Unofficial Royal Enfield Community Forum
Royal Enfield Motorcycles => Bullet with the UCE engine => Topic started by: jammydodger on September 24, 2013, 09:42:56 am
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Hello Folks,
Have any of you installed an isolation switch before?
I wanted to install one as recently I'm either having a short somewhere or my battery is dead. Just as a sanity check I thought a switch might be a good way to diagnose this, question being - Do I install this on the live wire or the negative? My guess is the live wire but wanted to check ::)
Then all I need to do to test is have a fully charged battery, flip the switch to 'off', leave it a few days and switch it on again and note the results. Then repeat the test with the switch in the 'on' position.
Cheers
J
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J - it sometimes gets under my skin when people who reply don't answer the question, but instead make other suggestions, or answer questions you didn't ask. But here I go: this isn't a answer to your question. ;)
One of your testing states (switch on) already exists, so for the sake of testing, why not just disconnect your battery? You could install a switch, but to do it you'd have to disconnect your battery anyway. It'll serve the same purpose, and it's a lot easier!
If it turns out your battery is bad, then you'll have to replace the battery. Your battery shouldn't be draining through your electrical system if everything is working correctly - therefore if it turns our your wiring is bad, you'll have to fix your wiring. Simply isolating the battery with a switch so it doesn't get drained through faulty wiring when the bike is parked isn't a good idea.
You probably already know this, but if you disconnect the battery, always disconnect the ground (negative for us) wire first - the loose wire can accidentally contact metal frame bits safely. If you disconnect the positive lead, and the wire touches bare grounded metal, you get an exciting short...
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J - it sometimes gets under my skin when people who reply don't answer the question, but instead make other suggestions, or answer questions you didn't ask. But here I go: this isn't a answer to your question. ;)
One of your testing states (switch on) already exists, so for the sake of testing, why not just disconnect your battery? You could install a switch, but to do it you'd have to disconnect your battery anyway. It'll serve the same purpose, and it's a lot easier!
If it turns out your battery is bad, then you'll have to replace the battery. Your battery shouldn't be draining through your electrical system if everything is working correctly - therefore if it turns our your wiring is bad, you'll have to fix your wiring. Simply isolating the battery with a switch so it doesn't get drained through faulty wiring when the bike is parked isn't a good idea.
You probably already know this, but if you disconnect the battery, always disconnect the ground (negative for us) wire first - the loose wire can accidentally contact metal frame bits safely. If you disconnect the positive lead, and the wire touches bare grounded metal, you get an exciting short...
+1
To me, anything less than 12V is dead (it'll kill your starter & your sprag). Should be 13 something with the engine running.
Of course, what do I know? I'm an incurable kickstart person.
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.............If you disconnect the positive lead, and the wire touches bare grounded metal, you get an exciting short...
exciting as if you dropped an anvil on your foot !!!
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Electrical problems are not to be ignored, you need to properly diagnose AND FIX whatever your problem is. Adding a switch is just going to make 1 place for a problem to occur. Get yourself a descent multi-meter (you can get nice ones for $10-$25) and start diagnosing where you think the problem is occurring. If it's just a bad battery replace it, cheap and easy. If you have a short, fix it before it it damages something else or could even start an electrical fire.
Scottie
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+1 to what Scottie said. Get a meter. With the ignition off there should be no current flowing out of the battery. Take one lead off and put the meter between the lead and the battery. If there's any voltage you've got a parasitic loss you need to track down. If not, you've got another problem. I'll see if I can find the charging system test flow chart.
Scott
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Here it is: http://www.electrosport.com/media/pdf/fault-finding-diagram.pdf
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A nice video on parasitic draw....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6rDTtxaeJ4
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This is why I love you guys...Sometimes the answer is only obvious if you know it.
I'll pull out the multimeter tonight and also try the test by leaving a lead loose if the multimeter shows no sign of a leak.
Here's hoping it's just the battery...
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You haven't mentioned how old your battery is, but the OEM batteries in Bullets don't have a particularly good reputation. Your battery has probably expired. Buy a good AGM battery for it. They're available for about $70.00 and will remove any further battery problems. Deka, Yuasa, and a couple of others work very well in the Enfields.
Bare
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Check charging. A defective rectifier can bleed back and drain the battery while sitting. A defective regulator, rectifier, or alternator may allow only a minimal charge.It might be enough to keep the bike running, but the batter winds up so low that it goes dead very quickly when sitting.
To check for a parasitic disconnect the battery and measure voltage. Now hook it up and measure voltage (key off). If it drops off more than .1 volt you may have a problem. The most common causes of parasitic draw are the rectifier or improper accessory installation.
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EricTheCarGuy has a detailed video for testing parasitic drain of battery. He measures the current amps flowing at the negative terminal when everything is turned off and key is out. He is in incredible source of information for everything cars. Many of his explanations and methods can be used for motorcycles as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF1gijj03_0
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In addition to new battery i suggest installing a digital voltmeter like Kuryakin LED voltmeter so you can keep track of battery voltage. The enfield charging system is pretty wimpy and i've found the meter very useful. For instance once the meter was installed i found that at idle with lights on the voltage would drop from green ("safe charging range) to yellow ("below normal operating range of your charging system"). Then it moves back to green during acceleration. So when i turn on the switch to start up and the light is green i know battery has a good charge -if yellow it's low. A 12 volt battery is at 100% "state of charge" at 12.7 volts, and 25% at 12.0 volts (about dead....).
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I've still not managed to get out to have a look at this yet but the tutorial videos and the flow chart are really useful, Thanks!
I'm not too sure how old the battery is as I bought the bike second hand earlier this year - as soon as I manage to put some your suggested diagnostic tests to use I'll be able to at least rule the battery out as a dud/still good then either the fun starts or the problem is solved!
Is parasitic drain a common feature of the Bullets?
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No
Bare
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It goes on the negitive cable.