Battery Drain Test

[nomad ryder]

I thought I had my battery issues sorted, but apparently not. The bike left me stranded last week. The battery I bought in January has croaked. Not sure if it's an alternator issue, or if the battery has a parasitic drain. The Kawi manual I have is for a classic, not a Nomad, but the basic stuff is the same. However, there is no test for a battery drain test. The Clymer book for my Honda, though, does have a battery drain test, so... I came up with a figure of 1.2 amps battery drain on the Kawi, much too high. The book uses this terminology as an acceptable level; 0.01mA. To me, this says one hundredth of a milliamp, and since a milliamp is 1/1000 of an amp, one hundredth of that is pretty slim. But, the book may be saying one milliamp, or one thousandth of an amp. To me this is one milliamp; 1.0mA, or .001 amp. But anyhow, trying to get all the connections clean, I've followed the cable to its first connection, which is the starter relay. When I took one lead off the relay, amp draw became virtually nil. This is key not even in the ignition. Back and forth a couple times; connected is 1.2 amp draw, disconnected, zero draw.This says to me the starter relay is faulty, but I'd like another opinion before I order parts.

[dholmer]

There is an easy bench test for your Starter relay that you can perform yourself, and it is in the manuals. Basically using an ohm meter, without power on the relay you should get infinite ohms across the two posts (for lack of a better word). When you supply power to the relay, you should see zero Ohm's across them. I pulled mine off the bike and used an older 12V motorcycle battery to supply power. It is on page 16-60 in my Nomad manual. Hope this helps and Good luck

[nomad ryder]

Originally Posted by dholmer

There is an easy bench test for your Starter relay that you can perform yourself, and it is in the manuals. Basically using an ohm meter, without power on the relay you should get infinite ohms across the two posts (for lack of a better word). When you supply power to the relay, you should see zero Ohm's across them. I pulled mine off the bike and used an older 12V motorcycle battery to supply power. It is on page 16-60 in my Nomad manual. Hope this helps and Good luck

Thanks. that will save me some heartburn.

[Dave]

Larry,

You should have bought a Harley. At least you wouldn't get surprised when the bike leaves you stranded.

[nomad ryder]

Originally Posted by Dave

Larry,

You should have bought a Harley. At least you wouldn't get surprised when the bike leaves you stranded.

Dave, we should go on more rides, so we could be stranded at the same time and have someone to shoot the bull with while waiting for the tow truck. Actually, I was close to home. I called my wife, she came and picked me up, I went home to get the tools to remove the seat, picked up a set of jumpers, and went back to the bike, jumped it and rode home, all in about an hour.

[nomad ryder]

Second chapter; I don't think I have a drain after all. A recheck showed only a .001 amp flow, normal, and I'm pretty sure the alternator is working. I plan to reassemble, leave my meter hooked up in the tank bra to monitor the voltage, and ride a loop back to the house a few times, see if everything stays normal. I'll ride the Honda tomorrow, tho.

[dank]

Originally Posted by nomad ryder

Second chapter; I'll ride the Honda tomorrow, tho.

Good plan! You can have confidence a Honda won't leave you stranded!

[nomad ryder]

I did ride the Honda to work today- I really like the exhaust mod I did, it's really got that multicylinder snarly/growly sound without being too loud.