Dying Nomad

[CheriAnn]

Originally Posted by billc5

Battery Tender has separate leads that can be permanently installed and also extensions that can be purchased. We've got em and they work great. Sorry about the problems on your trip.

Thanks for the tip!

[CheriAnn]

Originally Posted by SilverBullet

X2.

How old is the battery on the bike? What year is the bike in general. My buddy had a problem like this and it was the battery going bad, but I would check the charging system first. It may not be able to keep up with charging the battery but charging a little. This would cause the prolonged drainage that you seem to be seeing especially if you have a lot of accesories.

Also does the bike happen to have a cigarette lighter type power port on it? If so check to see if anything got inside the cup and fused to the conections to complete the circuit, this would cause a constant draw on the system especially if the power port has constant power availible to it. I seen that happen in a buddy's car before.

The battery was just replaced recently when this started. He was hoping that would solve the problem, but it didn't

He does happen to have a cigarette lighter type power port!!! I'll pass this information on to him!

[CheriAnn]

Okay, here's a question he wanted to throw out here for the experts

He said the light bar on my 900 was wired directly to my headlight.
However, the light bar for his bike came with a relay. He is wondering if that relay could be bad or causing a short. Could he just run the wire directly to the headlight, like he did with my 900?

Thanks!

[NCDave]

Cheri, has it tried disconnecting everything and just running it like that for a while to see if it clears up? I take it the shop didn't find any problems, huh?

[CheriAnn]

Originally Posted by NCDave

Cheri, has it tried disconnecting everything and just running it like that for a while to see if it clears up? I take it the shop didn't find any problems, huh?

No, the shop has not been any help so far
He's calling them today and picking it up after work. You all have given him some excellent suggestions to try on his own!!!

[NCDave]

I'd say the best bet is to disconnect everything that's been added, check things then, and then add them back one at a time. I can't wait for the big smiles when he finally DOES!

[CheriAnn]

Originally Posted by NCDave

I'd say the best bet is to disconnect everything that's been added, check things then, and then add them back one at a time. I can't wait for the big smiles when he finally DOES!

That's easier said than done!!!! That ALOT to disconnect all at once, and how would he know which of those was the culprit? He would have to ride without all those (some I like for safety, like the brake modulator!) for at least two months to be sure

[A2rider]

He may have to give up some of those things. They may be overloading his system. A battery can only handle so much, and as somebody said, all it takes is one thing to make the whole bike run down.

[NCDave]

Originally Posted by CheriAnn

That's easier said than done!!!! That ALOT to disconnect all at once, and how would he know which of those was the culprit? He would have to ride without all those (some I like for safety, like the brake modulator!) for at least two months to be sure

Just depends on how badly he wants to find the problem. He could disconnect them all, then once he determines it's running ok, start hooking up the safety ones first. yeah, it will take a while, but hopefully he'll figure it all out.

[NCDave]

Originally Posted by A2rider

He may have to give up some of those things. They may be overloading his system. A battery can only handle so much, and as somebody said, all it takes is one thing to make the whole bike run down.

That's true Tina. Has he thought about the wattage pulled by all the various things? Maybe he's just using more than the charging system can keep up with.

[Vulcan900]

You hubby’s Nomad obviously has an electrical problem. A battery tender might help hide the problem, but it will not solve the issue. Unless you plan on not riding for an extended period of time I would not bother with one.

The test light (as suggested earlier) probably will not be able to detect the small amount of current that is causing your problem. Borrow or buy an ammeter. In line is OK but I think a quality clamp-on would work better (but more expensive). A clamp-on measures electrical current running through a wire without having to disconnect anything.

Lift the seat and measure the current through the positive battery wire with the key off. If there is current coming from the battery to the rest of the electrical system something is wrong, and you can proceed with trying to find out what is pulling the juice. If it reads zero then your good to go for the day.

If it reads something other than zero, and you are using a clamp-on then you can clamp it onto the wiring for each of the accessories looking for the stray current. If you are using an inline ammeter you can leave it inline with the battery and disconnect each accessory until the current goes to zero. If the accessories don’t seem to be the problem you can start pulling fuses to help narrow down the problem.

By the way, both of my bikes are 2006. I left my key on in the 2000 last night for at least an hour. I came outside and noticed my light were on… the whole headlight bucket was hot. I turned the key off, then back on and she started right up. The 900 has sat for as long as 3 weeks between rides without any issues. I have also accidentally left the key on in it for a couple of hours and completely killed the battery. I learned that you can not push start a VN900 on flat ground.

[CheriAnn]

UPDATE!!!!!
His mechanic finally narrowed down the problem....a bad ECU!!!
Since that's a warranty part, Chaz will have to take it to the Kawi dealer, but at least he knows the problem now!!!

[A2rider]

Would have never guessed.

[RichLockyer]

That's a relief!

[rbentnail]

Originally Posted by cbh303

Just my 2 cents worth but I would not wait until the Winter. The constant up and down will eventually kill the battery.

I had the same problem on a brand new bike, '07 900 Classic. It would be fine for a few days and then it would just one day be dead. It turned out it was an bad ECU. The mech at the shop had to have the Kaw rep ship him a new one. Since then all has been good.

Originally Posted by CheriAnn

UPDATE!!!!!
His mechanic finally narrowed down the problem....a bad ECU!!!
Since that's a warranty part, Chaz will have to take it to the Kawi dealer, but at least he knows the problem now!!!

DINGDINGDING. We have a winner!!! Johnny, tell cbh what he's won....

Good to hear, Cheri, that the problem has been found. It sure is no fun riding only to expect to be stranded.

[A2rider]

I still wonder if it didn't have something to do with the excess amount of accessories he has on the bike. ECU's rarely go bad, but his might have been the exception.

[RichLockyer]

Nahh... most people with touring-style cruisers have as many or more accessories than he has.
Heated grips, vests, gloves, chaps, GPS, 200w stereo, 100w of aux lighting....

[A2rider]

You could be right. My idea of excess accessories are turn signals.

[Classic]

Yeah, highest technology on my bike is the self cancelling turn signals. Most of the big Vulcans have major-league electrical systems with the exception of the Mean Streak (I think) so running tons of accessories is no problem as long as it's not an arc welder. The bad ecu must have been staying energized to some extent and drawing down the battery. I'm a little surprised it was intermittent and that they found it so quickly.

[CheriAnn]

Tina, I have seen SO MANY MORE accessories on bikes, and although I haven't seen them in person, on the Nomad forum, there are bikes with MEGA bling!!!!!!!

As for the ECU, he talked to Chaz about the details, but along with some testing of components, I THINK he told Chaz he had everything unhooked from the battery except the ECU and the battery was dead the next morning.

When Chaz called our local dealer (who we cringe having to use) and talked to someone in service, he told Chaz they could test the ECU and relays (another possibility according to our local mechanic) and know the cause within an hour We'll see......we're dropping it off today after work.