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Welcome gregc.

Would you mind putting your location info in your profile settings found in the "My Account" button at the top of the page?

I would put a meter on the battery so you could monitor what is supposedly going on. My first thought is bad or stuck brushes in the alternator. Next thought is the regulator gone south on ya or some loose or bad connections in the wiring.

Do you have any electrical accessories added to the bike since it was stock?

 

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Hi, the bike is stock, no add ons. Is the regulator and rectifier built into the alternator or are they seperate? thanks

 

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What kind of voltage are you getting out of the system back to the battery?Good luck it take time but is worth it.

 

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gregc wrote:

Hi, the bike is stock, no add ons. Is the regulator and rectifier built into the alternator or are they seperate? thanks

They are all in the alternator in the 1500.

motor22, 1500's don't have the 3 wire and plug issues.

I'm guessing stuck alt brushes.

 

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I stand corrected I guess I shouldnt read without my glasses It looked like 1200. It looks like 1500 with my glasses on SORRY.

 

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Hi Rudy, It done this with the old alternator and the new one is less than a year old and has the same problem, do you thinkboth alternators would have the same problem with the brushes? thanks

 

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If it is going dead while the bike is sitting then you have a Parasitic Draw.Something on the bike is drawing current when everything is turned off.Normally I would look at anything that has been added to the bike,but you say it is stock.If you have a Digital Muti-Meter,you can disconnect either the Pos. or the Neg. cable at the battery.Connect 1 lead to the battery and 1 lead to the cable.Put your dial on the 10 Amp. scale first and see if you get a reading.If it doesn't show anything then go to the 200 milli-Amp scale.The reading should be almost zero because the only thing that should be drawing current would be the radio memory and possibly some to the Ecm.Just to put it into perspective,a Cadillac loaded with options usually doesn't draw more than 50 milli-Amps.It doesn't take much of a draw to kill these batteries if they sit for a week.If it shows a draw then you are into pulling fuses to see which circuit is causing the problem.Can be very time consuming.

P.S. Don't worry about which way you hook the meter up.It will show pos. or neg. before the reading.This is not important.It is the reading itself that is important..

 

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Chris is right but if it were my bike, I'd turn everything off, remove the + cable from the battery and insert an amp meter between the battery + and the + cable while it was detached.

You can use most digital voltmeters for this if they have an amp setting. I would use the 10 amp to 20 amp setting and take note that the meter uses different plug in holes for the probes for that. Get everything set on the meter before inserting it in the circuit. Also remove them meter from the circuit before changing anything on the meter settings.

One easy spot check is to remove the + cable and touch it to the battery + gently sliding it across the terminal and see if you see any smallish sparking across.

 

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Gregc,

4 batteries and 2 alternators.

We are all suspecting your charging system is not up to snuff. Get that checked out and let us know your voltage output or if you have any parasitic loads that is discharging your battery.

You are doing a lot of maintenance by swapping out your batteries. Anytime your battery gets pulled way down (dead), the battery will have a tendency not to come back 100%, and the battery life may have been shortened.

Hate to tell you this, but get another battery (for longevity purposes), but then you are probably invoking your warranty anyway. But, make sure your charging system is fixed first!

 

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The current draw is the same throughout the circuit so either will show the same reading.Making the cable arc like you mentioned Rudy is not really a good idea with anything that has a computer in it.Voltage spikes from things like that have been known to take out Ecm's.Most service manuals recommend disconnecting the Neg. cable first and reconnecting it last just for that reason.So going on that theory you should really do your draw test at the Neg. side.The best way to do it is to hook the meter up before unhooking the cable from the battery,so when you do unhook it there is no interruption of continuity in the circuit and no arcing.

 

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fatwing chris wrote:

The current draw is the same throughout the circuit so either will show the same reading.Making the cable arc like you mentioned Rudy is not really a good idea with anything that has a computer in it.Voltage spikes from things like that have been known to take out Ecm's.Most service manuals recommend disconnecting the Neg. cable first and reconnecting it last just for that reason.So going on that theory you should really do your draw test at the Neg. side.The best way to do it is to hook the meter up before unhooking the cable from the battery,so when you do unhook it there is no interruption of continuity in the circuit and no arcing.

Good point chris.

I've never had a problem doing that but you never know.

 

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I worked at a fairly large General Motors dealership for 15 years and you don't see it often but it does happen.I've chased way too many parasitic draws in my day.Just way too many toys on cars these days.I could find it for him easier than I could explain it to him.Not very good at explaining things.

 

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Two possiblities, and the other posts have covered these already:

1. If something is draining your battery while it is not running (parasite current) the battery will go into a deep discharge condition. If this happens, then the battery plates will eventually sulphate with a white coating & then it's game over for the battery.

2. If the voltage regulator has failed, then the battery will be charging at about 17++ volts & this will boil the water out and cook it.

You need to find out which of the 2 problems you have or you will be chasing your tail on this one and making your m/c shop owner rich.

Glen