Author Topic: Parasitic battery drain  (Read 3789 times)

Offline Atlas762

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Parasitic battery drain
« on: October 04, 2018, 12:31:24 PM »
I picked up a K75 that is a project. It runs and drives, needs a new clutch and some other things.
I put a new gel battery in it seems to be draining over a few days, new to K bikes so I’m not sure if the clock  is always suppose to be on and if this could be a source of the problem or normal operation before I start digging deeper. This is the first BMW I’m working on so it’s slightly different. Yes I tried searching and came up with very little. Thanks for the assistance!
  • MT
  • K75

Offline JPaganel

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  • Posts: 184
Re: Parasitic battery drain
« Reply #1 on: October 04, 2018, 12:38:35 PM »
The clock is really the same as the crappy dollar store digital clocks form 20 years ago. Those run for years on a tiny 1.5V battery.

The clock is not going to be your main drain. BMW does like to have them on all the time, but they use so little power, it doesn't matter.
  • Minnesnowta
  • 1986 K100RT, 1996 R1100RS

Offline Atlas762

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Re: Parasitic battery drain
« Reply #2 on: October 04, 2018, 12:48:25 PM »
Ok, sounds good. Wasn’t positive since when the main battery was disconnected the clock was off, I’m sure it barely pulls any power but just wanted to get it out of my mind that it is abnormal. Thank you.
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  • K75

Offline mdk_mdk

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Re: Parasitic battery drain
« Reply #3 on: October 04, 2018, 12:49:58 PM »
Atlas: "I picked up a K75 that is a project." is redundant, it's enough to say you pick up a K75, there're all projects at this point.

You could try pulling one fuse at a time to see which circuit is causing the drain. The opposite also applies: add one circuit at a time and see if the load across the battery changes. (I'm sure others here will chime in with other tests that may be more relevant and/or specific.)

Any additional information about the bike would be helpful: Year, mileage, condition, reason the previous owner sold it, was it ridden/used or stored before you purchased it?, etc. Pictures would also be helpful to help gauge the overall condition of the bike and/or wiring.
  • Ringoes NJ
  • 1990 K75

Offline Laitch

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Re: Parasitic battery drain
« Reply #4 on: October 04, 2018, 01:13:04 PM »
I picked up a K75 that is a project. It runs and drives, needs a new clutch and some other things.
I put a new gel battery in it seems to be draining over a few days . . .
Check the voltage of the idle battery. If it's not up in the high 12V range or above, charge it. After that, when it needs to be idle, disconnect the battery's negative cable where it attaches to the transmission. Put a piece of tape over it or rest it on the coil cover so it won't ground on metal. If your battery is in good condition, you could leave it that way for six months and when reconnected, the moto should start up. It take two minutes or less to reattach the cable to the transmission.

New batteries have been known to be insufficiently charged, or even defective.
  • Along the Ridley in Vermont.
  • 1995 K75 89,000 miles
I wept because I had no radials until I met a man who had no splines.

Offline johnny

  • TrailBrakingThrottleWhacker
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  • Whacking...n...Chopping Sliding...n...High Siding
Re: Parasitic battery drain
« Reply #5 on: October 04, 2018, 02:03:54 PM »
greetings...

i goes to the grocery and getts the nearly rotton managers special steak at a good price...

unpack it and sit it on my nightstand... putts a few drops of blood between me and the nightstand...

this is how i getts the parasitic creatures of the slumber chamber to feed on something other than me...

the same can be done for the motorbrick battery...

getts you some schweinshaxen and set it next to your battery tender...  there you go... no more nesting parasitic battery whack...

j o
  • :johnny i parks my 96 eleven hundert rs motobrick in dodge county cheezconsin  :johnny

Offline Atlas762

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Re: Parasitic battery drain
« Reply #6 on: October 04, 2018, 03:18:56 PM »
Thank you for the replies, this forum is way more active than I thought.
Either way I think I have more expensive to take care of on this bike also.
It’s an 87 K75 with 55k on the odometer, engine runs lights work, just pulled the rear drive to lube spline and I’m not a fan of how they are looking.
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Offline Laitch

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Re: Parasitic battery drain
« Reply #7 on: October 04, 2018, 03:36:34 PM »
Thank you for the replies, this forum is way more active than I thought.
Either way I think I have more expensive to take care of on this bike also.
It’s an 87 K75 with 55k on the odometer, engine runs lights work, just pulled the rear drive to lube spline and I’m not a fan of how they are looking.
If you intend to keep the bike, start a thread for its restoration in the Classic Projects section then problems will be discussed there as they come up; otherwise, start a separate thread for the shaft spline conditions. Clearer and steadier photos will be more helpful but those look almost worn out—not expected at 55K.

That photo seems to be of the driveshaft's output end within the swing arm, or of some black hole forming at the edge of our universe. What's the final drive shaft look like?
  • Along the Ridley in Vermont.
  • 1995 K75 89,000 miles
I wept because I had no radials until I met a man who had no splines.

Offline Atlas762

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Re: Parasitic battery drain
« Reply #8 on: October 04, 2018, 03:54:16 PM »
Deffinetly will do, bought this well under $100 so if I have to put some money into it, it’s not a big deal. The final drive looks great in comparison, little bit of rounding on the teeth.
  • MT
  • K75

Offline rbm

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Re: Parasitic battery drain
« Reply #9 on: October 04, 2018, 06:44:14 PM »
The K75 clock uses a PCF1171 clock module, which draws 400 uA typically.  That's not enough to drain your battery in the time you specified.  Other sources of problems could be failed diodes in the alternator rectifier circuit, and on ABS equipped bikes there is a relay which when fails, drains the battery.

To test for a parasitic drain, you need to insert a resistor shunt into the ground cable and measure any voltage drop across it.  Here's the process:

1. Purchase two 2 Ohm 1% 1Watt precision resistors from a reputable online electronics house like Digikey or Mouser.  Connect them in parallel.
2. Remove all fuses and make sure the ignition is off
3. insert the resistor pair between the ground wire from the negative terminal of the battery and the grounding point on the transmission.
4. Attach a voltmeter across the resistor pair and set the scale to 1V, if available.  The voltage you read will be equivalent to the parasitic current.  For example, a parasitic current of 1A will indicate 1V; a current of 100mA will indicate 0.1V (100 mV) and so on.
5. Note the voltmeter reading with all the fuses out and the ignition off.  It should be zero or near zero.
6. Insert each fuse and read the voltage.  If no change in reading, then remove the fuse and insert the next one.
7. Eventually, if you have a problem, the voltmeter will indicate a non-zero reading.  Now you know which circuit on the bike is the culprit.  You have narrowed your search.  Diagnose the circuit.

At no time, should you turn on the ignition or try to start the bike.  This will blow apart the resistor shunt with the current draw.
  • Regards, Robert
Toronto, Ontario

1987 K75 - Build Blog @http://k75retro.blogspot.ca/

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