Battery My bike is now on it's 4th battery in 18 months. It charges fine and shows 12.5 - 13v on the meter, but when the bike's stood for over 4 hours, it's flat Confused Even with the main switch off Any ideas?

but when the bike's stood for over 4 hours it's flat Confused Even with the main switch off Any ideas?OK beg,borrow, or steal a multitester with current(amps) reading on it. 10 amps is more than ideal, but you will probably need less after initial tests. Ammeters need to be in series, not in parallel like volt testers, so disconnect one battery lead(either will do) and complete the circuit by putting the multimeter leads between the battery lead(disconnected) and the battery terminal. You are now gonna see on the meter, every amp pulled from the battery. turn the ign on and turn a light on, you will see the current rise, as amps are drawn, ok! Turn the ignition off and see what happens. Probably with it set on the 10amp scale youll see nowt, so go down the range on the meter into milliamps, and my guess is that you will see a reading. You shouldnt see anything at all with ign off, but Id guess you can see a few milliamps on the gauge. If this is the case, proceed as follows: One by one, remove the bikes fuses and replace them, if at any point the reading drops to zero you have found the circuit which is sucking the power. If that fails, try again, but one by one undo (every) multiplug on the bike, again one of em should cause the reading to drop. When you have found a fuse or a plug that causes the meter to read zero amps, check that circuit. Maybe there is a wire rubbing onto the frame, a switch corroded internally, or similar, but now you know the bit you need to fix. If you connect the meter as described and there is NO current drain, you are either special! or leaving the side light circuit on(muppet!) good luck.,,,

but when the bike's stood for over 4 hours it's flat Confused Even with the main switch off Any ideas?OK beg,borrow, or steal a multitester with current(amps) reading on it. 10 amps is more than ideal, but you will probably need less after initial tests. Ammeters need to be in series, not in parallel like volt testers, so disconnect one battery lead(either will do) and complete the circuit by putting the multimeter leads between the battery lead(disconnected) and the battery terminal. You are now gonna see on the meter, every amp pulled from the battery. turn the ign on and turn a light on, you will see the current rise, as amps are drawn, ok! Turn the ignition off and see what happens. Probably with it set on the 10amp scale youll see nowt, so go down the range on the meter into milliamps, and my guess is that you will see a reading. You shouldnt see anything at all with ign off, but Id guess you can see a few milliamps on the gauge. If this is the case, proceed as follows: One by one, remove the bikes fuses and replace them, if at any point the reading drops to zero you have found the circuit which is sucking the power. If that fails, try again, but one by one undo (every) multiplug on the bike, again one of em should cause the reading to drop. When you have found a fuse or a plug that causes the meter to read zero amps, check that circuit. Maybe there is a wire rubbing onto the frame, a switch corroded internally, or similar, but now you know the bit you need to fix. If you connect the meter as described and there is NO current drain, you are either special! or leaving the side light circuit on(muppet!) good luck.,,,

but when the bike's stood for over 4 hours it's flat Confused Even with the main switch off Any ideas?OK beg,borrow, or steal a multitester with current(amps) reading on it. 10 amps is more than ideal, but you will probably need less after initial tests. Ammeters need to be in series, not in parallel like volt testers, so disconnect one battery lead(either will do) and complete the circuit by putting the multimeter leads between the battery lead(disconnected) and the battery terminal. You are now gonna see on the meter, every amp pulled from the battery. turn the ign on and turn a light on, you will see the current rise, as amps are drawn, ok! Turn the ignition off and see what happens. Probably with it set on the 10amp scale youll see nowt, so go down the range on the meter into milliamps, and my guess is that you will see a reading. You shouldnt see anything at all with ign off, but Id guess you can see a few milliamps on the gauge. If this is the case, proceed as follows: One by one, remove the bikes fuses and replace them, if at any point the reading drops to zero you have found the circuit which is sucking the power. If that fails, try again, but one by one undo (every) multiplug on the bike, again one of em should cause the reading to drop. When you have found a fuse or a plug that causes the meter to read zero amps, check that circuit. Maybe there is a wire rubbing onto the frame, a switch corroded internally, or similar, but now you know the bit you need to fix. If you connect the meter as described and there is NO current drain, you are either special! or leaving the side light circuit on(muppet!) good luck.,,,

but when the bike's stood for over 4 hours it's flat Confused Even with the main switch off Any ideas?OK beg,borrow, or steal a multitester with current(amps) reading on it. 10 amps is more than ideal, but you will probably need less after initial tests. Ammeters need to be in series, not in parallel like volt testers, so disconnect one battery lead(either will do) and complete the circuit by putting the multimeter leads between the battery lead(disconnected) and the battery terminal. You are now gonna see on the meter, every amp pulled from the battery. turn the ign on and turn a light on, you will see the current rise, as amps are drawn, ok! Turn the ignition off and see what happens. Probably with it set on the 10amp scale youll see nowt, so go down the range on the meter into milliamps, and my guess is that you will see a reading. You shouldnt see anything at all with ign off, but Id guess you can see a few milliamps on the gauge. If this is the case, proceed as follows: One by one, remove the bikes fuses and replace them, if at any point the reading drops to zero you have found the circuit which is sucking the power. If that fails, try again, but one by one undo (every) multiplug on the bike, again one of em should cause the reading to drop. When you have found a fuse or a plug that causes the meter to read zero amps, check that circuit. Maybe there is a wire rubbing onto the frame, a switch corroded internally, or similar, but now you know the bit you need to fix. If you connect the meter as described and there is NO current drain, you are either special! or leaving the side light circuit on(muppet!) good luck.,,,

but when the bike's stood for over 4 hours it's flat Confused Even with the main switch off Any ideas?OK beg,borrow, or steal a multitester with current(amps) reading on it. 10 amps is more than ideal, but you will probably need less after initial tests. Ammeters need to be in series, not in parallel like volt testers, so disconnect one battery lead(either will do) and complete the circuit by putting the multimeter leads between the battery lead(disconnected) and the battery terminal. You are now gonna see on the meter, every amp pulled from the battery. turn the ign on and turn a light on, you will see the current rise, as amps are drawn, ok! Turn the ignition off and see what happens. Probably with it set on the 10amp scale youll see nowt, so go down the range on the meter into milliamps, and my guess is that you will see a reading. You shouldnt see anything at all with ign off, but Id guess you can see a few milliamps on the gauge. If this is the case, proceed as follows: One by one, remove the bikes fuses and replace them, if at any point the reading drops to zero you have found the circuit which is sucking the power. If that fails, try again, but one by one undo (every) multiplug on the bike, again one of em should cause the reading to drop. When you have found a fuse or a plug that causes the meter to read zero amps, check that circuit. Maybe there is a wire rubbing onto the frame, a switch corroded internally, or similar, but now you know the bit you need to fix. If you connect the meter as described and there is NO current drain, you are either special! or leaving the side light circuit on(muppet!) good luck.,,,

but when the bike's stood for over 4 hours it's flat Confused Even with the main switch off Any ideas?OK beg,borrow, or steal a multitester with current(amps) reading on it. 10 amps is more than ideal, but you will probably need less after initial tests. Ammeters need to be in series, not in parallel like volt testers, so disconnect one battery lead(either will do) and complete the circuit by putting the multimeter leads between the battery lead(disconnected) and the battery terminal. You are now gonna see on the meter, every amp pulled from the battery. turn the ign on and turn a light on, you will see the current rise, as amps are drawn, ok! Turn the ignition off and see what happens. Probably with it set on the 10amp scale youll see nowt, so go down the range on the meter into milliamps, and my guess is that you will see a reading. You shouldnt see anything at all with ign off, but Id guess you can see a few milliamps on the gauge. If this is the case, proceed as follows: One by one, remove the bikes fuses and replace them, if at any point the reading drops to zero you have found the circuit which is sucking the power. If that fails, try again, but one by one undo (every) multiplug on the bike, again one of em should cause the reading to drop. When you have found a fuse or a plug that causes the meter to read zero amps, check that circuit. Maybe there is a wire rubbing onto the frame, a switch corroded internally, or similar, but now you know the bit you need to fix. If you connect the meter as described and there is NO current drain, you are either special! or leaving the side light circuit on(muppet!) good luck.,,,

but when the bike's stood for over 4 hours it's flat Confused Even with the main switch off Any ideas?OK beg,borrow, or steal a multitester with current(amps) reading on it. 10 amps is more than ideal, but you will probably need less after initial tests. Ammeters need to be in series, not in parallel like volt testers, so disconnect one battery lead(either will do) and complete the circuit by putting the multimeter leads between the battery lead(disconnected) and the battery terminal. You are now gonna see on the meter, every amp pulled from the battery. turn the ign on and turn a light on, you will see the current rise, as amps are drawn, ok! Turn the ignition off and see what happens. Probably with it set on the 10amp scale youll see nowt, so go down the range on the meter into milliamps, and my guess is that you will see a reading. You shouldnt see anything at all with ign off, but Id guess you can see a few milliamps on the gauge. If this is the case, proceed as follows: One by one, remove the bikes fuses and replace them, if at any point the reading drops to zero you have found the circuit which is sucking the power. If that fails, try again, but one by one undo (every) multiplug on the bike, again one of em should cause the reading to drop. When you have found a fuse or a plug that causes the meter to read zero amps, check that circuit. Maybe there is a wire rubbing onto the frame, a switch corroded internally, or similar, but now you know the bit you need to fix. If you connect the meter as described and there is NO current drain, you are either special! or leaving the side light circuit on(muppet!) good luck.,,,

but when the bike's stood for over 4 hours it's flat Confused Even with the main switch off Any ideas?OK beg,borrow, or steal a multitester with current(amps) reading on it. 10 amps is more than ideal, but you will probably need less after initial tests. Ammeters need to be in series, not in parallel like volt testers, so disconnect one battery lead(either will do) and complete the circuit by putting the multimeter leads between the battery lead(disconnected) and the battery terminal. You are now gonna see on the meter, every amp pulled from the battery. turn the ign on and turn a light on, you will see the current rise, as amps are drawn, ok! Turn the ignition off and see what happens. Probably with it set on the 10amp scale youll see nowt, so go down the range on the meter into milliamps, and my guess is that you will see a reading. You shouldnt see anything at all with ign off, but Id guess you can see a few milliamps on the gauge. If this is the case, proceed as follows: One by one, remove the bikes fuses and replace them, if at any point the reading drops to zero you have found the circuit which is sucking the power. If that fails, try again, but one by one undo (every) multiplug on the bike, again one of em should cause the reading to drop. When you have found a fuse or a plug that causes the meter to read zero amps, check that circuit. Maybe there is a wire rubbing onto the frame, a switch corroded internally, or similar, but now you know the bit you need to fix. If you connect the meter as described and there is NO current drain, you are either special! or leaving the side light circuit on(muppet!) good luck.,,,

but when the bike's stood for over 4 hours it's flat Confused Even with the main switch off Any ideas?OK beg,borrow, or steal a multitester with current(amps) reading on it. 10 amps is more than ideal, but you will probably need less after initial tests. Ammeters need to be in series, not in parallel like volt testers, so disconnect one battery lead(either will do) and complete the circuit by putting the multimeter leads between the battery lead(disconnected) and the battery terminal. You are now gonna see on the meter, every amp pulled from the battery. turn the ign on and turn a light on, you will see the current rise, as amps are drawn, ok! Turn the ignition off and see what happens. Probably with it set on the 10amp scale youll see nowt, so go down the range on the meter into milliamps, and my guess is that you will see a reading. You shouldnt see anything at all with ign off, but Id guess you can see a few milliamps on the gauge. If this is the case, proceed as follows: One by one, remove the bikes fuses and replace them, if at any point the reading drops to zero you have found the circuit which is sucking the power. If that fails, try again, but one by one undo (every) multiplug on the bike, again one of em should cause the reading to drop. When you have found a fuse or a plug that causes the meter to read zero amps, check that circuit. Maybe there is a wire rubbing onto the frame, a switch corroded internally, or similar, but now you know the bit you need to fix. If you connect the meter as described and there is NO current drain, you are either special! or leaving the side light circuit on(muppet!) good luck.,,,

but when the bike's stood for over 4 hours it's flat Confused Even with the main switch off Any ideas?OK beg,borrow, or steal a multitester with current(amps) reading on it. 10 amps is more than ideal, but you will probably need less after initial tests. Ammeters need to be in series, not in parallel like volt testers, so disconnect one battery lead(either will do) and complete the circuit by putting the multimeter leads between the battery lead(disconnected) and the battery terminal. You are now gonna see on the meter, every amp pulled from the battery. turn the ign on and turn a light on, you will see the current rise, as amps are drawn, ok! Turn the ignition off and see what happens. Probably with it set on the 10amp scale youll see nowt, so go down the range on the meter into milliamps, and my guess is that you will see a reading. You shouldnt see anything at all with ign off, but Id guess you can see a few milliamps on the gauge. If this is the case, proceed as follows: One by one, remove the bikes fuses and replace them, if at any point the reading drops to zero you have found the circuit which is sucking the power. If that fails, try again, but one by one undo (every) multiplug on the bike, again one of em should cause the reading to drop. When you have found a fuse or a plug that causes the meter to read zero amps, check that circuit. Maybe there is a wire rubbing onto the frame, a switch corroded internally, or similar, but now you know the bit you need to fix. If you connect the meter as described and there is NO current drain, you are either special! or leaving the side light circuit on(muppet!) good luck.,,,