Battery Drain

freetime2247

Joined
Sep 17, 2008
Messages
141
Location
Lafayette, Louisiana
Bike
2006 ST
Help everyone! I need a little assistance..I've had numerous issues with battery drains on my 06 for about the last 8 months or so. The honda dealer replaced the orginal battery and I'm on my second battery. These days every Saturday morning before I ride I have to place the battery on the charger because the battery is dead. I installed honda heated grips complete with the additional wiring harness, garmin zumo 550 mount, and a Givi Top Box with brake light. As I stated before the bike has been to the dealer twice for this issue and they were not able to find any draw on the electrical system when the key was in the off position. Now it's back in the shop for the same thing and now the dealer is telling me that they found the electrical draw coming from the honda heated grips with the key in the off position.

Is this possible? I've never been able to get the heated grips to work with the key off. Further, the dealer explains that I incorrectly installed the heated grips! WHAT! You simply plug one wiring harness into the bike wiring harness! How could i screw that up? I've used the grips several times as they been installed for about a year now...

Anyone have any battery drain issues with their ST? I need HELP........
 
The possibilities are almost limitless when it comes to electrical problems and possible side-effects of those problems.

Have the dealer show you the specific problem regarding the mis-wiring.
 
If the heated grips are drawing the power from the battery, wouldn't you feel it?
 
Well the dealer 1st informed me they had found the regulatory rectifer inoperative......Then when they found out it it would take about 10hrs of labor to install a new one they determined it was my heated grip installation...
 
I had an elec draw when I first got my ST. They disconnected all of the accessories I had installed. Thank god I had everything running to a fuse block. and started checking and found that the main wiring harness had a short they first thought there was not enough draw to make the kind of battery drain I was experiencing but further checking it was the problem and replaced the main harness. $600 for the part and another 5 hours to replace. Not cheap But that's what the warranty is for.
 
hojo in sc said:
If the heated grips are drawing the power from the battery, wouldn't you feel it?
Click to expand...

Not necessarily...

For instance, a power drain could be occuring that is bypassing the heated grip altogether (shorting around the heated grips) due to a wiring malfunction.

Or...two circuits could be cross-connected thereby causing a loop between the circuits and causing a power drain. Or...a wire could be chaffed and causing a short circuit (either intermittently or continuously). Or...

I'm not saying that the install is indeed the problem, only saying it is possible to have a problem related to a faulty install of any accessory (including heated grips), and cause a problem similar to the above description.

edit - make sure to have the dealer show the specific problem with the install, it is also possible a dealer is using the heated grip install as an excuse to charge money for an otherwise warranty issue.
 
Last edited:
freetime2247 said:
Well the dealer 1st informed me they had found the regulatory rectifer inoperative......Then when they found out it it would take about 10hrs of labor to install a new one they determined it was my heated grip installation...
Click to expand...

I think they're either incompetent or BSing you.

First: Almost all ten of the pages in chapter 19 of the service manual are devoted to troubleshooting the electrical system. The procedure begins with putting the battery on an analyzer and ends with removing the throttle bodies, pulling the alternator off the bike and checking its various parts. If they declared it a rectifier/regulator a problem and then claimed an improperly-installed accessory (a Hondaline accessory no less) was drawing current, they're not following the procedure. They would have detected that right after checking the battery.

Second: The regulator and rectifier are two separate components on this bike, both of which are individually testable. The regulator gets tested early in the procedure when the charging voltage is checked. The rectifier is checked with the alternator off and apart. Which was it?

Third: This bike doesn't have a history of charging system problems, but we do have a lot of stories of batteries going bad. Honda won't do a warranty replacement on a battery without it having been tested. What were the results of the battery test this time through?

--Mark
 
Not sure which it is yet! They siad the battery this time checked out good even though i put the battery on the charger and still could not get it cranked. They charged the battery, let the bike sit over night and then cranked it everyday for four days..Then finally on day five, they did not crank the bike and let it sit until noon and it would not crank. At that point the supposedly identified the regulator/rectifier as the problem...Finally, the owner of the dealer ship called the following day and explained it was not the regulator/rectifier but instead he explained they found a draw on the heated grips with the key in the off position. Again,, I don't understand how this can happen with the installation as you simply plug the heat grips wiring harness into the bikes wiring harness....Would seem like there would have to be an issue with either the bikes wiring harness or the heated grips harness...Either way, they say they will show me the draw when i visit the shop on Monday.
 
okmurdog said:
Not necessarily...

For instance, a power drain could be occuring that is bypassing the heated grip altogether (shorting around the heated grips) due to a wiring malfunction.

Or...two circuits could be cross-connected thereby causing a loop between the circuits and causing a power drain. Or...a wire could be chaffed and causing a short circuit (either intermittently or continuously). Or...

I'm not saying that the install is indeed the problem, only saying it is possible to have a problem related to a faulty install of any accessory (including heated grips), and cause a problem similar to the above description.

edit - make sure to have the dealer show the specific problem with the install, it is also possible a dealer is using the heated grip install as an excuse to charge money for an otherwise warranty issue.
Click to expand...


Okay, then wouldn't the fuse be blowing (assuming the correct size fuse is in place)???
 
hojo in sc said:
Okay, then wouldn't the fuse be blowing (assuming the correct size fuse is in place)???
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. If it's a dead positive-to-ground short, then you'd probably blow a fuse, but if it's something intermittent or resistive, you could see current draw. Unless the grip install was really horribly botched, I'm inclined to rule that out.

FT, I'll be real interested to see how much draw they're finding. If they show you a number anything less than 2.5 mA, they're looking at normal draw from the dash. If it's anything more and it goes away when the grips are disconnected, the grips are defective and should be replaced under the accessory warranty.

--Mark
 
Ok fellows here's the final!!! I was just informed that I pluged the heated grip harness into the ST's 3 pin black plastic plug in. There are three plug ins on the ST's harness, one white, one black and a larger 9 pin white plug in. I just found out the black plug in is hot all the time with the key in the off position. The heated grips were drawing 8.5MA when the key was in the off position due to the fact the black 3 pin plug in was hot.

Question: Is the black 3 pin plug in supposed to be "HOT" all the time even when the key is in the off position?

Now I'm looking at 9 hrs of labor for diagnosing the battery drain and putting my bike back together!

Help!!!
 
ST Wiring Harness

Hello again! Can anyone tell me if any of the three plugs on the ST wiring harness are suppose to be "HOT" all the time?
I was having an issue with the battery continously being drained with the key in the off position. The dealer techs took about 8hrs to find that the issue was the heated grips. They informed me that I had plugged the heated grip harness into the black 3pin ST wiring harness plug which is "HOT" continously. Therefore, the heated grips where drawing approximately 8.5MA with the key in the off position thereby draining the battery.
I had no idea that the black 3 pin plug on the ST wiring harness was all ways live.......Dummy me I guess.....That was a $1200.00 mistake with labor and taxes...
 
Re: ST Wiring Harness

good Lord !! $150 bucks an hour ???????
With High paid technicians like that, you think they would have checked any power connections first maybe??
 
Re: ST Wiring Harness

Just had a thought. Genuine Honda grips will only power up when the voltage in the bike goes above a certain point (13.5-14v?). Can one of the electrical peeps round here please advise if this will still flatten your battery if you plug into the wrong socket?
 
Re: ST Wiring Harness

Nothing on my bike is hot all the time, too risky for me to kill my battery.
 
All the more reason to use an electrical tester FIRST to make sure what wires are hot and what wires are not.
 
Re: ST Wiring Harness

9-Pin Clear Connector
Harness Side Color ------ Signal/Function
Green ------------------- Ground
Light Blue -------------- Right Turn Signal
Red/Black --------------- Switched 12V
Orange ------------------ Left Turn Signal
Red/Green --------------- Constant 12V


3-Pin Black Connector
Harness Side Color ------ Signal/Function
Green ------------------- Ground
Light Green/Black ------- Switched 12V + ACC 12V
Red/Green --------------- Constant 12V


3-Pin Red Connector
Harness Side Color ------ Signal/Function
Green ------------------- Ground
Light Green/Black ------- Switched 12V + ACC 12V


3-Pin White Connector
Harness Side Color ------ Signal/Function
Green ------------------- Ground
Red/Black --------------- Switched 12V
 
Re: ST Wiring Harness

I would have thought if the grips were drawing 8.5MA that the grips would have been warm to the touch. That was not the case, in fact they where positioned in the off postion so I still don't understand how they were pulling that much current.
Wonder what the shop will do if the battery is still drained with the grip harness positioned in the clear 3pin connector?
 
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