[AK Mike]

Greetings all,

I've finally been able to start taking out the new Himmy and breaking in the engine.  But I have a VERY annoying battery drain that I just can't figure out.

Ever since I got the bike this past winter, if I leave the it sit for a few days, the battery will drain.  I replaced the stock battery, (since everyone says it's crap), and replaced it with not one, but two new and very good quality batteries... but to no avail.  I lose about 1 tenth of a volt every day.  So if I start out with 12.6 volts, the next day it'll be 12.5, the next day 12.4 and so on.  If I let it go for over a week, I'll have a dead battery.

The bike is totally stock... no accessories of any kind.  No heated grips or USB outlets... nothing.  What the heck would cause this?  The only thing I can think that uses some juice even when off is the digital clock on the dash.  Could that possibly be the cause?  If so, how do I disable that clock, (don't need it anyway).

Let me know your thoughts.

[olhogrider]

Here's a simple test, and bear in mind I don't have a Himalayan. Remove the positive cable from the battery. Put an ammeter between the positive battery terminal and the positive cable. In series, not parallel. So all the juice has to go through the gauge. You shouldn't see any drain but I suspect you will. Then, one at a time remove fuses. When you pull the one that stops the flow you have identified the circuit. Maybe it is something that can be switched off or possibly something with a short. Good luck.

[Grant Borden]

Have you looked at the rectifier/regulator? If defective it can cause the battery to go flat and/ or destroy the battery giving a similar symptom. This happened on my Classic 500.

Grant

[AK Mike]

Have you looked at the rectifier/regulator? If defective it can cause the battery to go flat and/ or destroy the battery giving a similar symptom. This happened on my Classic 500.

Grant

Oh great... Thanks Grant.  Yet another thing for my electrically illiterate brain to try and wrap itself around 

But I "think" from the little I understand about the rectifier/regulator, it seems to be working as intended.  When my bike is running at idle, the battery has a voltage reading around 14.3... steady, with really no more or less.  So the bike is charging the battery as intended, and right after riding, the battery voltage is up where it should be at around 12.6/.7 volts.  But the battery is just discharging, (faster than it seems it should), over time when sitting idle.  Of course I know than any battery will discharge over time, but it's happening with my Himalayan way too too fast.

But I will study up some more on the workings of the regulator/rectifier, so many thanks for the tip.

[AK Mike]

Here's a simple test, and bear in mind I don't have a Himalayan. Remove the positive cable from the battery. Put an ammeter between the positive battery terminal and the positive cable. In series, not parallel. So all the juice has to go through the gauge. You shouldn't see any drain but I suspect you will. Then, one at a time remove fuses. When you pull the one that stops the flow you have identified the circuit. Maybe it is something that can be switched off or possibly something with a short. Good luck.

Thank you sir for that suggestion.  I had already tried that and it doesn't seem that any current goes through the meter.  Still stumped, but still trying other tests.

[DaveNZ]

Got to this forum when looking for help. We bought four of these as rentals, and they all have the battery drain issue. Still using original batteries, but will look to change them. They all drain down in about 4 days, then you have to use a jump starter or charge them back up. I am now disconnecting batteries once charged - only have to reset the clock.
I believe it is the clock draining them - what else could it be?
Cheers
Dave
Central Otago Motorcycle Hire, New Zealand.

[oldphart]

It's not the clock.
I've got a carby model and there is no battery drain at all. I've actually left it for a few weeks without a problem starting at the end of it.

As for what it is, I have no idea. In fact, I subscribe to the smoke theory when it comes to 'lectrickery.

[Toni59]

If you can't measure a discharge current with your meter when all the consumers are off:
Is the meter sensitive enough?

If no discharge current is actually flowing in the motorbike, the battery should also discharge itself in the same time period when removed....

Regards
Toni

[viczena]

To really trap the consumer, you need an ampmeter with milli Amp sensitivity. This is quite costly, but effective.
with that device you can follow every lead and find the leak very easy.
Something like this: https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00RGL98E0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[SlowRider]

I have a Himalayan and two Interceptors. When laid up over winter the 650's remarkably retain almost 100% full charge after several weeks. The Himalayan requires a good two hour charge after the same period. No idea why.

[zimmemr]

Greetings all,

I've finally been able to start taking out the new Himmy and breaking in the engine.  But I have a VERY annoying battery drain that I just can't figure out.

Ever since I got the bike this past winter, if I leave the it sit for a few days, the battery will drain.  I replaced the stock battery, (since everyone says it's crap), and replaced it with not one, but two new and very good quality batteries... but to no avail.  I lose about 1 tenth of a volt every day.  So if I start out with 12.6 volts, the next day it'll be 12.5, the next day 12.4 and so on.  If I let it go for over a week, I'll have a dead battery.

The bike is totally stock... no accessories of any kind.  No heated grips or USB outlets... nothing.  What the heck would cause this?  The only thing I can think that uses some juice even when off is the digital clock on the dash.  Could that possibly be the cause?  If so, how do I disable that clock, (don't need it anyway).

Let me know your thoughts.

One quick and dirty way to eliminate the rectifier is to simply unplug it. First charge the battery and check the voltage so you have a baseline. Then unplug the rectifier, let it sit for 24 hours and check the battery voltage. If it's maintained it's charge you've found the problem. If not more detective work is in order. It's not the most sophisticated method of trouble shooting, but it'll let you know whether the drain is caused by the rectifier.

[Bilgemaster]

I know not of your modern hard-riding Himi ways, but recall that this issue of inexplicable "Battery Drain" with the Himalayans has come up before, and that this particularly helpful posting by a user named "quebbeck" came up with links in it to two VERY useful YouTube how-to videos at https://forum.classicmotorworks.com/index.php?topic=27154.msg325929#msg325929. It was a bright spot in a thread that had otherwise been earlier marred by some weird and fussy "drama".

In the course of just looking at those two videos again, YouTube also suggested a third excellent look-see at the issue at https://youtu.be/fSxrRmNcHUs, which is well worth looking at too, even for non-Himi owners, if only for its description about 3 minutes in of a handy sort of compact multi-tool kit by Motion Pro called an "MP Tool", which is also linked in the description.

All of these videos pertain to upgrading to a Lithium-style battery. The last one I described features some sort of automatic safety cutoff feature if the battery senses it's being drawn down too low that can then be overriden by an easy-to-reach button on its top.

It's too bad they didn't think to give Himis some sort of additional kickstart...even some "vestigial" one for such eventualities. Bump-starting on a sandy trail couldn't be much fun.

[Karl Fenn]

Well check the battery on a meter, run the bike and check you should get anywhere between 13.5 to about 14 volts when you stop engine the volts should drop, just because you bought new battery does not mean it's good, l have bought new batteries before that have been bad.

[travbee]

Ever figure out what this was?

I've been experiencing it since day 1 on my 2018.

I never took it to the dealer under warranty, now I'm regretting that decision and super annoyed with always having a flat battery.

[Richard230]

Ever figure out what this was?

I've been experiencing it since day 1 on my 2018.

I never took it to the dealer under warranty, now I'm regretting that decision and super annoyed with always having a flat battery.

I have been having the same issue on my 2020 KTM Duke. After recharging the bike's battery to 3.3 Volts, which drops to 12.8 volts after a few hours rest, on a smart charger it drops to 12.3 volts within about 4 or 5 days.  I thought it was another lousy Indian-made Exide AGM battery so I replaced it with a new $60 battery bought from batterystuff.com. A new battery made no difference to the constant slow discharge. So now I recharge the battery at least once a week, or every time before I go for a ride. I can only assume that there is something going on with the bike's computer that is constantly thinking 24/7. Maybe it is reporting back to KTM about what other bikes I am riding during the week.