revtothelimit - motorbike forum

if you have a meter, test for current draw as you already have the battery disconnected.
https://www.google.com/search?q=check+f ... P_4KDwAo14
If tests ok, you already know its charging so will be bad battery.
Will take 2 minutes to check

Big Red wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 10:34 am if you have a meter, test for current draw as you already have the battery disconnected.
https://www.google.com/search?q=check+f ... P_4KDwAo14
If tests ok, you already know its charging so will be bad battery.
Will take 2 minutes to check

Or if like me prefer to read and have quick reference

https://www.wikihow.com/Find-a-Parasitic-Battery-Drain

Big Red wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 10:34 am if you have a meter, test for current draw as you already have the battery disconnected.
https://www.google.com/search?q=check+f ... P_4KDwAo14
If tests ok, you already know its charging so will be bad battery.
Will take 2 minutes to check

So you're going to have to Educate me a little mate i'm afraid.... My multimeter skills are not what they ought to be sorry.

2022-08-15_10-44-14 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

That's mine.

so to read my general running figure and static figure i'm using the 200 on the top right, 2pm ish... If i do as the video states using that setting it shows 12.3.... But i don't think that's the one i want for this test ?

I think i want the one at 200 at 8 o'clock ? Which shows 0.1 on the multimeter... ?

Apologies for the daftness but this is the first time i've done this one/type.

Red lead into the lefthand 10A socket,
Set meter to 10A, which is about 8 o clock on dial .
You need to use the 10a socket or you will blow your meter.

Also meant to say for normal voltage measurements, its the way you have your leads plugged in but selecting the 20v rather than 200, as you will get a more accurate reading and you are never going to get close to 200v on a car or bike

Big Red wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 11:18 am Red lead into the lefthand 10A socket,
Set meter to 10A, which is about 8 o clock on dial .
You need to use the 10a socket or you will blow your meter.

Showing 0

2022-08-15_11-26-25 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

As long as you definately had a good connection with both your leads, then there is no current draw showing.
Which would confirm bad battery not holding the charge.

Big Red wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 11:32 am As long as you definately had a good connection with both your leads, then there is no current draw showing.
Which would confirm bad battery not holding the charge.

I tried it multiple times on various points of each connector so i'm pretty happy it's 0.00

I'll be more than happy if it's just a crap battery as that'll make my life very simple and i'm sure if it's confirmed at Halfords tomorrow, they'll just throw a new one in and i can charge the dealer. If that's the end of the story it's a win in my book.

weeksy wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 11:34 am

Big Red wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 11:32 am As long as you definately had a good connection with both your leads, then there is no current draw showing.
Which would confirm bad battery not holding the charge.

I tried it multiple times on various points of each connector so i'm pretty happy it's 0.00

You did have the positive side of the battery connected whilst you took the reading in the photo didn't you?

MrLongbeard wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 11:38 am

weeksy wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 11:34 am

Big Red wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 11:32 am As long as you definately had a good connection with both your leads, then there is no current draw showing.
Which would confirm bad battery not holding the charge.

I tried it multiple times on various points of each connector so i'm pretty happy it's 0.00

You did have the positive side of the battery connected whilst you took the reading in the photo didn't you?

That's correct, i've not removed that side at all.

MrLongbeard wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 11:38 am

weeksy wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 11:34 am

Big Red wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 11:32 am As long as you definately had a good connection with both your leads, then there is no current draw showing.
Which would confirm bad battery not holding the charge.

I tried it multiple times on various points of each connector so i'm pretty happy it's 0.00

You did have the positive side of the battery connected whilst you took the reading in the photo didn't you?

Good point, i assumed that when Weeksy said the battery was disconnected earlier he meant just one lead.

weeksy wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 8:32 am

KungFooBob wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 8:30 am I've no idea if the trader you bought it from charged it up before you turned up to view, but I imagine it sat on his forecourt for a while with no problems. I'd suggest there's every possibility that it's related to something you've done to the vehicle since collection.

Of course, you bought it from a trader so you've got 3 months warranty, make him sort it if you think it's a fault with the van itself.

They only had it 3 days before i bought it.... I do get what you're saying

People sell cars because they have faults, if the dealer didn't spot it then that's their problem. You paid the dealer a premium to cover issues like this, I'd be straight on the phone to them.

Mussels wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 12:18 pm

weeksy wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 8:32 am

KungFooBob wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 8:30 am I've no idea if the trader you bought it from charged it up before you turned up to view, but I imagine it sat on his forecourt for a while with no problems. I'd suggest there's every possibility that it's related to something you've done to the vehicle since collection.

Of course, you bought it from a trader so you've got 3 months warranty, make him sort it if you think it's a fault with the van itself.

They only had it 3 days before i bought it.... I do get what you're saying

People sell cars because they have faults, if the dealer didn't spot it then that's their problem. You paid the dealer a premium to cover issues like this, I'd be straight on the phone to them.

Lets not worry about the dealer, that's as much down to logistics as anything else.. Having already spoken to them on the phone i'm happy the cost will be covered either way, either by them directly or their warranty company... However at the moment it's more about diagnosis and working out the actual fault. If the battery is dead i can't really drive it over to them as it's dead... they're also a 90 minute drive away from me. So it's a little bit of leg-work other than "my van is fucked, fix it"... i don't think that's going to get anyone very far.

When you've got the meter connected and it's showing 0A draw, turn lights or something on just to prove the meter is working as that should show a reading

2022-08-15_01-13-03 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

2022-08-15_01-12-58 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

bike fits and leaves plenty of space for other trackday kit.

What you describe is pretty consistent with what happened when my battery was knackered, if I left it for more than a couple of days it wouldn't start.

spent some time with @Couchy on the phone and i/we think the left hand side measuring the drain doesn't actually work on the multimeter... can't get it to measure anything at all.

Even using the beeper... if i put the terminal on the left side port, nothing... on the right side port, beeeeeeep.

We have a single fuse inside the meter, so it's not like it's a dual feed fuse one for each side... just the one. But i can't get anything measuring on that left hand side no matter whether we do anything at all. So i think it's a dodgy meter.

I'm not going to head out and get one today though that's for sure.

You seem to be putting in a lot of effort when surely the simple solution is make the dealer do the work or am I missing something?

JamJar wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 3:35 pm You seem to be putting in a lot of effort when surely the simple solution is make the dealer do the work or am I missing something?

YOu're missing him being 70 miles away and me having to get the van to him.

But anyway...
Working with @Couchy and a different multimeter this time... the 0.0 earlier was a red herring.

I've been working with my auto-techs on this issue.
With the negative terminal connected there's a parasitic draw of 2.04a
Going through the fuses 1 by 1 removing them to get it to drop there's a drop to 0.7a when i remove the 25a fuse from Fuse block F35 and fuse 25 which is designated as Trailer Recognition Unit.
None of the others seem to have an effect. But even dropping to 0.7a is still higher than i'd expect it to be sitting at.

However the van does start now and is sitting idling on the drive....

weeksy wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 3:01 pm spent some time with @Couchy on the phone and i/we think the left hand side measuring the drain doesn't actually work on the multimeter... can't get it to measure anything at all.

Even using the beeper... if i put the terminal on the left side port, nothing... on the right side port, beeeeeeep.

We have a single fuse inside the meter, so it's not like it's a dual feed fuse one for each side... just the one. But i can't get anything measuring on that left hand side no matter whether we do anything at all. So i think it's a dodgy meter.

I'm not going to head out and get one today though that's for sure.

It says on the meter that there are 2 fuses. 10A and x00mA.