I tucked my bike into the garage on sunday lunchtime after a decent ride, but on this occasion I didn't plug the trickle charger in. I went to start it weds night and the battery was almost flat. It just managed to start the bike but wasn't happy. Is this typical - I appreciate that the immobiliser and ECU are still live even when the bike is turned off and will be using up power but three days seems extreme compared with other rides I have had in the past. My journey took me 40 miles up the motorway - at night sitting at 80mph with the cruise control and Garmin sat nav on. The battery had charged enough after 40 miles to restart the bike but it was laboured and wasn't fully charged. It is a very new battery so if there is an issue it is either that there is a drain or the alternator is not producing. Before I roll up my sleeves I thought I would ask here whether this is standard or whether there is a fault to find
Of course it's not standard. Battery should charge in a few miles, and hold enough charge to start the engine for several weeks without trickle charging. If it doesn't there is a fault. Either the battery is defective, or there is a short-circuit somewhere. Your bike has given you plenty of warning: you need to diagnose the fault and get it fixed, before you get stranded somewhere.
Def something wrong there...mine will sit for 4 weeks in the garage when i'm at work and still fires up no problem....
My Garmin 660 cradle will discharge the battery even when unit off. I verified with ammeter. Hooked to can bus and not live battery feed and all is well.
Hooked to can bus and not live battery feed and all is well. My gut feeling is that it is more likely a drain taking the energy than a duff battery or alternator. I have only just bought the bike and the Garmin was wired in already so I plan to explore this aspect first. Can you just explain 'hooked to can bus' in simple terms for me, I'm not sure what you mean Thanks
Does the feed to the Garmin cradle switch on and off as you turn the ignition on and off? Or does it stay on all the time? If it's on all the time, it has been wrongly wired and needs to be changed.
if its sits for a while a half charged battery wont recharge after a few miles, it will only put a surface charge on it. it needs a proper trickle charge. you can check for a drain just using a test light. disconnect the earth and put the test light in series. it might light up briefly but it should go out as the clocks wont draw enough current to illuminate the test light. or alternatively check using multimeater on amps in series from the earth lead to battery. cant mind the equation for calculating the max current draw for a battery but i would expect 1or2 milli amps.
Sorry, a "few" was a bit too vague. 10 miles is too few, but you shouldn't have to ride 400 miles just to charge the battery.
from what i have been led to believe in the countless courses i have been on. battery voltage is so critical its no true. i guess bike batteries are even more prone to these issues. i am told they can develop a chemical memory that regular driving/ridding wont overcome. hence the trickle charge thing.
I would investigate the GPS scenario; you have to hold down the power button for like 4-5 seconds on the newer models to fully turn them off. I explained this to my brother who was suffering the same sort of issues. He was turning his 595LM off into sleep mode rather than fully off & it was always requesting a charge! This isn't an issue with mine as its connected to a 'switched' lead that only goes live once the bike ignition is on.
Thanks guys, some good advice there. I have a Ducati badged Zumo 390 sat nav. It is wired up to come on when the 'Key-On' button is pressed. Otherwise it is off. With GunZenBomz comments above I suspect it is actually going into standby mode and robbing charge from the battery. Gunz - do you know if there is a wiring loom 'tail' on the 2015 1200S for this sort of auxiliary which is suitable to use or would I need to find a suitable switched wire and tap into that
Yes there is, it's under the left side upper panel. Remove the emergency button cover, undo two Allen bolts remove panel and you should see a small white plug with a sealed off (heat shrink) two wire tail.
Hope you get the thing remedied & the only other thing I know too really take power is a bike alarm. A tracker gps system doesn't use a whole lot & the biketrac system sends you a message about voltage low scenario's.
I haven't yet had an opportunity to strip the panels off the front end to see how my sat nav is wired in. What I have found though is that if I remove the fuse marked 'Accessories' in fuse box A - fuse number 5 on page 330 of the manual the sat nav no longer works and the battery remains charged. Now to discover whether the Garmin cradle is leaching the battery or whether the thing has been mis-wired Unfortunately I can't find a wiring diagram to be able to see whether the fuse covers the sat nav pre-installed connector in the wiring loom described by Broke in reply #13 above. Can anyone confirm this - thanks
Yes, I can confirm that removing the 10A fuse marked "Accessories" disconnects the pre-installed sat-nav connector. Replacing the fuse enables the sat-nav to come on again (provided the ignition is key-on, of course).
Thanks Pete Must admit my bikes confusing me now. Sat nav is plugged into sat nav plug, with key off battery leaches power With sat nav taken off bike and key off battery leaches power With the Accessory fuse out battery doesn't leach power Do you know if the accessory fuse has other outlets as well as the sat nav plug. Bike doesn't have any other after market accessories added but clutching at straws a little Work around will be to charge sat nav indoors and use it with a full battery but not ideal for mega long trips. Any thoughts would be appreciated Thanks
