Parasitic draw (IRS level, 5 amp) Solved! Operator error..lol

[Irishflyer]

 1996 Cal 1100i, have a parasitic draw of 5.04 amps according to the Fluke meter between the positive cable end and battery.  Before you burn up your keyboards, this is what I have taken out of the circuits:

Removed every fuse and relay, this particular bike has the Startus Interuptus upgrade, removed everything from that relay as well. 
Took main feed away from starter and tested the starter for a draw.
Unplugged Rectifier from windings and from main wiring (new Ducati unit from last year, figured that was the last piece on, so started there.)
Unplugged the LED headlight I crafted on last year as well. 
  None of these tests dropped the draw.

Battery is 18 months old, AGM.  Could a bad cell be drawing this much out?  When its running it puts out 14.2 volts, and if I start it every day no issues. 
I might take the battery into the local battery shop I purchased it from and test it.  So, anyone have any other possibilities?..:-)

[lti_57]

I would definitely do as you suggest take it and have it checked out.
When the bike is not running what is your voltage reading ?
You said if you start it every it’s happy what about 2-3 days ?

[Irishflyer]

Yeah, every 2-3 days is enough.  As it sits, it measures 12.4v, with the positive cable unhooked.

[lti_57]

If you can pull the covers off the cells where you fill it with acid.
You can start at the positive or negative terminal with one lead of the volt letter on that, the other into the cell should be about 2.3 volts or so per cell then move betwee that cell and the next should be the same, in the end you should have one probe in the cell and one or the other terminal anything less than 2 volts is definitely Tango Uniform

[Guzzidad]

   Unplug the voltage regulator/rectifier and see if that makes a difference

[n3303j]

At 5+ AMP you have your 60 Watt halogen high beam ON.
That draw would drop an Odyssey 925 to dead in about 6 hours.

If you are restarting with no problems after one day pause then your meter is very wrong or you are reading the wrong scale.

[FarmallA]

>At 5+ AMP you have your 60 Watt halogen high beam ON.
That draw would drop an Odyssey 925 to dead in about 6 hours.If you are restarting with no problems after one day pause then your meter is very wrong or you are reading the wrong scale.<   

Yeah, my first thought when I read 5 amps was maybe you should have a fire extinguisher handy.  Something's got to be getting pretty hot.

FarmallA
Steve.

[Irishflyer]

   Unplug the voltage regulator/rectifier and see if that makes a difference

Already tried that...:-(

[n3303j]

It's not 5 amps if the battery can start the bike 24 hours later unless you have a group 27 in the sidecar. 24 hours at 5 amps is 120 Amp Hours! Most car batteries are less than that!

Something is wrong with your meter (or how you are using it).

[Irishflyer]

At 5+ AMP you have your 60 Watt halogen high beam ON.
That draw would drop an Odyssey 925 to dead in about 6 hours.

If you are restarting with no problems after one day pause then your meter is very wrong or you are reading the wrong scale.

I have a LED headlight, and it was unplugged.  I checked the scale on the meter, cycled through auto ranging as well, still came up as 5.01.  Unless the meter is off, I will search for something else to test it with.  As far as using it, I have the one lead touching the unhooked positive cable, and one lead touching the positive post on the battery.  I have also tried it with the ground side, with the same result. 

[n3303j]

Shouldn't probes be in COM and 10 AMP to measure current flow on the 10 Amp scale.

You have selected 10 AMP and Volt/Ohm connections.

Black to COM
Red to 10 Amp

[Irishflyer]

Shouldn't probes be in COM and 10 AMP to measure current flow on the 10 Amp scale.

You have selected 10 AMP and Volt/Ohm connections.

Black to COM
Red to 10 Amp

D'OH!!!


  Good catch! Upon putting the lead in the right spot, now the draw is a minimal .02 amps, normal for a computer draw.  On the initial battery being drawn down, it had sat for a while.  I charged it back up, and had thought I had a bigger draw than I did, perpetuated by my ham fisting the meter..lol.

On the bright side, all of my electrical connectors and fuses have been unplugged and replugged, so should be good for awhile...

[n3303j]

D'OH!!!


  Good catch! Upon putting the lead in the right spot, now the draw is a minimal .02 amps, normal for a computer draw.  On the initial battery being drawn down, it had sat for a while.  I charged it back up, and had thought I had a bigger draw than I did, perpetuated by my ham fisting the meter..lol.

On the bright side, all of my electrical connectors and fuses have been unplugged and replugged, so should be good for awhile...
[/quote
Good. Glad you are back in business.

[bigbikerrick]

Sharp eye Ron!   
Rick.

[lti_57]

Nice detective work
That did not cross my mind and I did not do the math to see it was 60w draw
Good job