2002 VFR battery draining overnight

Discussion in 'Mechanics Garage' started by judobrian, Sep 9, 2012.

  1. judobrian

    judobrian New Member

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    Hello -

    Brand new owner to a 2002 6th gen VFR. Im having an issue where my battery is draining overnight. Is there a good mechanics guide/book for these bikes? I have a great Bentley guide for my VW GTI that pretty much tells me how to take the car apart and replace everything. Im thinking something like this might be handy to inspect all the wiring harness to see if I have a short.

    The battery died yesterday so I purchased a new one and rode home. Today when I insert the key, the lights and dash come on, but the fuel pump does not engage and the starter won't turn. Multimeter showed the battery today at 12.8V...

    The previous owner did have the recall wiring harness fixed, but Im not sure what else to check. And since Im a new owner I don't know where all the wiring harnesses are and go to.

    Any tips would be appreciated.

    ==============================================
    EDIT:
    I disconnect the negative battery terminal and measure the voltage from the neg. cable to the neg battery terminal and it registered 12V. Ive read a few things about a rectifier going bad with the 12V line. Possibility? Where is the rectifier on this bike (I know probably a dumb question) and is there a guide on how I can test mine?

    Thanks.
     
    Last edited: Sep 9, 2012
  2. zoom-zoom

    zoom-zoom Member

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    Check out Rubo's thread on the R/R. It should be a great help to diagnose the R/R and charging system. Helped me out a great deal.
    http://vfrworld.com/forums/5th-gene...how-fix-common-regulator-stator-failures.html


    As for the service manual, there is a thread started in the "Specifications" section titled "Downloadable Parts and Service Manuals". There should be a link there for downloadable service manual for the 2002 VFR800.

    Welcome to the site and don't forget to post pics of your ride.
     
  3. judobrian

    judobrian New Member

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    Appreciate it!
     
  4. squirrelman

    squirrelman Member

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    There is a test for reverse current leakage in the manual. Battery draining (lots of reverse flow) almost always means a bad diode in the r/r.
     
  5. judobrian

    judobrian New Member

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    I took the fairings off this evening, tested the R/R and the strator both tests came out OK. Diodes good in the R/R, and the strator had zero resistance between all three connectors.

    I also ran the charging tests, hi beams on, RPMs at 5500 and the voltage was 13.5V+ so I think that charging system is OK....

    Im going to let it sit in the garage a few more days and see if drains anymore.... Baffled.

    Would a burned out tail/brake light bulb cause a drain? Mine was burnt, so I took it out and replaced it.... I dont think a burned out bulb would open a connection and drain the battery though?
     
  6. CRFan1

    CRFan1 New Member

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    13.5 volts at 5500 is definitely on the low side.....you should be over 14V. BUT...test it with another meter as the cheaper ones can be off. I had one that read almost a half volt low :)
     
  7. squirrelman

    squirrelman Member

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    Do the reverse current test to see how much amp draw you have, then remove fuses one at a time to localize the reverse flow to one circuit, and try unplugging the r/r too.
     
  8. judobrian

    judobrian New Member

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    This is a noob question, but how do I do a reverse current test? Detach negative battery terminal, take pos. multi-meter to battery terminal, negative multi-meter to the neg battery cable and measure current?


    Second question for you, do R/R's ever intermittently fail? I would think they are either an all or nothing type of failure?

    Thanks.
     
  9. squirrelman

    squirrelman Member

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    No intermittent r/r failures but maybe at the plug connection between stator and r/r, 3 yellow wires.

    Please check the manual for the reverse flow test, but, as i remember, you remove the positive battery terminal and connect the meter positive to that wire, then place meter negative on the positive battery terminal to read amps of reverse flow. Do not turn key on !!
     
  10. judobrian

    judobrian New Member

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    I think I need a new multi-meter, doing the current test I got zero current flowing out of the battery doing the test recommended. I think you'd have to get at least something for the clock to be running. I also rechecked all the plugs too the R/R from the strator and made sure they were nice and tight.

    Im going to ride it to work tomorrow and hope it keeps charged, the last few days in the garage seems OK. The battery is 12.8V cold, and seems to be charging at 13.8V running. Fingers crossed.
     
  11. squirrelman

    squirrelman Member

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    You might have set the meter on too high a scale to read milliamps ?

    The low charging (13.8 where you should have about 14.5 volts) probably means that you should test the stator output, then replace the r/r if the stator is putting out the proppa ac voltage.
     
  12. judobrian

    judobrian New Member

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    To test the stator, where do I connect the multi-meter positive and negatives? I have three yellow wires. Do I put the positive meter to a yellow and the negative to a ground? Earth ground (ie not on the bike), I dont think it would be good to put that much voltage to the ground on the bike... (another noob question I know).
     
  13. judobrian

    judobrian New Member

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    Nevermind, I got it, stator is good 66V across all three. Ill look to replace the R/R for good measure
     
  14. kennybobby

    kennybobby New Member

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    The battery is suspect. If it has been damaged by previously being drained then the 13.8 is due to the load of charging the battery, not a bad RR. If the battery were fresh/known to be good, then you would probably get the 14 at high revs. But it all sounds like its working okay to me.

    You need to measure the system current to really know what is happening. A clamp on current meter that can handle at least 30 amps. High current loads will pull down the voltage. Pull the headlight fuse and the voltage will go up.
     
  15. judobrian

    judobrian New Member

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    I did have to replace the battery last week (when the problem first arose). So I can assume at this point the battery is good, and the R/R may still be questionable.

    Can you elaborate more on testing the current of the system? How can I do this safely? Not sure of the limits of my meter, but I think I can get a hold one that can if needed. At what point should I pull the headlight fuse? Doing the 5500RPM test again?

    Appreciate the input.
     
  16. kennybobby

    kennybobby New Member

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    To see how the current load affects the voltage: while monitoring the voltage on the meter, with the engine running--put on the high beams and see if the voltage drops slightly, then back to low beams. Cut it off and write down the readings. Then pull the fuse for the headlight, unless you have a switch and can shut them off completely, and start it up again and record the voltage. This can be done at idle, 3000, 5000 to give you several data points and see the trend.

    Current Monitoring:
    Using a clamp-on current probe is a simple, fast and safe method to let you monitor the actual current coming out of the RR to service all the electrical loads including charging the battery. It would be clamped around the red wire from the RR to the main fuse on the starter relay. If you want to see how much of that total current is charging the battery, then clamp it around the red cable coming off the positive terminal of the battery. The polarity of the current probe reading lets you know if current is going into or out of the battery.

    Even though you bought a new battery, i think you said it was drained overnight ==> implies that it may now be damaged. Even new batteries don't survive being pulled down to a state of charge voltage below the point of damage...
     
  17. judobrian

    judobrian New Member

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    Thanks, Ill try and test this weekend. I appreciate the help.
     
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