Hi, I have an issue with loss of battery power (being drained whilst the bike is not in use). Some faultfinding showed me that the current is going over the indicator/clock fuse. Disconnecting the speedo it was still there, so has to be the indicator relais. Having removed the relais the fault was gone. This all with contact off, key removed and kill switch off. Any idea what's going on here????

Sounds like a short between feed and earth on relay.Have you tried new relay to see if its just a duff ralay?
pete

Hi Rene,
It definitely sounds like a faulty relay which is a bugger as they are fairly dear new but there are a number on the second-hand market, Drake Smith often has a them for sale http://www.kbikeparts.com/
I just checked he has them for $45, Drake is a top guy very helpful.
Regards,
K-BIKE

Thanks team, appreciate the help. I just bought a cable loom of ebay with all relays (don't dare to say for how much :-)), so will see if that relay solve it.

Here is what feed the flasher unit. The bulb monitoring and the 4 way flashers are part of the circuit too.
The full schematic is in the download section.

I have noted the current draw after lots of issues with depleted batteries (expensive hobby!) and I then started removing the fuses and measure the current draw over each. I found that the only one with a substantial draw was fuse No. 3 which is for the clock in the tacho and the blinker relais. Disconnecting the tacho didn't change anything, so I conclude it must be lost over the blinker relais. I changed the relais for a spare one, but that didn't change it at all.

Hi Rene,
How much current are you measuring if you put your meter across the fuse socket with the fuse out of course?
Regards,
K-BIKE

I was looking at the electrical schematic, and have the following comment:
Fuse #3, 4 and 5 have a common point coming from the battery.

The flashing unit is also connected to the load shed relay (Fuse #7) Do you still have a drain if you remove the load shed relay?

Pin 31 of the flasher unit goes to the bulb monitoring. Have you tried to replace the bulb monitoring unit to see if it solves your problem?

Do you have the option for the 4 way flashers. It maybe a bad switch and you may want to temporarily disconnect it

Fuse #5 goes to the accessory socket and alarm system.
Do you have an alarm or something plugged on the accessory socket? If yes, check it, if not remove fuse #5 to be sure that nothing drain the battery on this fuse.

If you disconnect the flasher unit and the instrument cluster, do you see any drain? If yes and the bulb monitoring & 4way flashers are disconnected, disconnect the handlebar switches and test again. You may have a short there.

Let us know what you find.

Bert

Great info, thanks!! BTW the drain is 5.6 mAmp, measured over the two connecter points of the 4th fuse in the above schedule. Therefore I would not think I would be measuring what's happening 'behind' the other fuses? I measured all the fuses and the one for the clock/indicator relais was the only one showing a reading.
Will do the above tests over the weekend and report back. Thanks!

Hi Rene,
5.56 mA is very little current in battery run down terms it would take 100 hours to run down a bit over 1/2 an amp hour so given we have a 20 Ah battery in the K if it was fully charged taking it down 1/2 way would take about 74 days so although you have a problem that is eating batteries I don't think it is that relay.

How often do you ride the bike and really important what is the charging circuit doing? What sort of electrical load do you run on your bike when you are driving and how long a journey do you take after the start-up and what is your guestimate of average speed?

I am just trying to get a profile of how your battery gets treated by the alternator. Trickling through heavy traffic with lots of lights on would probably have a K slowly flattening the battery for instance.
Regards,
K-BIKE

Have you taken the drain at the battery (after removing the fuse for the clock)?
You may have a bad diode in you alternator!

Bert, if it would have been a diode in the alternator I would expect to not see the drain at a specific fuse. BTW I pulled the plug from the alternator, but the issue was still there.
I have further disconnected all relais one by one, but no change. Further disconnected the connectors under the tank, but no change..................This is an interesting one!!
I think I answered all your questions/tips in red above. None makes a change.

Bert, can you email me the schedule of the trelais as part does not show. Thanks!

Hi Rene,
I still think the 5.6 mA is too low to be the problem I suspect the real issue is something else. Is the bike under or overcharging killing the battery? Have you been having flat batteries or just batteries that die way too early? The typical battery is 20 Ah when new so that is 20,000 mAh so divided by 5.6 it is a lot of hours till the battery went completely flat.
Regards,
K-BIKE

Hi, fair comment, that's why I have asked on a few forums if some of the members can give me their measurements. The battery died way too early, not even a year old and little used in anger. Just found it one day completely depleted (0 Volts!) and the optimate unable to charge it. Put it paralel with another battery to overcome the initial stage and got it to 3.5V, but I could not get it to go higher anymore. Got it replaced by MotoBins under guarantee, but want to prevent a reoccurance.

hi,

I have had new batteries go dead over a period of 1-7 days and upon inspection was told by garage they has an internal short and ther were replaced under warranty.

I hope you do not cause yourself any damage while rolling on the floor laughing... as said just my 0.00002c

tnx
Roy