DEAD battery!

[bluegoose]

hey i've been having trouble lately with my '03 xb9r. my battery keeps draining within a couple of hours of putting it in and i don't even have to turn on the bike. i've been searching for some place where it might be grounding out but i haven't found anything. could there be any other problem?[confused] any reply would be much appreciated. thanks

[BuellPartsGuy]

Bad battery....

Have you tested the battery?

[bluegoose]

i went out and bought a brand new harley davidson battery and had the same problem:(

[typeone]

check the connector from the regulator to the main harness. the regulator is the thing behind your front wheel with fins on it, connector is on the right side of the bike behind your pulley cover. take it apart and inspect for damage.

if its melted, the wires have arced. pretty common and you may have to replace additional parts.

[bluegoose]

alright so i checked out that connector but everything seemed alright...[confused]any other ideas?

[Stevenc150]

There's quite a few places that the wires can wear through the insulation and short against something. Me personally, I think I'd start with the pulling the plastics, checking everything I can get to. I'd start with front fairing and working my back on the bike removing inner & outer airboxes, seat & cowl, then finally the tail section. Hopefully, you find it before you get to the tail. [smirk] Good luck bro.

Only thing is I got a Lightning so I can't really tell you specific places. Maybe someone with a Bolt might speak up and be able to tell you certain places that are infamous for rubbing wires.

[BuellPartsGuy]

Connect everything. Put a voltmeter on the battery. Note the rate at which the battery is losing voltage. Start pulling fuses one by one and not which fuse stops the battery from losing voltage. Start tracing that system thoroughly....

Let us know what you find out...

[Stevenc150]

Nice idea BPG. Bluegoose, definitely try his solution first. Much less work involved with it and will really narrow it down for you.

[bluegoose]

alright thanks guys i'll check it out today and let you know what happens...

[bluegoose]

ok so i did exactly what you guys suggested and turns out there were about four worn out wires that were touching. so yeah i got that taken care of and my bike has been runnin like it used to[smirk]. thanks for all your help. much love, bluegoose[up]

[Stevenc150]

Out of curiosity, where was it? It'd be handy for someone who may run into the same thing. Glad to hear you got it fixed. :)[up]

[bluegoose]

it was in the very front where all of the wires meet...pretty much right under the handlebars and all that good stuff..

[swells]

Hi all
thanks for the useful tips- you all just helped me solve 6 months worth of headaches without a trip to the dealer. I have a 2000 M2 and have noted all over the web that, regardless of model, Buells have lots of electrical problems. I had the intermittent crappy running, battery draining (killed three before I stopped just writing it off to buying cheap batteries). So, I had a short somewhere but just couldn't identify it.

Easiest way I have found to trace down the short is a combo of BuellPartsGuy's suggestion and one from another board. To ID the area of interest (after ruling out the obvious sources like bad/dead battery, kickstand switch, etc): place the key in off position, disconnect the negative wire from the battery terminal, place a multimeter set to milliAmps between the negative terminal and the ground wire. If it reads anything other than 0 you have a short somewhere running current to ground. Now start pulling fuses from the block one at a time until the needle drops to 0, indicating you have opened the circuit. (mine was in the Odo/clock fuse). Once you ID the circuit of interest you can start at each of the items in that portion of the wiring diagram and work from the outside in. Make sure to trace each wire/wires around each bend and disconnect each plug/connector you come to (mine was about 12" back from the odometer- some corrosion between two pins on the first connector I came to).
This is a much more systematic way of identifying the offending circuit and tracking down the fault than just randomly pulling on things and looking for bare copper....
Once again thank you to all of you for your posts- your input saved me countless hours and likely even more dollars.
Regards, sean

[Stevenc150]

To ID the area of interest (after ruling out the obvious sources like bad/dead battery, kickstand switch, etc):

- Pull the negative terminal cable off of the battery.
- Set a multimeter to mA.
- Attach the neg. cable to one lead and touch the neg. terminal on the battery itself.
- If it reads 0, you don't have a short.
- If it's anything but 0 then you have a short somewhere. Now start pulling fuses from the block one at a time until the needle drops to 0. That'll narrow it down.
Nice deal Swells!! Good Explanation. Welcome to the Forum bro. :D[up]