Kawasaki Concours Forum
The C-14, aka Kawasaki Concours-14, the new one :) => The Bike - C14/GTR 1400 => Topic started by: maxtog on September 22, 2012, 09:34:17 PM
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I guess my battery is getting weak. This is the second (third?) time now that I could not start the bike after a dozen+ days of it sitting. I don't have anything added that is parasitic. Seems way too soon to need a battery on a 2011.
Anyway, last night I hopped on to go to my friend's (25 min away) and press the starter and yikes, too slow, and I got some message that flashed and went away, and it didn't start. Tried a second time and it seemed to have no brain left and threw up all kinds of errors - KTRIC ERROR, ABS ERROR, FI ERROR. Geesh.
So I went and got the tool to remove the panel and hooked up my battery box, waited a few min, then started it. "FI ERROR". Turned it off, waited, tried again... "FI ERROR". One more time, same thing. So while it was running I pressed both buttons for a while.... "Error code 24". And I could not clear it so I gave up and just left. As soon as I was moving a bit, the error went away and stayed away.
When I got home later, I looked up error 24... "Speed sensor malfunction". ??? I could be wrong, but I just think the wild voltage drop up and down just scrambled the computer's functions for a split second and caused phantom errors.
I drove the bike 200+ miles today, no problem at all.
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Have you checked the connections? I keep mine on a Battery Tender while I am away. I had too many batteries killed by sitting too long. I travel so my bikes sit at times. I had an RC51 and its batter was $170. I wen through three before I bought the Battery Tender. I am on my original 2009 C14 battery. I keep it plugged in.
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Have you checked the connections?
No, but it really was a dead/weak battery, not a bad connection. Started instantly when I put the jump box on it. And once it was charged by the alternator enough, started every time perfectly and strongly today.
I keep mine on a Battery Tender while I am away. I had too many batteries killed by sitting too long. I travel so my bikes sit at times. I had an RC51 and its battery was $170. I weny through three before I bought the Battery Tender. I am on my original 2009 C14 battery. I keep it plugged in.
I have been procrastinating, but a battery tender has been on my to-do list. I think it just jumped up in priority now...
Oh, I forgot to add there was also "IMMOBILIZER ERROR" thrown in to all the other messages I mentioned, too :) I just remembered that one. It really was a laundry list of stuff.
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Anything more than a week in between rides I plug my bikes in to the BT... :-\
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Every time I park my bike at home it is on the BT ;D
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Every time I park my bike at home it is on the BT ;D
+1 I've trained my pea brain to turn the key off and plug the BT in... I then had to train same peabrain to unplug it before a ride... :o
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When I was battling the failing battery last year on my 2010, I saw all kinds of weird / strange behavior, beyond just the display reporting things. One morning after jump starting the bike, my turn signals would not work all the way to the office. Twice (after 20+ miles), I was able to get the right side to blink but only after pushing the horn button (horn didn't work either), then they would not work again! Even the emergency flashers would not work. That afternoon riding home, everything worked fine.
Once I tried turning off the key while rolling down a long hill to reset the system, then bump started it so as not to load the battery with the starter, and it would not clear up the mis-behavior.
From my experience, every electrical system on the bike was at risk for malfunction just from starting it with a low battery.
Once I gave up on Kwak honoring their warranty, and just bought a new battery, all the problems went away. Even the dealer was frustrated with Kawi on that one.
If you can't get them to warranty yours (or even if you can), I strongly recommend the Yuasa YTX14H-BS battery with the Sulfate Stop additive. Very happy with mine. Picked it up from Amazon for about $75 delivered, as I recall.
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These bikes are so tied in to voltage levels that a low battery can illicit all kinds of weird problems. Happens on cars as well. I was having an issue with my Prius and replacing the Accessory battery (12v) seemed to resolve it. It was 7 years old.
With that being said my original C14 battery was replaced after 5 years just because...... I've never put it on a tender and sometimes have left it for over a month without starting (winter).....no issues. Could be due to me being an EA and FC, though.
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No, but it really was a dead/weak battery, not a bad connection. Started instantly when I put the jump box on it. And once it was charged by the alternator enough, started every time perfectly and strongly today.
I have been procrastinating, but a battery tender has been on my to-do list. I think it just jumped up in priority now...
Oh, I forgot to add there was also "IMMOBILIZER ERROR" thrown in to all the other messages I mentioned, too :) I just remembered that one. It really was a laundry list of stuff.
So Max, you've never checked the battery connections and you've never used a battery tender and now you're having issues with the battery on your 2011? Hmmm, imagine that? I check my battery connections twice a year and use a BT if I'm not riding it for more than a week. I'm still using the original battery...
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I left the lights and drained the original battery on my 08 awhile back. Jumped it off a truck 12v. Connections were clean. No error codes. Went ahead and replaced it.
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Somewhere in the manual it tells you about the batterry draining itself while sitting for extended periods, it also gives you some timelines. I guess the battery has demands on it even while sitting.
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It does and the highest drain is in the first 24 hours. After that it tapers off significantly. I suspect that some people who have battery issues either use their high beams during the day, run lower octane gasolines, use non-mc specific oils, part their hair in the middle, secretly hate ABS brakes, hate linked brakes, have a black bike, use non-oem headlight bulbs, have or have ridden BMW bikes, worship their key fob, have dried up squirrels for friends, always take the key out of the ignition, always keep their key in the ignition, use other than the stock muffler, dislike their tire pressure sensors, live in Ohio and Illinois (and possibly Virginia), have a black bike, and get the F1 error code for no rhyme or reason. I'm sure there are more. Oh yeah, wash their bikes more than once a year...
Believe it or not, that actually happened to me. Washed the bike :yikes: and the darned thing cranked slowly and caused all kinds of fuss afterwards. Took the battery out, cleaned and tightened all the connections and it fired up correctly. It only did it that one time. Didn't put a charger on it either. Strange and kooky thing I guess.
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Somewhere in the manual it tells you about the batterry draining itself while sitting for extended periods, it also gives you some timelines. I guess the battery has demands on it even while sitting.
Well, all batteries will "self discharge" even with nothing at all connected to them. That is just the nature of the chemistry. Most vehicles (including the Concours) also will pull a very tiny amount of current to power the clock and certain other functions.
The life of the battery will reduce over time- based on usage patterns and environment (and on design/capacity/and quality of the batter). I was just surprised that 1.5 years, mine is weak enough that it can't start the bike after 2 to 3 weeks of not being charged. I was further surprised at how incredibly freaked out the electronics became during one of the attempted weak starts.
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Yes I totally agree with what you are saying here...
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It does and the highest drain is in the first 24 hours. After that it tapers off significantly. I suspect that some people who have battery issues either use their high beams during the day, run lower octane gasolines, use non-mc specific oils, part their hair in the middle, secretly hate ABS brakes, hate linked brakes, have a black bike, use non-oem headlight bulbs, have or have ridden BMW bikes, worship their key fob, have dried up squirrels for friends, always take the key out of the ignition, always keep their key in the ignition, use other than the stock muffler, dislike their tire pressure sensors, live in Ohio and Illinois (and possibly Virginia), have a black bike, and get the F1 error code for no rhyme or reason. I'm sure there are more.......
Woah! Good thing that I don't have a black bike! :)
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Yar, good thing, Cheborneck.
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Consider this.... Relativly small batter charged with a Relativly small alternator that has to provide consistent 12volts to a whole lot of electronic devices that make the bike go... My very first farkle on any bike is to put the BT pigtail on the battery. I have managed to have healthy batteries on the last few bikes that used a lot of the magic stored in the battery.
Just my 0.02...
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One morning after jump starting the bike, my turn signals would not work all the way to the office. Twice (after 20+ miles), I was able to get the right side to blink but only after pushing the horn button (horn didn't work either), then they would not work again! Even the emergency flashers would not work. That afternoon riding home, everything worked fine.
Was there anything else going on that morning like rain or snow or bike washed the day before? The reason I ask is because as best I can tell the signals, emergency flashers and horn have no connection to the ECU other than being powered in parallel with it. There is the Kipass ECU flash connection to the signals, but I can only see that it would malfunction by leaving all four signals in the on position, not stop them from flashing (well it would stop them from flashing since they would be on all the time. ::)). I'm wondering if there was a moisture problem in the switches that dried out in the afternoon? The display problems of course are another matter.
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My very first farkle on any bike is to put the BT pigtail on the battery. I have managed to have healthy batteries on the last few bikes that used a lot of the magic stored in the battery. Just my 0.02...
Yeah. The sad part is- had I done this with all my bikes over the years, the battery tender probably would have paid for itself several times over (including the power it uses) by extending the life of relatively expensive batteries.
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Yeah. The sad part is- had I done this with all my bikes over the years, the battery tender probably would have paid for itself several times over (including the power it uses) by extending the life of relatively expensive batteries.
Then make up with the bike and give it a gift wrapped BT... Don't forget the bow on top... :rotflmao:
I've been happy with the MotoBatt batteries. They have given me great service and the terminals are highly configurable...
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http://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tender-021-0123-Junior-Charger/dp/B000CITK8S/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1348413555&sr=8-2&keywords=battery+tender (http://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tender-021-0123-Junior-Charger/dp/B000CITK8S/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1348413555&sr=8-2&keywords=battery+tender)
Cheap and it works.
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It does and the highest drain is in the first 24 hours. After that it tapers off significantly. I suspect that some people who have battery issues either use their high beams during the day, run lower octane gasolines, use non-mc specific oils, part their hair in the middle, secretly hate ABS brakes, hate linked brakes, have a black bike, use non-oem headlight bulbs, have or have ridden BMW bikes, worship their key fob, have dried up squirrels for friends, always take the key out of the ignition, always keep their key in the ignition, use other than the stock muffler, dislike their tire pressure sensors, live in Ohio and Illinois (and possibly Virginia), have a black bike, and get the F1 error code for no rhyme or reason. I'm sure there are more.......
:thumbs: :goodpost:
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Was there anything else going on that morning like rain or snow or bike washed the day before? The reason I ask is because as best I can tell the signals, emergency flashers and horn have no connection to the ECU other than being powered in parallel with it. There is the Kipass ECU flash connection to the signals, but I can only see that it would malfunction by leaving all four signals in the on position, not stop them from flashing (well it would stop them from flashing since they would be on all the time. ::)). I'm wondering if there was a moisture problem in the switches that dried out in the afternoon? The display problems of course are another matter.
No obvious moisture anywhere. It made absolutely no sense to me either. I was expecting a very interesting conversation with the dealer, trying to explain it, and was glad when "cured itself ".
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http://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tender-021-0123-Junior-Charger/dp/B000CITK8S/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1348413555&sr=8-2&keywords=battery+tender (http://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tender-021-0123-Junior-Charger/dp/B000CITK8S/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1348413555&sr=8-2&keywords=battery+tender)
Cheap and it works.
Damn, I just finished an Amazon order, too. Thanks for the recommend, I already added it to my cart. I would rather buy locally, and willing to even spend a bit more, but it seems a $25 charger goes for $40 locally! So typical.
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My ZRX would shoot flames out of the exhaust about a foot when the battery went bad!!!
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Well first of all, I would simply ignore all the indicated errors; modern electronics are complicated and often do extremely un-graceful things when losing the minimum necessary voltage to keep them 'thinking correctly'. Once the voltage drops enough, everything that follows is merely the result of the processor(s) no longer being able to process correctly.
As to the battery going dead, I would suggest a current test if you have a VOM (voltmeter). Disconnect one battery terminal, put the current meter in series between the terminal and the battery and wait a bit for the second current level to register. The C-14 is a little tricky here as the initial current drain will be fairly high- around 75 milliamps but that is only because the various systems are booting up. After a short time the current draw will drop down to the 2.5 milliamp (0.0025 amp) range- if your bike draws significantly more than this (anything over 5 milliamps) you will have to find the reason for the excess current draw and eliminate it.
My original C-14 battery lasted a few years and began to crank the bike noticeably slower. I replaced it with an AGM MotoBatt which has worked well now for a couple of years. My new battery did go flat one time last winter due to a long period of neglect- I do not remember how long it was but it was considerably longer than the usual 2 week max. periods when I cannot ride it due to snow on the ground. A short charge and it has performed fine ever since- it was not actually dead but low enough that it would not crank the bike so I do not think the battery was damaged due to excessive discharge.
Brian
I guess my battery is getting weak. This is the second (third?) time now that I could not start the bike after a dozen+ days of it sitting. I don't have anything added that is parasitic. Seems way too soon to need a battery on a 2011.
Anyway, last night I hopped on to go to my friend's (25 min away) and press the starter and yikes, too slow, and I got some message that flashed and went away, and it didn't start. Tried a second time and it seemed to have no brain left and threw up all kinds of errors - KTRIC ERROR, ABS ERROR, FI ERROR. Geesh.
So I went and got the tool to remove the panel and hooked up my battery box, waited a few min, then started it. "FI ERROR". Turned it off, waited, tried again... "FI ERROR". One more time, same thing. So while it was running I pressed both buttons for a while.... "Error code 24". And I could not clear it so I gave up and just left. As soon as I was moving a bit, the error went away and stayed away.
When I got home later, I looked up error 24... "Speed sensor malfunction". ??? I could be wrong, but I just think the wild voltage drop up and down just scrambled the computer's functions for a split second and caused phantom errors.
I drove the bike 200+ miles today, no problem at all.
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Damn, I just finished an Amazon order, too. Thanks for the recommend, I already added it to my cart. I would rather buy locally, and willing to even spend a bit more, but it seems a $25 charger goes for $40 locally! So typical.
Yeah, I like to buy locally too, but I am smart about it. ;D If I look at something in a store, especially if I ask for help, I buy it there. I like to keep businesses that actually provide a service in business. Of course when there is a big price differential and I don't need service or help, I happily buy online.
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My bike lives in the parking lot, sometimes covered, mostly not. Never seen a BT. Gets rained on; no issues. Maybe it's all that time in a garage...it wants to outside. ;D
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OK, so I *FINALLY* got the Battery Tender Jr. Installing was not difficult, although I had to put a spacer under the bottom of the positive poll nut (with four eyelets the bolt just won't reach anymore). Just let the pigtail drop in front of the oil sight.
I like that the cord is long, although it wasn't quite long enough. I also like that it has all these auto charging modes. Another nice touch is that it blinks a light if not connected, which is a great reminder.
I also finally measured the constant idle draw on the battery, it was 0.078 amps. That doesn't seem like much, so it might be my battery has just lost a lot of its life now.
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These bikes are so tied in to voltage levels that a low battery can illicit all kinds of weird problems. Happens on cars as well. I was having an issue with my Prius and replacing the Accessory battery (12v) seemed to resolve it. It was 7 years old.
With that being said my original C14 battery was replaced after 5 years just because...... I've never put it on a tender and sometimes have left it for over a month without starting (winter).....no issues. Could be due to me being an EA and FC, though.
he-he.. Jim said Prius...
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;D
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I also finally measured the constant idle draw on the battery, it was 0.078 amps. That doesn't seem like much, so it might be my battery has just lost a lot of its life now.
Wait a min, that is 78mA! That is way too high (for some reason I was thinking 7.8mA). I waited for the initial bootup draw to finish and watched it settle on 0.078A for about 30 sec. Was that not long enough???
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78mA is way too much for everything being "off".
I once installed a car stereo with a LED clock (long time ago), and wired the acc and hot together. It's draw when off was about 100mA (clock display was on all the time), and it would drain the car battery to the point it would not start the car in a couple of weeks. Probably wasn't the greatest battery, but still, without that draw, it would still start after months of sitting. I ended up adding a micro slide switch on the front of the unit so I could turn it on to check the time without using the key.
Has anyone else measured the draw from the battery when everything is "off"?
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78mA is way too much for everything being "off".
[...]
Has anyone else measured the draw from the battery when everything is "off"?
Indeed, I would be curious. The only things I have installed on non-ignition are the Sargent heated seat/jacket controller, and that is "off", and the air horn, which is relayed from the stock horn (which means zero current flow). I suppose it is possible that electronic controller pulls some current when "off", but it seems odd it would pull much since it is designed for bike use.
Meanwhile, it has been 14 HOURS and the battery tender is still showing a solid red light. According to the manual, that means it is less than 80% charged. I used the battery to start the bike before putting it on the charger last night and it was a weak start, but started and no errors. I estimate that means there had to be at least 20% capacity left. The charger is 750mA, subtract 78mA drain, that is 672mA for 14 hours = 9.4 AH pushed into what I believe is a 12 AH battery, so far...
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Was this measurement taken after 24 hours of the bike being off? The draw decreases dramatically after 24 hours.
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That little blinky red light goes off after 24 hours doesn't it?
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Was this measurement taken after 24 hours of the bike being off? The draw decreases dramatically after 24 hours.
Quote: "I waited for the initial bootup draw to finish and watched it settle on 0.078A for about 30 sec."
I didn't think it would change after that. Hmm. Perhaps it is related to the KIPASS thing and it goes to sleep after a long while. I know the blinking red light on the bike stays on for a long time before it goes off, but I don't know how long that is.
HOWEVER- to measure after 24 hours, that would mean you would have to leave your meter inline of the battery for all 24 hours! If you wait 24 hours without the meter connected, then break the connection to insert the meter, you just rebooted the bike again...
Has anyone really gone that far?
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Quote: "I waited for the initial bootup draw to finish and watched it settle on 0.078A for about 30 sec."
I didn't think it would change after that. Hmm. Perhaps it is related to the KIPASS thing and it goes to sleep after a long while. I know the blinking red light on the bike stays on for a long time before it goes off, but I don't know how long that is.
HOWEVER- to measure after 24 hours, that would mean you would have to leave your meter inline of the battery for all 24 hours! If you wait 24 hours without the meter connected, then break the connection to insert the meter, you just rebooted the bike again...
Has anyone really gone that far?
Yes, ~24 hours.
If you really want to know what the draw is, that's the only way to do it.
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Brian (BDF) has verified that but all are welcome to verify. Max, you could do a search and find it. I think Brian has talked about it before in this incarnation of the forum.
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Brian (BDF) has verified that but all are welcome to verify. Max, you could do a search and find it. I think Brian has talked about it before in this incarnation of the forum.
Thanks. I will probably not bother with testing to THAT extreme. I actually did search and could not find the thread you mention, I would be very curious. Also very curious what others show as their draw after a few min.
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Yeah, 78 milliamps is too high as a sustained rate. I have checked several C-14's and they have all been amazing close- initially a bit higher than 75 milliamp (probably exactly the 78 you found) and then the current draw drops to just under 2.5 milliamps where it stays as long as I have bothered to check.
Thirty seconds sounds like more than enough too, going by memory. I believe it was more like 10 seconds on the bike's I've checked but again, I do not remember and I never did actually measure the time while I was doing it.
Perhaps you had a shaky connection somewhere between the meter and the battery and / or battery cables? If so, it could have momentarily dropped out and reconnected at which point the whole boot up procedure would have started again and it might have appeared to be a steady current draw? Just a wild guess.
Brian
Wait a min, that is 78mA! That is way too high (for some reason I was thinking 7.8mA). I waited for the initial bootup draw to finish and watched it settle on 0.078A for about 30 sec. Was that not long enough???
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Agreed, and in actual testing, the initial current draw is around 78 milliamps but drops to ~2.5 milliamps shortly (maybe 10, maybe 15 seconds after original power up).
Brian
78mA is way too much for everything being "off".
I once installed a car stereo with a LED clock (long time ago), and wired the acc and hot together. It's draw when off was about 100mA (clock display was on all the time), and it would drain the car battery to the point it would not start the car in a couple of weeks. Probably wasn't the greatest battery, but still, without that draw, it would still start after months of sitting. I ended up adding a micro slide switch on the front of the unit so I could turn it on to check the time without using the key.
Has anyone else measured the draw from the battery when everything is "off"?
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Yes it does go off, and the manual says that it is done to save battery power but honestly I cannot imagine that that LED is really a big deal. I doubt it draws 20 milliamps (which in itself would be rather a lot of steady drain) but it is only on, what?, 1% of the time? It blinks very briefly every six seconds or so, so the actual average current draw would be well under a (ONE) milliamp. Nothing wrong with saving power on battery operated vehicles (it would be great if they could sit and draw -0- power but it isn't going to happen) but there is a line where battery loss from current draw is much less than self- discharge and I am sure that red blinking LED is below that level.
Brian
That little blinky red light goes off after 24 hours doesn't it?
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Nah, not me Jim- I am way to impatient to do 24 hour experiments or tests. I would have to speed things up by artificial means. Like they do with hard drives- when they give a mean time between failures of 500,000 hours it is interesting because hard drives have not been in use for that long. They are extrapolating the test by increasing the temperature and (probably) vibration and then projecting how long the drive will last under normal use. I would have to do that with the 24 hour experiment: hook up the ammeter, record data for a while until bored, then speed things up by increasing the ambient temperature probably by setting the bike on fire. Take the final current draw (from the ashes), note how long it was at what rate, then divide the average temperature of the bike on fire by the initial temperature and there you have it.
Brian
Brian (BDF) has verified that but all are welcome to verify. Max, you could do a search and find it. I think Brian has talked about it before in this incarnation of the forum.
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Well, it has now been 24 hours on the charger and the charger is still solid red. The instructions said it should start blinking green once at 80%. If the charger works as described, have pushed 17AH into a 14AH battery that was nowhere near dead to start with and still not even at 80%. Not good.
I am now starting to worry about overcharging (something that using a smart charger should not allow, unless it or the battery is defective)....
I have to take the bike out for a ride now, messing up the test. But I will slap it back on the charger when I get back. I figure at around 750mA, another 12 hours or something can't be too dangerous. I hope.
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I just ride mine and stick it in the garage afterwards, no charger. Guess I've been living dangerous for the last 5 years...
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Take that whole charging amp- hour thing with a grain of salt. You will always find that batteries overcharge and some amount of that is perfectly normal on a healthy battery. The excess power will just show up as heat from the battery although you probably will not even notice much of a temp. increase.
Remember that lead - acid batteries are quite tolerant of a long- term, mild overcharge. They simply turn the energy into heat and radiate it away. The chemistry will eventually reach a peak after which the battery will take more current (energy actually) but not turn it into any more acid, just heat.
If you have a voltmeter around check the voltage of the battery while on the trickle charger- if it is not over 14.4 volts or so I would not worry about it. Then again, I believe the better battery tenders have both charging and testing periods so a voltage reading might not mean much. You could also check current but of course you have to interrupt the circuit and therefore the charging cycle to do that unless you are nimble with the wires (seriously- it is possible to jumper in an ammeter and then break the original connection while keeping the ammeter in circuit).
But as Jim said, I just ride mine and then let it rest (OK- I ignore it). I charge mine the old- fashioned way... I ride it. :-) Besides that, there is the school of thought that says a battery tender may mask a weak battery by not allowing it to self- discharge until you are away from the tender at least overnight; put another way you are increasing the likelihood that you will strand yourself far from home.
Brian
Well, it has now been 24 hours on the charger and the charger is still solid red. The instructions said it should start blinking green once at 80%. If the charger works as described, have pushed 17AH into a 14AH battery that was nowhere near dead to start with and still not even at 80%. Not good.
I am now starting to worry about overcharging (something that using a smart charger should not allow, unless it or the battery is defective)....
I have to take the bike out for a ride now, messing up the test. But I will slap it back on the charger when I get back. I figure at around 750mA, another 12 hours or something can't be too dangerous. I hope.
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Can you try it on a differant battery?
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Well, it has now been 24 hours on the charger and the charger is still solid red. The instructions said it should start blinking green once at 80%. If the charger works as described, have pushed 17AH into a 14AH battery that was nowhere near dead to start with and still not even at 80%. Not good.
I am now starting to worry about overcharging (something that using a smart charger should not allow, unless it or the battery is defective)....
I have to take the bike out for a ride now, messing up the test. But I will slap it back on the charger when I get back. I figure at around 750mA, another 12 hours or something can't be too dangerous. I hope.
Maybe instead of a smart charger, you have the evil charger.....guaranteed to ruin your battery. I've seen at least a couple of them smart chargers go bad (evil).
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All good suggestions/info.
I will test more tomorrow (or soon). Just got home from a 30 + 30 min ride to my friend's house. Wow what a powerful start when it came off the charger!
Jim: It is brand new and supposedly quality, so the odds of the charger being "evil" seem low. I don't have the opportunity to ride that much, for many reasons; so it can sit a week or more unused.
Gpink: Good idea. I might try it on my car or something and see how it works there. Although that will require pulling back the wire going through the wall to the outside where the bike is.
Brian: Thanks for the info. Kinda what I was thinking- especially hard to do too much damage with a puny 750mA charger on a lead acid. But you made me more confident to let it go for a while and see what happens.
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Max,
You can measure the current out of the battery after 24+ hours (long after it should be in its low power state) with your meter as long as you don't break the electrical circuit when you disconnect the battery cable from the battery. To do this, make sure the meter leads have a good connection to the battery post and the battery cable end. It might be easier to measure at the point where the negative cable connects to the frame.
I've done this type of thing many times in other situations, and it's easy provided you plan everything in advance. Make sure you have the meter connected in a 'hands free' way (like with good alligator clips) so when you remove the cable from the post, the circuit remains - through the meter.
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Yes, I should be in bed... took a nap earlier and going now (2am!) I checked and the light is FINALLY GREEN!!!!
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Have you checked the connections? I keep mine on a Battery Tender while I am away. I had too many batteries killed by sitting too long. I travel so my bikes sit at times. I had an RC51 and its batter was $170. I wen through three before I bought the Battery Tender. I am on my original 2009 C14 battery. I keep it plugged in.
+1...I'm on my original '09 as well. I always keep mine on a tender and its still going strong. My last bike I did not keep on a tender and a battery never lasted more than a year to a year and a half.
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Yeah, but look at the color of your bike.
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I have an '08 and did an "off" battery drain measurement soon after I got it in Oct '07.
Results: 170mA for ~1 sec; 90 mA for 10 sec; then 2.5 mA ...
I repeated the test a couple of times with consistent results. Did not wait to measure after 24 hr.
I believe the 750 mA is probably the max rating of your battery tender and it probably tapers to much less charging current as the battery voltage comes up. Also the tender red light may be staying on so long because the excessive drain in your bike makes it "think" that the current is going into the battery.
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I have an '08 and did an "off" battery drain measurement soon after I got it in Oct '07.
Results: 170mA for ~1 sec; 90 mA for 10 sec; then 2.5 mA ...
I admit that my test might have been flawed. Maybe I was seeing that second time period and just didn't wait long enough to see the third.