USB Charger Causing Electrical Gremlins

So I picked up a USB charger with a 12v that connects directly to the battery.

In the process of that and some other work, I ended up killing the battery, and I do think while boosting it, ended up seeing this behaviour but writing it off as a depleted battery (and still could have been).

Tonight however I can definitely say that it was not a dead battery.

I picked my wife up from work and everything was working swimmingly.  Powered the bike down while waiting for her, and when we got on, I put the bike in neutral, kicked up the stand, clicked in the starter button and BAM, headlamps out, clock off, instrument panel off.  There was absolutely no power to anything.

When disconnecting the unit to troubleshoot, I noticed that the negative lead screw was a bit loose, thinking that that might have caused the issue, I tightened it and tried again, but there was absolutely no power to the bike when I turned the key on.

I disconnected the unit altogether, connected the battery, and voila! As soon as I turned the key, lights and panel were on, and the bike started up like a champ.

I'm curious as to what might have caused this.  The charger has an inline fuse, but even if that blew, I would guess that only the charger should power down.  The cable is tied to the hard metal lines that run inside the frame, inspected the wiring and there's no exposed wire.

Even if the unit is a piece of junk, what would cause the bike to just lose power when it's connected.  If I had blown a fuse or something, I can't imagine that the bike would be fine once it was disconnected.  The battery wasn't drained as the starter cranked over confidently when it was just the battery terminals that were connected.

Also, when you connect something to the battery, should you connect it over or under the terminals? Would it even make a difference?

| So I picked up a USB charger with a 12v that connects directly to the battery.

Minor point, but USB chargers output 5 vdc - not 12. 

| Tonight however I can definitely say that it was not a dead battery.

| …clicked in the starter button and BAM, headlamps out, clock off, instrument panel off.  There was absolutely no power to anything.

| When disconnecting the unit to troubleshoot, I noticed that the negative lead screw was a bit loose

Hmm, if you mean that the main battery terminal screw was loose, well that could be a big part of your trouble.

| I disconnected the unit altogether, connected the battery, and voila! As soon as I turned the key, lights and panel were on, and the bike started up like a champ.

Key factor is that you'd securely tightened the battery terminal.

| Even if the unit is a piece of junk, what would cause the bike to just lose power when it's connected. 

It is possible that the USB charger has faulty circuitry that drains your battery over time. Though if it happens in a short time frame the USB dingus would get hot.

| Also, when you connect something to the battery, should you connect it over or under the terminals? Would it even make a difference?

Nope, all that matters is that all the connectors and the battery terminal are clean and that the bolts are correctly tightened.

I posted this same issue a few days ago. Bike has power and starts up fine until I hooked up the leads to the battery for my heated gear. With nothing plugged in I lost all power when I turned the ignition on. Disconnect the leads and it's fine.

Normally I might suspect the leads but I had the same problem when I connected another set of leads for my charger to the battery.

The replies I got were bad battery. I just got a new battery to try out. Hopefully tomorrow, so will let you know if that fixes the problem.

5 minutes ago, Lorne

| So I picked up a USB charger with a 12v that connects directly to the battery.

Minor point, but USB chargers output 5 vdc - not 12. 

| Tonight however I can definitely say that it was not a dead battery.

| …clicked in the starter button and BAM, headlamps out, clock off, instrument panel off.  There was absolutely no power to anything.

| When disconnecting the unit to troubleshoot, I noticed that the negative lead screw was a bit loose

Hmm, if you mean that the main battery terminal screw was loose, well that could be a big part of your trouble.

| I disconnected the unit altogether, connected the battery, and voila! As soon as I turned the key, lights and panel were on, and the bike started up like a champ.

Key factor is that you'd securely tightened the battery terminal.

| Even if the unit is a piece of junk, what would cause the bike to just lose power when it's connected. 

It is possible that the USB charger has faulty circuitry that drains your battery over time. Though if it happens in a short time frame the USB dingus would get hot.

| Also, when you connect something to the battery, should you connect it over or under the terminals? Would it even make a difference?

Nope, all that matters is that all the connectors and the battery terminal are clean and that the bolts are correctly tightened.

Thank you,

To clarify, this is the unit:

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00OGYUGHI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I should have been more clear, it has two 5v USB, plus a 12v (cigarette lighter) plug.

The negative was loose, but I tightened it before disconnecting the entire unit and tried again.

I did notice earlier though, when things would die, I needed to disconnect the positive lead and reconnect it to sort of reset things, I may not have done that and therefore would not have fixed my problem (I will play with this tomorrow and update).  I'm hoping this is the problem, and I'll really wrench it down this time just to be sure.

Having a charger is kind of a big part of my plans though.  I hope I didn't get a defective unit.

Thanks for the reply.

5 minutes ago, auggius

I posted this same issue a few days ago. Bike has power and starts up fine until I hooked up the leads to the battery for my heated gear. With nothing plugged in I lost all power when I turned the ignition on. Disconnect the leads and it's fine.

Normally I might suspect the leads but I had the same problem when I connected another set of leads for my charger to the battery.

The replies I got were bad battery. I just got a new battery to try out. Hopefully tomorrow, so will let you know if that fixes the problem.

Glad to know I'm not alone.

I will play with it tomorrow some more just to make sure it wasn't just the negative terminal being loose (my reply I was finishing just as you posted this, I mentioned earlier when I killed the battery being a dummy, I would kill the clock trying to start the bike, and would have to disconnect and reconnect the positive lead to kind or "reset" everything and it would come back, but I think the draw from the starter was too much for everything).

Just a question though, did your bike die as soon as you had the accessory connected or did it work a few times and then die?

It worked fine last year with both leads connected. The problem started this year after awakening from winter hibernation. It only works without the leads connected now. 

I have a dual port Marine rated power connector on one of my bikes. (Dual USB charger and Accessory/Lighter socket) connected directly to my battery and have never had a problem. Even with two tablets and a phone plugged in over night I've not had any problems.

Could there be a short in the unit drawing power even if nothing is plugged in, can it not be metered.

I'll need to locate my multimeter, my tools come up one by one from the crawlspace as everything was tucked away while the lower level gets finished.

I don't know that the issue is that the unit is drawing power, as the problem wasn't that the battery was depleted.  I would also think that if there was a short in the unit itself, it would have caused the inline fuse to blow, rather than affecting the bike.

I will check though, testing trumps logic always (especially my logic).  The only way I could think of it shorting though is if I zip tied it too tightly and cut through the wire insulation.

I brought it in and had the charging system checked.

It's not providing enough juice.

The fun thing about making two simultaneous changes to any system is when one buggers things up, it's not always obvious.

As I as running on low coolant, my fans never came on and I never had a problem.

Yesterday, I both added the USB Charger and addressed my coolant issue.

Fans started coming on when the bike was getting hot.  Long flowing rides with not much stopping lets the bike run cool, fans stay off, battery charges.  Stop and go traffic results in the fans coming on and after a little bit of that, the next start requires a boost.

Since I had added a component directly to the electrical system myself, it seemed to be the obvious cause, I'm banking that the RR is jacked, though my mechanic is testing the RR and the Stator to be safe.  I'm hoping it's the RR, as it looks to be the more straightforward job and will mean that I can still go for the trip my wife and I are planning on, if a day late (we gave ourselves two extra days).

I'm in a bit of a dark place, I kind of wish this had happened last week so I would have had more time to address it.  I'm only starting to get comfortable working on bikes in general so the timing was horrible.

On the bright side.  Bike runs cool as hell, and I'll have a new RR.  I also got my RAM Brake/Clutch Reservoir base and phone mount so we will be ready to go once everything is sorted.

auggius, 2017-06-01 at 11:51 PM

It worked fine last year with both leads connected. The problem started this year after awakening from winter hibernation. It only works without the leads connected now. 

Update - new battery, problem solved.

4 hours ago, auggius

Update - new battery, problem solved.

Awesome,

For me, not so much, getting stator replaced.  Have new battery already, and apparenty the connections for the RR are fine.

My bike trip turned into a car trip, but it's not so bad, 5-6 days on the road in some of the most wonderful scenery Ontario has to offer is going to be great in any vehicle.

Plus got to see updated ultrasounds of our future little one (currently my second pillion).

Next year we will be able to take the trip again by bike.

WellI hope you figure it out. I hate electrical problems. It didn't make sense to me it would be the battery but hey, at least it was an easy fix.