Alarms and batteries

[thedonal]

Right- despite a battery only 8 months old and a reg/rec only 3 months old (electrex, not Suzuki, with revised heat sink), I'm still finding the battery dying after a few months riding.

Aside from checking the wiring tomorrow for worn insulation, I'm wondering if the alarm might be causing issues.

If the backup (rechargable) battery is dying in the alarm, would this provide a serious additional drain on the bike's battery? The alarm is a good few years old (fitted for previous owner- can't remember when - probably 3-4 years old), so this could be a possibility.

I went through about 6-8 months of riding, before the last reg/rec packed up without battery woes.

[Grinch]

Alarms can be a nightmare for that, so it wouldn't surprise me. The guy who lives with us has a Caponord and if he leaves it off the optimate for more then 4 days the battery ends up flat cus of the alarm.

[thedonal]

Cheers Grinch- I've had that too.

Thing is, I commute 5 days a week- 20-30 minutes each way, with occasional longer rides that should recover the battery (long rides home or weekend jaunts)-well over the 30 mins that most people say is enough to recharge after starting. Plus the long rides I did on Saturday doing Bikesafe.

The bike's rarely standing for more than a day without being ridden.

I may get the alarm serviced too- I had to butcher it a bit to get the battery out when linking a new plipper to it (only got 1 with the bike, wot died, like)- so it only has 1 bolt holding the alarm (had to saw the other one out- it's not easy to remove otherwise- being a security product and all!).

I've also taken to switching the lights off while starting- this has made a big difference to getting it started.

Given the ease of firing the bike up with a full battery, I don't think the starter is a problem. Also, I've not been covering her over the last few weeks- so any rain/moisture could be a factor too- but I'd assume only if any of the wiring needs re-insulating (the battery itself is sealed and doesn't appear to get wet.

[Grinch]

Well it could be that the battery is on it last legs and starting to have problems holding a charge. The other thing it could be is that the reg/rec is not charging the battery right. So you will need to get hold of a haynes manual and look up the guide on how to check them in there.
The basics of it is you run the bike, check the voltage, then increase the throttle and check again, doing the same again but this time with the lights on.
Mine was over charging so it was easy to see as it was trying to push 17 volts in to the battery.

[thedonal]

Cheers.

Yeah- I'll chuck a meter on it as soon as I can get my hands on one.

The reg rec is only 3 months old, though- so I doubt it's had that much time to go wrong in. The batter was new in Dec- had a dodgy reg/rec on it, but it was under charging, rather than over. So it's taken about 3 months for the battery to get this low- was starting to show signs late last week.

Time to get a checklist together methinks!

[Grinch]

The other thing it could be is a leak in the charging circuit, though these are a bugger to trace, normally you work on removing any accessories like heated grips first and seeing if the problem is still there. I normally pop the fuses out of the extra stuff. What alarm is it you have, if its a Acumen alarm then I wouldn't be surprised if its on it last legs, I cut mine out.

[thedonal]

I don't have any other extras in the leccy circuit.

It's A Datatool Veto (or Veto Plus). Apparently these things are roughly 8 years old. Could be time for a service...

[yorkie_chris]

It's likely your reg rec issues before have deep discharged the battery, optimates reckon to recover that but it wouldn't suprise me if there was some long term effect.

[Dangerous Dave]

Could be something simply like the internal battery on the alarm is dead and this will leave the alarm permanently draining your bike battery, something like 2.5mA. Whether the not the Veto has an internal battery I am not sure.

[thedonal]

Yeah- the veto's got an internal rechargable PP9.

I've just got a new battery and charged it up indoors- going into the alarm later (after the F1).

Looking at the bike's history, the alarm was fitted in 1999. It's a good chance that the battery has not been changed since.

Hopefully this will solve my battery woes...!!

[Dangerous Dave]

after the F1.
[-X what...

[thedonal]

:D

You know- things with 4 (that's four!) wheels charging around race tracks!

[Dangerous Dave]

:D

You know- things with 4 (that's four!) wheels charging around race tracks!
I know, just can't believe people still watch it. Any way, hows you getting on with the alarm?

[thedonal]

Got the new battery in there yesterday afternoon. Went for a longish spin to get some charge back in the main battery (I could have just pulled it out and charged indoors- but that's not nearly as much fun and I'm starting to get sick of that procedure, tbh!).

I guess time will tell now.

[Biker Biggles]

What with this and your previous battery reg/rec issues,have you ever actually checked the system with a multimeter?You can waste a lot of money replacing batteries and regulators,but a proper diagnosis of whats actually wrong saves all that.
You may have an underperforming alternator which would lead to a discharged battery however often you used the bike.

[thedonal]

Good point- something I've overlooked several times. My Bro has dad's multimeter, but I think he lent it out. Will chase him again on this (have asked several times of late).

[thedonal]

Well- the new battery is in the alarm. Charged the bike battery on Monday. Did a 90 mile ride. Rode to work and back yesterday.

Had trouble starting again today. Once I get that multimeter and check, I'm presuming it'll say not enough charge is going into the battery.

So- the alternator's not doing it's job, as you said Dave, or the reg/rec has died in a few months. I'm close to dropping it into a mechanic to check this for me, as I'm getting a bit bored of fault finding on this one.

Can the alternator be serviced, instead of replacing?

[yorkie_chris]

Can be rewound, but a secondhand one is a lot cheaper. Unless it's just a broken solder joint or something obvious and easy (lol, I can dream...)

[thedonal]

Yeah- having been through most of the 'easier' and 'cheaper' options now, I'm thinking that it's not that!

Oh well- got to wait for that multimeter to turn up again (my Bro's lent it out).

If the charging system is working (which I doubt), my bro thinks that the starter motor is duff- ie it's intermittantly not got enough power to turn the engine over, and hence draining more juice that way. I hope not in this case, as they look rather expensive.

[injury_ian]

:rolleyes: It's a curvy, why would you need an alarm???

- I think all points i'd of thought of are covered..

1) reg / rec
2) motorbike battery
3) alternator - rotor/ stator
4)if you can bare it, disconnect the alarm, for a week (pull fuse) or so to see it it is excessive drain via the alarm.

[thedonal]

Alarms got an immobiliser too- think it'll be tricky to get that out of the system.

My local Honda dealer is a Datatool fitter- I may see if they'll look at the alarm on a Suzuki (cheeky boy as I am!)

[thedonal]

Here's an interesting one- my bro has been borrowing the bike for a couple of days- took the battery out and charged it on Monday night- left it out of the bike, but not connected to anything.

Plugged it into the charger last night and it needed another hour and a half's charge.

Could it be that the battery is knackered? Or do optimates normally run a charge for 1.5 hours if a battery is less than fully charged?

If my battery is knackered, then I guess this could be the cause of all my problems.

But somehow, I doubt that it's that simple...

[Lozzo]

Whatever is wrong with the electrics, junk the alarm anyway. They are absolutely useless and to be honest, I'd rather someone stole my bike than have to put up with the hassle that alarms have caused me over the years.

The only ones I've had have been professionally fitted to used bikes I've bought, but that never stopped them all playing up.

Scrap the alarm, no-one takes any notice of them anyway.