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View Full Version : What killed my battery


Idaho
11-13-2007, 08:16 PM
I figured it out. Had too, the battery was dead again after sitting for 5 days. Had to be some mysterious load on it that was draining it. Off came the seats and out came the charger to get the battery fluffed up again then I grabbed the ammeter and went to work. I have added two leads to the battery positive post, one to the horn and one to an auxilliary power supply for the Chatterbox. I disconnected all of the leads including the main positive battery cable and put the ammeter in series to see what load there was if any. The battery lead had about 40 microamps. That must be what it takes to maintain the clock and is what kills the battery in winter without a battery tender hooked up. The horn lead had zero, no I did not mash the horn button to see how many amps the Stebel pulls. The lead to the Chatterbox power supply was pulling 136 milliamps with the Chatterbox and the key in the off position. When I removed the Ni-MH battery pack the load dropped to 9 milliamps. That will kill a battery. I need to find an aux power lead that is off when the key is off to plumb the Chatterbox into in order to save my battery. Just thought that someone would like to know. BD, something else to file away for future use. Idaho

blowndodge
11-13-2007, 08:37 PM
did you use the two leads under the seat? Those are suppose to be cold?? I have a battery tender that also doubles as a auxillary port for power if needed. I always plug mine in after 2 days of no riding.

Idaho
11-13-2007, 08:47 PM
No, I did not think of those leads until I had the seat back on. I will check them the next time the seat is off. Glad I found this, I was thinking that I had a bad battery or that I needed to take the Nomad to the dealer, shudder the thought. I was going to try to change my oil but need to buy a pan that will fit inside my jack frame. Will do that tomorrow.