Short

[baldharleyrider]

Looking for some advice. Stopped on way home from work other night and battery was almost dead(lights all worked but would not turn over) on my 2003 flhr. luckily was only 2 blocks from house. Took it to buddy that is a real good mechanic and he load tested the battery and checked the voltage regulator and stator. All checked ok. he found that I have a drain on battery. If you pull the fuse for the security the drain stopped they pulled fuse and left meter on battery for over an hour and no loss. first thought was to just leave the fuse out till summer is over and then find the short, but have to have the fuse to start bike. Just wondering if anybody has any suggestions where to look or any help would be great.

 

[Hoople]

Stopped on way home from work other night and battery was almost dead

If you pull the fuse for the security the drain stopped they pulled fuse and left meter on battery for over an hour and no loss.

How long was the ride before you stopped (battery charging time). How long were you stopped before you attempted to restarted the bike (battery draining time).

The amount of drain is important to measure because the system will normally have a drain. Your stop on the way home revealed you could not start the bike. Depending on the length of your stop, your drain would have to be in the neighborhood of 10 amps or more, which is off the charts. Unless your stop was an hour or more, I just don't see that happening.

Does your factory security have the optional siren. If it does, the internal backup battery could be dead shorted which could cause an unusual high drain on the battery which would come from the TSSM. Nothing near 10 amps but none the less a high drain.

How old is your battery.

 

[baldharleyrider]

Battery is less than year old. About 30 minute ride from work. When left turned on turn signal and lost the lights on speedo and gas gauge and the turn signal would not turn off. like that for about quarter of a mile then everything went back to normal. Stopped at gas station by house for maybe five minutes and that is when bike would not start. I am on Afternoons and the friend that did the tests said that everything seems to be charging fine he gave me numbers but i was at work and wasn"t able to write them down. Don't have an alarm just the fob and the lights flash when armed or disarmed

 

[Hoople]

So you road the bike for 30 minutes. Then stopped for 5 minutes. Tried to start engine and it would not crank because the battery was low.

Unless that drain is 20 amps, it sounds like more than a drain problem to me.

You really need to measure the amount of drain before you can make a call. Remove the fuse and place an amp meter in it's place. Let the current settle down for a minute or two and read the amount of parasitic drain you have.

You will know right away what is going on.

 

[glider]

Just a shot in the dark here but check the harness where it comes out of the regulator and down under the mount bracket. They have been known to have bare wires where it goes under the leg of the mount bracket and cause it to short out. It wouldn't be a dead short but enough to run the battery down and possibly blow the fuse.

 

[baldharleyrider]

will try to get to it this weekend. It is not blowing fuse and i am not for sure why the guy checking it out was drawn to that. I did check the wires for the voltage regulator that was one of the first things i did. will recheck and do what has been suggested hopefully this weekend. It just (EDIT) cause i am working afternoons and my mechanic is on days

Please read and understand the info in this link...

A Friendly Reminder - Harley Davidson Community

 

[Hoople]

i am not for sure why the guy checking it out was drawn to that.

When a battery cable is disconnected and re-attached,, a spark will be seen and sometimes a conclusion is based that a current draw must exist for that to happen. But that is not always true. You must use an amp meter.