I have researched this to death, and i figured I could ask around here for the best method to locating the shorted wire(s) and the parasitic draw.

My battery never ever lasted and I constantly had starting problems on my bike. I was determined after this long weekend that there was a draw somewhere on the bike when it was sitting. Now im convinced that I have a draw and two shorted wires after yesterday. My two air ride switched dont work after hitting a large bump in the road last night. Took it home and put the test light to the two wires that should have power to them and they do not have power when the bike ignition is on. So now I have to remove the damn tank tonight and go through the mess that is Harleys wiring harness. Its made even more difficult because I have a few after market items tied into the main harness including the grip ace system which ties into 10+ wires....

So what im really looking for is a fool proof way to find the parasitic draw on the bike. I know I can find the power issue to the two wires that stopped working yesterday, but I want a clear, concise and accurate way to find the draw giving that the two wires are not causing the draw on the bike while off.

Hope I gave enough info for the smart guys here to help me out. Ive taken the tank off a bunch of times, but never to "find" a problem/short/draw /etc, it was only too add and modify the bike.

Also, my charging system is god and working since the mutli meter read 14.31 +- V when running.

There are a few posts i made in the Night train picture thread on this if you want to read where this started from.

Joe

 

A parasitic drain is a bitch to find.
You think it's related to a shorted wire and you are probably right, but don't rule out a defective part.

I had a parasitic drain on a vehicle and it turned out to be the alternator.
Even though the alternator was putting out the correct voltage, it also had an internal short that drained the battery when the ignition was off.

I wish I knew of a simple way to troubleshoot this but I'm afraid you are going to have to go through a process of elimination.
The good news is that there is only so much that draws amps on a motorcycle, especially a Night Train.

1) Take the positive wire off the battery.

2) Select the DC amp setting on your multimeter and then select the range. (My meter shows a 20 amp range, some show a 10 amp range. Don't select the milli-amp range at first. Also on my multimeter, where I connect the positive wire on the meter determines the range of either amps or milli-amps).

3) Connect the positive multimeter wire to the positive terminal of the battery and the negative multimeter wire to the positive wire of the bike.

You should see nothing for a current draw. (0.000)
A typically draw on a trouble free automobile is less than 50 milli-amps. (.050 amps).
However I would think on most bikes a trouble free reading would be .000 amps.

If your meter is reading any positive amps especially anything greater than 50 milli-amps, you've got a short somewhere.

If your meter does read nothing, change your amp setting from Amps to the MA (milli-amps) setting.

If your meter is still reading nothing then you don't have a short.

Other than an alarm system, I can't think of anything on a Night Train that would pull amps with the key off except for something that's been added like a radio or clock. Even the alarm system probably doesn't pull amps unless it's activated. A radio or clock would have next to nothing for a amperage draw.

If you meter is reading a short, then the only way that I know of finding the short other than visual is systematically disconnecting power to devices.

I would start by removing one fuse at a time.
If the amp draw drops then whatever that fuse is tied to is the problem either components or wiring.

If after you pull all the fuses, if you don't see a drop in the amps then it's got to be something that was added to the bike without fuse protection.
BTW, adding anything to a bike without it being fused protected is a huge no-no.

Also note that a parasitic drain will not drain the battery while the bike is running.
If the short is so great that it effects the battery while the bike is running, it will blow a fuse.

If you search on youtube "parasitic drain" you will find some videos describing what I've listed above. It may be related to a car, but the troubleshooting part is all the same.

Good luck to you.

By the way, I'm not an electrical engineer, but I do stay at Holiday Inn Express

 

bluraven is correct except for the numbers part.. .005 is 5 milliamp, 50 would be .050.. read it just like a micrometer but its read in amps/miliamps instead of thousands.

the vehicles I work on for a living have numerous draw issues and we have a inductive/clamp on amp meter. the manufacture says anything from .001 to .030 is acceptable. anything over .050 is a definite problem. normally I see about .010-.019 MA draw. this won't kill a battery overnight, it will in about 2-4 weeks or longer if sitting and never being ran to recharge the battery.

from my experience in the automotive world, a relay or module staying "awake" will be about .500-700 MA draw. anything a whole 1.00 amp or more is usually a light, elec motor, or anything that draws significant amps during normal operation staying powered up. if that wire is normally ran straight to ground from the component, then it being shorted to grd won't cause a draw since it normally goes direct to grd anyway. diagnosing a given suspected circuit depends on how its wired and is designed to function.


relays, modules and components can cause a draw. normally switches won't cause a draw unless they are broken or stuck on. shorted power wires to ground won't cause a draw, they will blow a fuse. a shorted ground circuit wire to ground before the switch can cause a relay or component to stay energized.

 

My 08 Night Train is down.
Riding along and looked down to see battery light and check engine light on.
I pull the battery, charge and test it and my dealership ( dodge), battery is good.
I had just triple taped the wires on the throttle side control a week before for a short. The wires coming off the controls are in the dimple,but have to pass that to go into the hole for internal wiring, kinda mushing them.
Thinking I had another bare wire, I go back in and look. Looked ok,so I wired the battery and started it. The front brake line started smoking. After testing again, I found the whole brake line gets hot in 10-15 seconds. It has actually melted the plastic liner over the braided cable.
I am going to order new handlebars of a different type, pull the wires from inside the handlebars, and solder/heat shrink everything, and try that.
The short starts when I go to ignition on at the tank with the handlebar control switch on.
With ignition on, a draw may be hard to pick up, right? since the ignition is "woken up" Even though I found no bare wires in the handlebars, and rewrapped them anyway, I still have a short. I am still most suspicious of the wires in the throttle side of the handlebar.
BTW, this recently bought train has a high beam light that comes on when the switch is set to high, but the low beam is what comes on....

 

If the brake line is heating up, you have a bad ground...probably the handlebar ground (or maybe the headlight). With no ground connection, power is being returned on the Brake Line.

Fix the ground problem. It will probably fix your headlight problem too.

If the battery light is still on, verify that voltage regulator/stator circuit is functioning properly.

 

Thanks, it was a long post.
I've corrected the numbers.

 

you know the saying "where's there smoke, there's fire"

Follow the smoke and you'll find the fire (short).

 

I pulled the tank last night and shall begin trouble shooting tonight again.
I hope my mutli meter is not damaged. I read you can have it connected when you start the bike to check for battery charging.

Well see how it goes. I have too much extra stuff on my bike that will likely make me loose my mind...

Cant you take the -Negative off instead of the Positive battery cable?

Thanks for this info. Ill put it to use when i try finding my issue tonight.

HEY, get your own thread pal

 

Did not mean to offend. I will start a new thread.

 

Jcall.. yes you can use the neg battery cable. I always use the neg cable to do all my testing. you can't have it in series though and try to start the bike.. one it won't start, two you'll probably smoke the tester since its not designed for that heavy of amp load running through it.


a way we used to check for draws in vehicle before computers and a gazillin modules in the vehicles was to put a simple test light in series of either positive or negative cable and batt. if the test lamp lit bright like a normal 12 bulb check there was a draw, if it was extremely dim it was ok. after doing this for a few years you got used to what was normal and what wasn't. if the light was bright, we would hold the battery cable with the test light still connected to the battery terminal for about 20-30 seconds. what this did was charge or load up any capacitors and memory systems in the vehicle. then we pulled the cable away, if the light stayed out for a few seconds (2-5 seconds) and slowly came back on, it was ok. the modules and capacitors were just using their current up and started looking for a recharge so to speak. if it came back on instantly and bright with removal of the cable from battery then you knew it had a draw.