulator then redid the voltage check across the battery. Even with the new voltage regulator I still showed 12 volts when the bike was running. So....I followed the line up to the next device which was a 40amp circuit breaker I bought at AutoZone and installed per basic bike wiring diagrams. I unscrewed the circuit breaker and connected the two wires together, turned the bike on, and checked the voltage across the battery.

Bingo! I saw 14+ volts.

So the problem was the circuit breaker. I ran to OReilly, bought a similar brand new 40amp breaker and installed it. Checked the voltage while running one more time. It showed 14+ volts.

So the moral of the story is, what you think might be a parasitic draw, or a bad multimeter, or a bad $80.00 voltage regulator, may just be a bad $5.00 circuit breaker.

D