[Arcticcat340]

So I am having problems with battery drain on my quad. I have not narrowed down what it is for sure yet. The battery is only 4 months old but it is a Wal-Mart battery. I used my multi-meter to do a parasitic drain check or at least I believe thats what I did. I attached one lead to the negative post and the other lead to the negative wire and here was my results. I am not sure what a good reading is and what isn't so I'm turning to you all. I also have a volt meter that I installed that when the bike is not in nuetral with the key OFF will read about 5V and with the bike in neutral and key off reads about 2V. That doesn't seem right to me but I also don't know what it could be.

Thanks for any help!

 

[machinecrook]

Woops, nevermind!

 

[Melatv]

Hi: Leave your meter the way you have it -- your meter is reading Amps -- like you tested 5 amps then 2 amps.

Leave your key off and your meter connected -- then start unplugging connectors one at a time until it drops off. 1 mil amp is a good reading.

 

[Arcticcat340]

Judging by your picture it seems you have your multimeter on 10V AC ... Try putting it on 20V DC (almost a full 180 degree turn).

Then you can report the actual battery voltage.

The actual battery voltage at this time is good because I charged it but when leaving the quad sit for about a week I'll come back and the battery voltage is at 2V - 3V. My question was if my multi-meter reading is indicating if I have amps running thru the quad even when the key is off.

 

[ktriebol]

Judging by your picture it seems you have your multimeter on 10V AC ... Try putting it on 20V DC (almost a full 180 degree turn).

Then you can report the actual battery voltage.

Hmmmm. I see it differently. It appears that the meter is set on the 10 Amp scale, and therefore a reading of .02 means .02 Amps, or 20 milliamps. Can you take the same reading but move the scale up a notch to 200m? That would be the 200 milliamp scale, so I'm thinking you will get a reading of 20.0, meaning 20 milliamps, which should agree with your first reading. If you have 20 mA of system current with the key off, that is a bit too much, and will drain your battery after sitting for a few days. A typical ATV should read less than 10 mA of system current with the key off.

It would also be helpful to read the battery voltage. Just put the black lead on the - terminal and the red lead on the + terminal and see if you get about 12 volts. Put your meter in the 20 VDC scale for this reading.

 

[ktriebol]

Well, I took a look at your wiring diagram. When you think about it, if you have system current when the key is off, the source of that current has to be upstream of the ignition switch. everything after the ignition switch is dead and therefore unable to leak current. There are only two things upstream of the ignition switch that could be causing this problem. They are the regulator/rectifier, and part of the starter circuitry. The most likely culprit is the R/R, but let's do a systematic test that will give us a reliable answer.

Keep your ammeter connected as you had it in the OP and have the key off. Now remove the 20A fuse. If system current goes to zero when removing that fuse, then the starter circuitry is not the cause of the problem. Put the fuse back in and then remove the connector on the R/R that has the three wires colored red, black, and green. If system current goes to zero when you remove that connector, that shows that the R/R is the cause of your problem and it will need to be replaced. Please use an OEM R/R, because aftermarket R/R's are not reliable.

 

[Arcticcat340]

Well, I took a look at your wiring diagram. When you think about it, if you have system current when the key is off, the source of that current has to be upstream of the ignition switch. everything after the ignition switch is dead and therefore unable to leak current. There are only two things upstream of the ignition switch that could be causing this problem. They are the regulator/rectifier, and part of the starter circuitry. The most likely culprit is the R/R, but let's do a systematic test that will give us a reliable answer.

Keep your ammeter connected as you had it in the OP and have the key off. Now remove the 20A fuse. If system current goes to zero when removing that fuse, then the starter circuitry is not the cause of the problem. Put the fuse back in and then remove the connector on the R/R that has the three wires colored red, black, and green. If system current goes to zero when you remove that connector, that shows that the R/R is the cause of your problem and it will need to be replaced. Please use an OEM R/R, because aftermarket R/R's are not reliable.

I removed the 20A fuse and the current goes to 0. I removed the R/R and the current also went to 0, so as you said indicating a bad R/R. Do you know where I can get an OEM one for a decent price? The current one I had installed was a Caltric super cheap aftermarket one that worked good for a few months. Are there any other honda quads or bikes that use the same R/R? Thank you for your post it was very straight forward and exactly what I was looking for!

 

[ktriebol]

Arctic Cat, I mainly deal with partzilla.com for Honda parts, so you could give them a try. There are other sources too, and maybe some other forum members will offer some suggestions. I am afraid that due to the age of your ATV, you may have difficulty finding an OEM R/R, but I hope I am wrong.

 

[SamUK]

Ricks electrics may offer a solution to a RR. There was also a full wiring harness including cdi and RR on eBay uk, I spotted this yesterday so it may still be available.

 

[Melatv]

Hi: Just a question did you move the red test lead to the center position when reading milliamps using the 200ma scale?

 

[SamUK]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/132142178333

If you can't source a new item this may be cheaper than shipping from the UK.

 

[Arcticcat340]

Hi: Just a question did you move the red test lead to the center position when reading milliamps using the 200ma scale?

It looks like post have been changed up above so I will write what I have test now and what settings I was using. With multi-meter set at 10A. When unplugging the fuse I get a reading of zero, i plugged it back in, unplugged the R/R and the reading went to 0 telling me that as someone else had stated that the R/R is causing the draw on the system.