Battery drain.....

[mbskeam]

so....
for the past few months I have been fighting my battery draining till it was dead, this took on average 1 week.
I then started to un hook diff items that might cause this, ie. gen, horn, my alarm...etc. still no luck it would go dead.
so I then got out the multi meter and unhooked the ground, hooked up the meter lead to ground and the other to the batt ground, with the ign switch off you should read all zeros, but not in my case, it was .025 volts/.001 amps draw, so its time to start pullin parts I went to the terminal block behind the coil and found this.....

3 of the studs bleed thru and 2 did not
I think I found my problem, the rust and corrosion on the studs was letting the batt bleed thru to ground, not a direct short but just enough to drain my battery....

mbskeam

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[VT]

Where can you buy replacement insulation paper? I tired but found none. V-Twin® doesn't carry them, nor does Colony®.

[mbskeam]

this one I think I made from MR Gasket paper, I think I did but am not sure, but if you look at the last pic its says mr gasket , so I must have...LOL
I just dont recall..


mbskeam

[51Hog]

Any place that sells electronic parts-n-pieces should have the insulation paper--

[john HD]

mbskeam,

that would explain your drain. i would pay particular attention to the insulators that protect the shank of the terminal. i found some stepped plastic washers at my local hardware store.

the paper would seem to insulate the connectors in case they touched the sides of the box.

on my dashboard, i was able to use black rubber grommets to pass the terminal bolt through. with a regular metal washer on each side. they have provided years of dependable service.

john

[mbskeam]

ya, it has the steped plastic washers, going to make a plastic strip to insolate the studs, and the studs, nuts and washers will be ST.ST. this time, maybe it will last 30 years and not just 15 this time....LOL

mbskeam

[FlatHeadSix]

Good detective work Mike, it appears that the "rust crust" that grew on the washers was making a high resistance contact with the bracket, enough to pull a slow drain on the battery. The paper insulator, i think they called it Fish Paper back then, could easily be fabricated and replaced with modern materials like a plastic or mylar sheet, like John said its only insurance against the terminals contacting the bracket plate. The stepped insulating washers are the important thing, the step needs to be high enough to keep the washers off of the plate. Stainless washers should prevent future episodes, and I would go with stainless hardware also. Originals were brass but corrosion will get you as quick as rust will. Clean it, paint it, make a new insulator sheet, replace the hardware, and you're back in business.

I'm going to pull my coil now and look behind it, I haven't had any problems but it never hurts to look. I'm glad I don't live in the land of salted roads anymore but the humidity runs high enough here in Arkansas to create the same kind of trouble.

good job, thanks for the alert!

mike

[john HD]

mbskeam


two other thoughts, when you make your new insulating paper make it oversize so that the excess paper can fold over itself. then there is no worry about the cover plate shorting to the studs. (i just have a couple of layers of electrical tape in the inside of my cover.

if you know anyone who works for the phone company ask them if they have any of the plastic sheeting they use to insulate the connector bundle in a underground pedistal.

john

[BigMike]

GC Electronics, Fiberoid Fish Paper, 240 sq in roll, .010" thick. part # 560
We use tons of it in the telecom/telephone business.
Most electrical suppliers such as Graybar will have it. That stuff is great! You can use it to bundle wires, then attach to support without biting the wires and getting a ground, little pieces to keep wires and terminals from shorting under the dash, etc.

[mbskeam]

got back to fixin bike and this is what I came up with....

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I used 2 layers of.010 thick nylon tape and a piece on the back side, the hardware is now ST.ST.
should last a while...

mbskeam

[mbskeam]

what starts out as a simple tast can turn into trouble, and if I did not have bad luck , I would not have any at all....
started to put my elect connections back together, and as I put in the bottom stud I find that it is striped out....
so try and find a helicoil, but that turns out to be a problem as nobody local has 3/8-24 inserts, and the tap would be 20 bucks , since I'm a cheap kinda guy.
that is not going to work...
so this is what I did,

put a 1/2-20 3/8lg piece of allthread into the lathe and center drilled it....

then drilled it for 3/8-24 tap....

tapping....

taped mount block 1/2-20, then threaded in insert with red locktight....

done.....

got it all buttoned up and will see if the batt stays up now, voltage has not dropped in 3 days, so it looks good.....yhaaa

mbskeam

[panhead_kicker]

Making your own threaded insert ...<grinning>
... that's as bad as honing a rocker with lapping compound.
One thing does seem to lead to another if you don't stay on top of stuff. My top end job started with a frayed tailight wire.