2003 6th Gen Battery Drain

I have had the bike in pieces in my buddy's workshop for the last 4 weeks. I've been doing suspension, exhaust, electrical, brake, and safety upgrades. I rode it over 600 miles in the week prior to beginning this process with no problems. The electrical/safety upgrades I am doing are a VFRness, head light modulators, tail light modulators, a speedohealer, and accessory power outlets. I have not yet installed the power outlets. For up until Saturday I had all of the head light and tail light harnesses removed. I did not disconnect the battery until Saturday night.

I have a MOTY battery. When I got it I checked the voltage on it and it was 13.3 volts. I waited about a month to install it on the bike and left it sitting a shelf. Before I installed it in July it still had 13.3 volts. When I finished the head light modulator install I tried to start the bike and it was dead. The battery voltage tested at 6.6 volts.

It would appear that I have a drain on the battery somewhere on the bike. The entire time it sat I have the kill switch in the off position. Any ideas on what could be causing the power drain? Is there some common place for a short to occur? Can you tell me how to check for them? I'm pretty good at most things when it comes to vehicle maintenance, but electrical stuff is where I am the weakest.

I would look for bad connectors. Your some how have leaking voltage to ground or BAD battery.

I have a MOTY battery


who sold you on that idea, considering there's very limited history with those , Id rule that out first , but you can put an ammeter between positive batter post and cable to see the loss of amperage, still I go back to first statement, I know there have been a few with issues on those.

Ok. Here is what I did tonight. I checked for draw on the battery. There is an 18mA draw on the battery with the ignition off. I have no idea if that is a lot but the limit allowed for the service manual is 2.5mA. Is 18mA high?

I checked the stator coil and the resistance between each wire was within normal range and there was no continuity to ground. I also checked the voltage across the cables going to the battery from the rectifier. The voltage match that of the battery. I also disconnected and reconnected all of the harness connectors that I disturbed when I installed vfrness. The draw on the battery did not change. I can't check the charging voltage because I'm unable to start a motorcycle but I have never had a charging issue when I was actually riding the bike. I actually checked the battery voltage the day I began tear down which was the day after I got back from a 300 mile ride. The battery voltage was 13.3 volts. So I don't think it is a charging issue with the rectifier.

Any other ideas about where to draw on the battery might be coming from? My friend had a 2002 r 6 that he was having a similar problem with. He said that his stator did not have continuity to ground and also had the correct resistance between wires. He said he eventually pulled apart the stator and something inside have shorted to ground. I think he said it was a diode. He said that after he replaced the stator his battery draw problem went away.

I'm not really an electrical guy so I'm kinda at athe loss asof to whatthe to dothe next. The service manual doesn't give you any more trouble shooting instructions. Can you guys give me any more advice?

Try disconnecting the stator and see if the drain goes away.

Try disconnecting the stator and see if the drain goes away.

Good idea. I can't believe I didn't think to do the power draw test with the stator connectors apart.

Ok so I started pulling apart connectors and then checking for the draw on the battery. The power draw was still there with the stator connector and and the R/R connectors apart. Fortunately this foes not appear to be a $150 problem.

Then I started pulling fuses. I expected the power draw to go down slightly when I pulled the clock fuse since the clock has to run all the time and the service manual says up to 2.5mA power draw is within serviceable limits. Much to my surprise the power draw went to zero when I pulled the 10A clock fuse. It jumped back to 18mA when I plugged it back in.

So I checked the service manual wire diagram. Two wires go outto from the clock fuse. One goes to the dashboard with all the LCD's and the tach. The other goes to the 30A main fuse A.

Does this mean I have to replace the entire dashboard unit??? That has to be really expensive. There is no information about the dashboard unit at all in the service manual. If there anyway to just replace the clock?

Ok so I started pulling apart connectors and then checking for the draw on the battery. The power draw was still there with the stator connector and and the R/R connectors apart. Fortunately this foes not appear to be a $150 problem.

Then I started pulling fuses. I expected the power draw to go down slightly when I pulled the clock fuse since the clock has to run all the time and the service manual says up to 2.5mA power draw is within serviceable limits. Much to my surprise the power draw went to zero when I pulled the 10A clock fuse. It jumped back to 18mA when I plugged it back in.

So I checked the service manual wire diagram. Two wires go outto from the clock fuse. One goes to the dashboard with all the LCD's and the tach. The other goes to the 30A main fuse A.

Does this mean I have to replace the entire dashboard unit??? That has to be really expensive. There is no information about the dashboard unit at all in the service manual. If there anyway to just replace the clock?

did you do the harness recall? many issues with grounding on the front harness. perhaps one of the connectors is melted?

Yes I did the harness recall about two years ago. I have not yet checked the harnesses on this circuit to see if there is a problem there and perhaps not in the display unit.

Does anyone know if you can ride without the clock fuse installed? Are there any other systems on this circuit inside the display unit? I only checked bikebandit, but they wanted over $600 just for the display unit! As much as I like having one I can ride without a clock for $600.

In other news I got the entire upgraded front suspension installed on the bike. I also made some disturbing discoveries about my LiPo battery. I plan on doing a full post just on that subject. It's back to lead acid batteries for me.

I would start with the wire harness around the dash and back to the connector, Its probably fried somewhere there, if the dash was the issue you would proably see it with a missing light or the instruments malfunctioning, most likely a fried connector or shaved wire from rubbing aganst somthing. A long time ago a vtec owner had a wire harness that was loose and not secured and it wore off the insulation from bouncing around. Just going to have to take off the plastics and remove the front cowl and go to work inspecting the wire harness inch by inch from the dash on back till you find it.

Maybe they did the recall then did not secure the wires and it wore out.

FYI. The dash uses regular bulbs yo light it and for the idiot lights.

Yes I did the harness recall about two years ago. I have not yet checked the harnesses on this circuit to see if there is a problem there and perhaps not in the display unit.

Does anyone know if you can ride without the clock fuse installed? Are there any other systems on this circuit inside the display unit? I only checked bikebandit, but they wanted over $600 just for the display unit! As much as I like having one I can ride without a clock for $600.

In other news I got the entire upgraded front suspension installed on the bike. I also made some disturbing discoveries about my LiPo battery. I plan on doing a full post just on that subject. It's back to lead acid batteries for me.

What did you find out about the LiPo battey? I am using one I built as well. I also have the same battery draw...it goes away when I take out the 30 amp fuse from the starter relay. I haven't dug into it.

One weird thing is that the draw is not constant...I watched it fluctuate. Someday I will have time to go downstream and disconnect stuff at the far end until the draw goes away.

You guys mite want to start looking at your battery , remember Tightwad when i email about HID's kit i bought from you started acting after i installed the Moty battery. You said that the Moty had too much current available for the relays and causing them to turn on. Well when replaced the Moty the problem went away. So i wonder if its the battery ...

You guys mite want to start looking at your battery , remember Tightwad when i email about HID's kit i bought from you started acting after i installed the Moty battery. You said that the Moty had too much current available for the relays and causing them to turn on. Well when replaced the Moty the problem went away. So i wonder if its the battery ...

I have the same issue with my lights as you did...but it's simply that the LifoPo4 battery sits at a higher voltage level than normal lead acid batteries do. Nothing a different relay set to a higher trip voltage wouldn't cure.

There is nothing in my battery that can self drain.

My 2003 eats batteries, it will not start after sitting a week or so with no battery tender attached. It has done it since the day I bought it on and off, it was dead on the sales floor the day I got it . I have had two warranty batteries and two I bought myself. :(

Harness recall was done and I did the harness upgrade myself, not the VFRness.

My 2003 eats batteries, it will not start after sitting a week or so with no battery tender attached. It has done it since the day I bought it on and off, it was dead on the sales floor the day I got it . I have had two warranty batteries and two I bought myself. :(

Harness recall was done and I did the harness upgrade myself, not the VFRness.

My 2003 does exactly the same thing. A battery every 18-24 months. I bought a VFRness, but even with TW's help I could not make the bike run with it installed. Removed it and all was well again. BIzarre.

My '02 was draining the battery.  Disconnected one battery lead and tested with an amp meter between lead and battery, key off.  It was well over the 2.5 mA maximum.  Turned out it was an accessory, the Autocom intercom power connection was drawing power when not in use.  Put it on relay so disconnected when ignition is off.  The amp meter could test different fuses or circuits to find the drain location.

I don't have any accessories and it has always been an issue.

I don't have any accessories and it has always been an issue.

It does not matter if the source of the current drain is an accessory or a factory defective OEM component.  Something is not right if the current leakage is over 2.5 mA.  An amp meter would be a good way to test components and wiring for the source of the drain.  Isolate and test until you narrow it down.

My 2003 eats batteries, it will not start after sitting a week or so with no battery tender attached. It has done it since the day I bought it on and off, it was dead on the sales floor the day I got it . I have had two warranty batteries and two I bought myself. :(

Harness recall was done and I did the harness upgrade myself, not the VFRness.

So now my battery is completely fried again, any suggestions as to what is the best replacement? I have had two Honda Yuasa and two MotoBat and maybe one other so far. Any experience with Shorai and are they worth the price?