| Author | Message | ||
     Thefleshrocket |
I've got an '08 1125R that I picked up in December. It's got a bit over 100 miles on it now. I've had it hooked up to a battery tender in the garage but took it out for a ride last Saturday (six days ago) and didn't bother to put it back on the tender afterward. This afternoon, I decided to ride it to work. The bike was completely dead--nothing lit up at all when I turned on the key. I rolled it back into the garage and put it on the tender (It's a "junior" tender, with a peak charging rate of 0.75 amps per hour.) and rode my Daytona 675 instead. When I got home four hours later, I checked the 1125R. Still nothing when I turned the key. I checked the battery voltage and it was only 5.3v. I hooked it up to my bigger charger and let it start taking in a 2ah charge. A short while later it was up to about 12v, so I switched it over to the battery tender to top it off. So, is it conceivable that the infamous cluster drain ran the battery down to completely dead (or close to it) in six days of sitting? A side note--I did leave the brake lever ziptied to the clipon during those six days. (It helps air in the brake line get up into the master cylinder reservoir and out of the line, improving brake feel.) Having the brake lever pulled back would have activated the brake light switch, but since the bike was off, I can't imagine that should have caused any electrical drain. | ||
| D_adams |
Yes, one week will do it. | ||
| Illbuell |
It takes almost a month to kill mine... | ||
| Xb9er |
one week for me as well with my 08. Battery tender is your friend. | ||
| Froggy |
Being that I use mostly my Blast in the winter my 1125's have been sitting, my 08 R sat for about a month, it started up fine last time I used it a few weeks ago. My 09 CR gets more frequent use, but still once every few weeks, no issues either, I have a tender but I never remember to use it. | ||
| D_adams |
Take it back to the dealer, there is a warranty for this, they upgrade the cluster to the 09 version. My battery also got replaced, it wouldn't hold a charge any longer after it got drained twice. | ||
| Thefleshrocket |
The funny thing is that before I got the battery tender, the 1125R sat for a couple of weeks and still fired up. But since you guys think this sounds like the cluster drain, I'll plan on taking the bike to the dealer after I've put some miles on it to expose any other potential problems. (I figure if it's gonna start leaking from the clutch slave or something like that, I might as well wait for it to happen so I can kill more than one bird.) Thanks! | ||
| Syonyk |
My 08 sat for a week and a half not on a charger & was stone dead when I got back to it, so I'm guessing around a week to kill it. Took it into the dealer, they checked my battery & charging system and told me that Everything Was Normal. I normally don't go more than 1-2 days without riding, so it doesn't really bother me, but I'm still annoyed. So, good luck. Depends on the dealer, I suppose. | ||
| Puddlepirate |
Mine sat for 2 months not on the charger and then fired up no problem in 30 degree weather when I went to put it in my basement. Its been on the tender since then. | ||
| Thefleshrocket |
It sounds like the cluster drain might not be a consistent drain--sometimes the cluster will kill the battery in a week, and other times it won't. Like maybe there is a short in the cluster but it's an intermittent short. The next time I ride the 1125R, I won't put it on the tender afterward but I'll check the battery's voltage daily and see how quickly it drops. If it drops fast, I'll put it back on the battery tender and try the test again the following time I ride it. (Hopefully we are finally getting close to the "being able to ride almost every day" weather!) Syonyk, the cluster drain isn't a battery or charging system issue. It's a problem with the gauge cluster that causes the battery to go dead when parked much more quickly than it should. Theoretically the battery and the charging system WILL test fine even if the cluster issue is present. You ought to go back to the dealer with the bulletin in hand to explain the issue to them, or find another dealer that's more helpful. Does anyone have a link to the cluster drain bulletin? It would probably help Syonyk and I wouldn't mind being able to present it to my dealer as well. Thanks! (Message edited by thefleshrocket on February 27, 2010) | ||
| Littlebutquick |
FITTED A BATTERY KILL SWITCH TODAY TO STOP THE DRAIN DOWN ON BATTERY DURING RACE WEEKENDS .KILLS EVERY THING APART FROM THE BATTERY TENDER   | ||
| Justa4banger |
Cool......LBQ.. looks good... | ||
| Thefleshrocket |
Little, that's a definitive way to make sure nothing is sucking down your battery! I'm leaving my bike off of the battery tender--it won't be decent riding weather until Thursday or Friday--and am checking the battery voltage every day. In the 24 hours since I last rode the 1125R, voltage has only dropped from 12.86 to 12.73. That doesn't seem like enough of a drain to completely drain the battery in a week, so it seems like the cluster draw is intermittent. I'll keep checking and see what happens. | ||
| Joebuell |
is that 12.73 read from a multi meter? or from diag mode onthe cluster? Seems that even after being "tended" for a week, at the cluster in diag mode, it only reads 12.2 | ||
| Justa4banger |
There is a little information in the owners manual regarding these batteries and the voltage... Something like 12.8 volts is a fresh 100% capable charged battery and as the voltage drops (in tenths) that shows how much capacity the battery can hold... i forget, but 12.0 i think means something like 50% charge capacity or so.. my battery holds 12.4 volts after sitting for an hour after riding... so it no longer has the ability to hold 100% charge.. i would say that about right since my bike is an 08 and theres no telling when the battery was installed.. oh i got my readings from the cluster, i'm sure on the battery itself with nothing attached the voltage would be a smidge higher. | ||
| Boogiman1981 |
if it's dropping that fast i'd be looking at the regulator mine had to be replaced and now i've not had an issue since | ||
| Thefleshrocket |
Joebuell, that voltage is from a $10 multimeter, checked directly at the battery. I didn't realize I could check the voltage from the cluster too. However, checking at the cluster presumably involves turning the key on, which would turn the lights on and put at least a slight drain on the battery, resulting in an artificially low reading. | ||
| Chevycummins |
Buell allows a 3mA draw total that is acceptable. When I caught my parasitic draw it was 176mA, this was before it was a known problem. I traced it to the cluster and also discovered that just turning the key back on then off would make the draw go away. When it has the cluster draw it will pull the battery down in about 24 hours. I purchased the "Battery Bug" monitor to help keep an eye on the battery state of charge and it works really well. http://www.argusanalyzers.com/index.php?id=32 | ||
| Thefleshrocket |
Chevy, does the Battery Bug monitor battery drain? I checked the product details and didn't see that specifically mentioned. | ||
| Chevycummins |
It does not show mA of drain, but it does show volts so I located mine just under the cluster where I can see it easily. If the volts start to go down a few tenths or more you have a problem. When I had my draw the voltage went from 12.8 to 11.9 in 12 hours, at 12V the Bug starts to beep to indicate a problem. The guys at the dealer love it when they run the battery down and have it beeping. Well worth $40, it was nice to have it to watch voltage before my new cluster would display it. |
