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Starter drops voltage to 4V

T

throttler

Member
Hello All,
I had a short in my Off/Run switch in the bars (the gray wire) i fixed that but now when i try to start the bike it draws the battery down to 4Volts i put my meter on the battery posts while trying to start. Battery was load tested and tested good and fully charged. Is it possible that the short fried the Relay and or something else? Charging system also tested good. 03 FXD. Thanks for any help in advance.
 
If you are testing the fully charged battery with a meter connected directly to the battery terminals and not at the cable connections you have one of 2 possibilties. A bad meter or that battery is toast.
 
I agree with TripleJ. If we all believe what the definition of CCA is,, (current for 30 seconds while maintaining 7.2 volts) then in order to take a Good, Fully Charged battery and pull the voltage down to 4 volts in 5 seconds, we would probably have to draw 600 amps from the battery.

The only way I see doing that would be to drop a box wrench across the battery terminals.:)
 
If it's none of the above, you may still have a grounded wire someplace pulling the battery down when you hit the start button. Try removing the fuses one at a time until it doesn't get pulled down when hitting the button and that circuit is the problem one. From there you just have to trace the wires looking for the problem.
 
Thanks TripleJ, Hoople and Slider. I know i have a .13 Ma draw at the TSM but i don't believe that's the problem. I'll do more testing and let you know. Thanks again and be safe.
 
Slider - oyster in a shot glass, usually taken with a chaser like Sake, Tequila or Vodka...something clear and help make things go down easy.

Glider - on the other hand is understood...if you've been around here for more than a little while...LOL :D

Opps, the shunt current path could be a problem...but the problem is you could be losing voltage at the ground wire connections, wires or even the postive lead wires and connections...6V x 300A = 1800W; think your heater at full on at home! Something is getting hot!:devil
 
Sorry bout the typo Glider, but that Slider recipe don't sound to bad either. I learned that even Battery stores can make mistakes, bought a new battery and all is well. Again thanks to all of you and always Safe Ridin'.
 
throttler said:
I learned that even Battery stores can make mistakes, bought a new battery and all is well.
Click to expand...

Just goes to show you that what WE call a "load test" and what THEY call a load test is completely two different things. I don't trust these new dealership load testers as far as I can throw them.

Carbon pile load testing is the only sure way to "load testing" that I trust. And this is a perfect example of it.
 
You sure got that right Hoople. Like i said i still have a .13 Ma draw at my tsm. But i rode the other day and let it set for 16 hrs. and it fired right up, gonna let it sit for a couple days (rain all weekend) and see how that draw effects the new battery. If its to bad i'll have to pull that fuse if it has to sit very long or put the charger on it.
 
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