99 rsv battery drain

[ccpeso]

Just upgraded from a 97 tour classic to a 99 venture. The bike runs great. I drove it home and filled it up so it would be ready for work in the morn. Go to start it and battery is drained so low it wouldn't start. This is a good battery as i pulled it from my tc. The charging system is working putting out 13.5v at idle. I disconneted the pos cable from bat and put a test light between the pos term and the positive cable and it lights up. I pulled all fuses, disconnected all connections under both side covers, under the tank and it is still on. I pulled the front fairing and disconneted every electrical connector there and still on. I pulled the lower right fairing and disconnected all connections there :crying:and the the test light is still on, Any ideas? Thanks

[Squidley]

Dennis,

I see your in South Lyon, I'm about 70 miles away in Marine City. If we can get a good time to hook up perhaps you could come here or I could come to you and we can get it figured out. If your positive about the battery being good then something is obviously staying on and draining the battery. Give me a shout if you want to meet up, others will chime in here I'm sure.

[KiteSquid]

are you sure you pulled all the fuses to isolate all circuits. IIRC there are two fues blocks on the RSV.

 

Is there any accssories on the bike?????? Check them FIRST!!!!!

[LilBeaver]

You say you pulled ALL of the fuses; did that include the main 30A fuse (behind the left passenger peg). If that is the case then that should definitely help narrow down your search.

[Condor]

Just upgraded from a 97 tour classic to a 99 venture. The bike runs great. I drove it home and filled it up so it would be ready for work in the morn. Go to start it and battery is drained so low it wouldn't start. This is a good battery as i pulled it from my tc. The charging system is working putting out 13.5v at idle. I disconneted the pos cable from bat and put a test light between the pos term and the positive cable and it lights up. I pulled all fuses, disconnected all connections under both side covers, under the tank and it is still on. I pulled the front fairing and disconneted every electrical connector there and still on. I pulled the lower right fairing and disconnected all connections there :crying:and the the test light is still on, Any ideas? Thanks

 

I had a two year old battery that checked out great in every respect, but when I put a load on it, it croaked. Shorted cell...

[ccpeso]

all fuses out of both fuse boxes. if i disconnect the rectifier/regulator my test light goes out slowly. If I plug the regulator back in the test light is bright. Is it posible the regulator is bad. The connections are clean and the charging system is putting out 13.5v at an idle. Could this be the drain and is there a way to benc test the regulator??

[FreezyRider]

all fuses out of both fuse boxes. if i disconnect the rectifier/regulator my test light goes out slowly. If I plug the regulator back in the test light is bright. Is it posible the regulator is bad. The connections are clean and the charging system is putting out 13.5v at an idle. Could this be the drain and is there a way to benc test the regulator??

 

If your charging system is putting out 13.5 volts at idle on an RSV....then I'd say there is something wrong. Mine is lucky to put out 12v at idle.

The regulator/rectifier may be shorted and not really regulating anything anymore. Just curious, what does your voltmeter say at 3 or 4 thousand rpm??

I once almost blew up a battery on a Goldwing because the regulator went out and the system started charging at 17volts!

 

Joe

[LilBeaver]

If your charging system is putting out 13.5 volts at idle on an RSV....then I'd say there is something wrong. Mine is lucky to put out 12v at idle.

The regulator/rectifier may be shorted and not really regulating anything anymore. Just curious, what does your voltmeter say at 3 or 4 thousand rpm??

I once almost blew up a battery on a Goldwing because the regulator went out and the system started charging at 17volts!

 

Joe

 

Definitely do the higher RPM test to see if that is what is happening. A few months ago I DID blow up my battery as well as all of the lights and my radio (I think) thanks to my rectifier putting out 17+ volts at higher RPM but still doing a good 12-13 at idle.

 

Bench Test the Rectifier:

I have seen a few places where people have explained how to do it and each explanation was different and when I tried each on my bad rectifier/regulator none of them were conclusive for me. I have yet to hook it up to an oscilloscope or take it apart and look to see if I could come up with a better way to do it.

Another thing to check is to see if there is any AC voltage at the battery. If any at all is there it would show the rectifier is bad.

 

Other things to check are your grounds. Make sure that the main ground (down by the horn) as well as any other grounding points you can find are CLEAN and TIGHT. As goofy grounds can cause all sorts of problems.

 

Take a real close look at the rectifier/regulator unit to make sure that none of the pins look burnt. Also make sure that the connectors are making a firm connection with the harness as that will also produce behavior that looks like the rectifier/regulator is bad.

 

I absolutely hate electrical problems because sometimes it is cut and dry and sometimes the symptoms may seem to be totally unrelated to the actual source of the problem.

 

Hope this is some help, Good luck.

 

Keep us posted.

[1BigDog]

Having gone through a host of electrical problems with my 99 first thing I would do is to pull the battery and take it to an auto parts store and have it load tested and go from there. How old is that battery? A new regulator is about 55.00 at www.partshark.com . Those connections (pins) were worn out on mine badly and the red lead was burned.

[FreezyRider]

I absolutely hate electrical problems because sometimes it is cut and dry and sometimes the symptoms may seem to be totally unrelated to the actual source of the problem.

 

Boy, you said a mouthful there!!!

[ccpeso]

I put everything back together and started it. 13.8v at idle. I go for a ride of about 60 miles. 45 miles in my radio starts acting up then my headlight goes dim and my speedo starts acting funny. I turn all acc off and head for home. Bike dies 4 miles from home. No juice in the battery. All bad things have happy endings. My son in law is coming home from work and passes by me and stops. I jump battery and let charge 10 min and drive home with dimming lights. Put meter on and not charging. I charge batt and get online to see what advice you experts can give. I clean ground cable conn and pull regulator and look at connections. all look good. start bike with meter running and get 13.12v at idle. rev to about 2k and 14.1v. let it run for a while (reg on floor and is hot) and stops charging. battery starts to drain. Is it heat or bad regulator??

[Squidley]

I would swap out the regulator and if you can swing it, put a new battery in it. I had the regulator go out on my '99 and I played hell tracking it all down.

[FreezyRider]

Yeah, I'd be starting with the regulator.

Pinwall Cycle has some on ebay: http://stores.shop.ebay.com/PinWall-Cycle-Parts-Inc_Yamaha-Venture-Royal-Star_W0QQ_fsubZ5820835QQ_sidZ12458664?_nkw=regulator&submit=Search

 

Good luck!

[LilBeaver]

+1 to trying the regulator.

I think that you can be pretty sure you have a problem with it based on the fact that you had an issue with the electronics on your bike, (and you have said that you checked the grounds and they seemed okay), and you have pretty much ruled out the stator since you get ~14V at a higher rpm.

 

It still could be a short somewhere, BUT, replacing the regulator/rectifier seems like a surefire bet.

[Squidley]

A word of warning also, if you replace the rectifier, buy a new one, dont screw around with used. Whatever you do DONT buy from electrosport, I had more aggrivation with them and a crap product, get the stock Yamaha one and you'll be cool

[ccpeso]

I have checked ground connectons, regulator connections and all wiring harness connections and all info you guys have given. I havent had a battery drain in the last 5 days. The charging has been intermitent with the old regulator. I drove it 70 miles yesterday (I put a volt meter on to verify charging status) and the charging system was putting out over 13v. I go to drive it to work this morning and it started charging at 13v and 2 min later would not charge (below 12v) so I didn't drive it.

I ordered a new regulator and it came in today. I put it on and the bike is charging. The problem is at an idle it is at 13.9 without the passing lights or radio on. With the passing lights on, it drops to 13v at idle. No change with radio on and with turn signals on the voltage gauge needle bounces between 12.8 and 13v. On the road with radio,passing lights on, 13.0v unless I chank up the rpms nearing the rev limiter the gauge drops back to 12.2 and is bouncing until the rpms drop. At steady 80mph on the freeway, gauge reads 12.8 at 70mph it reads 13.0. There is no increase in charging voltage by reving the engine and holding the rpms up. Is this normal? If not, does anyone have any ideas.