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Electrical Help-KTM 530 xcw

Started by Robmicgrn, August 19, 2015, 04:15:28 PM

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Robmicgrn

This has been an ongoing problem with this bike. Battery drains itself dead. Before I start looking on the big forums, thought I would start here.

1. Bike was new, would not hold a charge. Put in a new fresh battery. Still drained out
2. Upgraded battery to lithium and upgraded the stator, thinking that would fix it. Still drains dead. (does last longer though) Converted from AC to DC with Stator change and LED headlight upgrade.
3. there are no accessories, lights, or anything on for that matter.
4. As long as it is charged, and I am riding I am good. The problem is when it sits for a few days, weeks.
5. It did drain overnight at spring rally. I left my Montana gps plugged in, but I wouldn't think that would have been enough to drain it in 14 hours. Dead as door knob next morning.

Tips on tracing the draining source?

I know I should be riding it more to keep it charged, but, it shouldn't drain dead like this. :'(
"You don't know how fast you can go till you crash"

Hank

You don't by chance have a 12V to USB converter like what battery tender makes on it do you?      I put one on my 400 and it killed my Shorai battery in about 5 days.   I unhooked that and it never happened again (never happened before either).
Apparently there is a "vampire" transformer in that thing that burns power whether its being used or not.


If that's not it, then:
I'm not an expert, but i'd:

Check resistance from battery positive lead to frame...That should be open.. if there is any continuity at all there is your affirmation that you didn't get 2 fluke bad batteries and you do have a "leak" somewhere.

With no accessories, clocks, lights, etc etc.. there should be nothing.

Next thing to check would be the regulator/rectifier, I'm sure you can find a test sequence for that.    My suspicion is that its your problem.. but again I'm not an expert.

Its a really simple schematic on the 530.. fortunately.

I think I mentioned it Saturday, but I think KTM really cheaps out on the wiring.    Maybe you've got a chafed wire in the steering head area, but I'd be thinking that's gonna be dead short rather than a slow draw.

Fletch

I'm no help at all, but when you figure it out let me know. My 300 does the same thing.
stupid is my middle name, but my first name is Mike

Bogus Jim

One approach is to place an ammeter between the negative battery post and ground. You should see a few 10's or 100's of milliamps if there's a parasitic draw. Then pull the fuses one at a time... if the ammeter reading drops when you pull a fuse, you know that circuit is drawing too much current.

I'd also unplug the regulator/rectifier as Hank said, and see if the reading drops. The 530 probably doesn't have a lot of fuses in the harness.


Hank

If you have one of these plugged in it will kill your battery.



Robmicgrn



I charged the battery overnight and put the amp meter to the negative terminal and the ground post. This is what I got. If I am reading this correctly :o I have 2.62 amps cycling out of the battery? nothing is on. No usb connectors, no accessories, light switch is off, fan is not running, nothing. Am I reading this right? I will go home tonight and start pulling fuses, but there is only a couple.

The rectifier was changed when I did the AC/DC conversion. Still have the drain, before and after.

Possibly a short on the wiring harness? It has been doing this since brand new.

the only thing I know for sure that may draw power all the time is the speedo cluster.

More questions than answers at this point. Ill keep digging
"You don't know how fast you can go till you crash"

Bogus Jim

I think that is probably 2.62 milliamps, if it was pulling 2.6 amps the battery would be dead in a couple hours. 3mA is probably enough to drain a dirt bike battery in a month or two though.

Hank

Looks like you're on the 20mA scale, so I think that's 2.62mA..

(I see Jim beat me to it now).   Start unplugging fuses, or connectors, and see what happens!

Robmicgrn

Thanks for the input guys! I will dig into it hopefully later to night and see what I can find.
"You don't know how fast you can go till you crash"

Robmicgrn



Two days on the charger, this is what I started with.



Unplugged the thermostat fan switch



and it dropped to this! I then unplugged the speedo cluster and was able to get it down to this



I think .27 is manageable......... No?

It has been on my punch list to add a manual fan switch and a temp gauge. I am thinking that would solve the issue.... Input  :-\ :-\ :-\ ???
"You don't know how fast you can go till you crash"

Hank

Odd your temp/ fan switch is leaking that much current.     
I have the same (or similar) switch on my 400.   Measure the resistance across the terminals on the fan switch (disconnect both leads first) and I'll do the same on mine and we'll compare numbers.
You might just need to replace that fan switch.   I would really think if it's working currently it would be OPEN (infinite resistance) at ambient temp... but maybe some current leakage is normal.

Random info:  I do know that switch is the same switch used in a certain BMW car (80s 318 I think) and you can buy them in different temp ranges etc too.  That's what I bought when I put my fan in.. I think mine turns on at 100, or 98C and turns off around 92C.  Seems to work well with no boiling over.    There is also a switch that turns on at a lower temp but your fan runs a LOT.
I think I have the part numbers saved somewhere if you want to go that route.


Bogus Jim

I don't have a fan or speedo cluster on my two-stroke, I guess that's why the battery never goes dead, even over winter. Thanks Rob for clearing that up.  ;)

Robmicgrn

Quote from: Hank on August 21, 2015, 11:28:06 AM
Odd your temp/ fan switch is leaking that much current. 

Could it be the fan itself leaking? All I really did was interrupt that entire circuit. I will check the resistance on the switch tonight. I have had times where the fan would stay on for a long time after the bike was parked (I literally unplugged it at the thermo switch to get it to stop) and was the reason I had pondered on just adding a manual on/off switch somewhere in the circuit.
"You don't know how fast you can go till you crash"

Hank

#14
Quote from: Robmicgrn on August 21, 2015, 12:20:55 PM
Quote from: Hank on August 21, 2015, 11:28:06 AM
Odd your temp/ fan switch is leaking that much current. 

Could it be the fan itself leaking? All I really did was interrupt that entire circuit. I will check the resistance on the switch tonight. I have had times where the fan would stay on for a long time after the bike was parked (I literally unplugged it at the thermo switch to get it to stop) and was the reason I had pondered on just adding a manual on/off switch somewhere in the circuit.

No, because if the switch is open (temp below the turn on point), there should be no current flowing to the fan.     IMO, that switch should only have 2 states:

open (infinite resistance) - fan is off
OR
closed (zero or very low resistance) - fan is on

... I don't know why it would just "leak a little".   I'm sure its just a bi-metallic contact or something in there that once it hits a certain temp, the switch closes, and when it drops below the turn off threshold the switch opens.   Its sorta weird.  I'll check the resistance on mine tonight if I can remember.