[sddonov]

Over the past few days I was busy installing some LED back up lights on my ride. A I had all the wiring installed and hooked up then had to trouble shoot a couple bad connections and poor grounds. After all was said and done....the battery was run down too far to start. I through on a trickle charge for 24+ hours and although I did have enough power to light up the dash, there was still not enough to turn it over. I ended up giving it a boost but as soon as removed the cables the machine cut off and would not restart and idle without a constant nudge on the gas pedal. I have done this a couple times now.

Currently I removed the power wire for those lights and will put it back on a trickle charge but are there any other thoughts as to why I am having this power issue? My first instinct is that the battery is too far gone to hold the charge which is why it dies after taking off the booster cables but that just doesnt make sense seeing as it is not that old.

any all all help is appreciated.

[NMKawierider]

Over the past few days I was busy installing some LED back up lights on my ride. A I had all the wiring installed and hooked up then had to trouble shoot a couple bad connections and poor grounds. After all was said and done....the battery was run down too far to start. I through on a trickle charge for 24+ hours and although I did have enough power to light up the dash, there was still not enough to turn it over. I ended up giving it a boost but as soon as removed the cables the machine cut off and would not restart and idle without a constant nudge on the gas pedal. I have done this a couple times now.

Currently I removed the power wire for those lights and will put it back on a trickle charge but are there any other thoughts as to why I am having this power issue? My first instinct is that the battery is too far gone to hold the charge which is why it dies after taking off the booster cables but that just doesnt make sense seeing as it is not that old.

any all all help is appreciated.

Well..I have to say all indications are the battery has an issue. Best pull it and take to down to have it load tested.

[glenlivet]

Yep. I don't know why everyone with a home shop of any capacity doesn't have a multimeter with a voltmeter setting. So many things you can diagnose. You ought to read the battery voltage both with the machine stopped and with it running.
Anyway a quick dirty test you can do is turn the headlights on and then turn the key to starter. If the headlights dim way down you have a depleted battery. If they immediately go right out and the display goes out then you probably have a bad big-wire connection.

[NMKawierider]

Yeah there has been a number of reported bad main fuse holders. Bad internal crimps I think.

[sddonov]

ok so i completely removed the power cable to the lights, gave it a boost to run for a bit then shut it down. it restarted immediately and i just tried again after a couple hours of sitting and it started up on the first turn of the key.

Obviously the problem is with the lights but what would cause the draw of power? The on/off switch for the lights has its own light and is not on in the off position so that (in my limited capacity) tells me there should be no power draw at the switch but is that a correct assumption?

If the switch is properly grounded and in the off position shouldn't that defeat any power bleed between the switch and the lights?

[NMKawierider]

ok so i completely removed the power cable to the lights, gave it a boost to run for a bit then shut it down. it restarted immediately and i just tried again after a couple hours of sitting and it started up on the first turn of the key.

Obviously the problem is with the lights but what would cause the draw of power? The on/off switch for the lights has its own light and is not on in the off position so that (in my limited capacity) tells me there should be no power draw at the switch but is that a correct assumption?

If the switch is properly grounded and in the off position shouldn't that defeat any power bleed between the switch and the lights?

So...with the light switch off, when you touch the power wire that you put in for the lights to the battery, does it spark? or if you put a volt meter between the two, does it read anything?

[sddonov]

so with the light switch off there is no spark when touching the cable to post nor is there any reading on a volt meter. With the switch on then i do get a reading on the meter.

Also. After 24hrs with the lights fully disconnected from the battery my machine still fired up on the first turn of the key. I re-attached the light power cable and it refused to start again. I've disconnected the lights and it will still not turn over.

I am at a loss on this and think i'm just going to gun tape a flash light to use as reverse lights lol

[NMKawierider]

so with the light switch off there is no spark when touching the cable to post nor is there any reading on a volt meter. With the switch on then i do get a reading on the meter.

Also. After 24hrs with the lights fully disconnected from the battery my machine still fired up on the first turn of the key. I re-attached the light power cable and it refused to start again. I've disconnected the lights and it will still not turn over.

I am at a loss on this and think i'm just going to gun tape a flash light to use as reverse lights lol

There just has o be a logical reason..maybe just some bad connection somewhere..something that changes with and without the lights connected.

[sddonov]

So a thought.... Original wiring that came with the lights could not be any lower with regards to gauge size. Since the intended purpose of these lights is to be used in the front of a vehicle the wire lengths were designed were mounting point/battery/power switch are all pretty much close together. Since I'm using them as back up lights (mounted on roof) I needed to extend the wire running from the battery to the switch and I used a wire with a better gauge (at least 12).

Would the mismatch of wire gauge types cause this?

[NMKawierider]

So a thought.... Original wiring that came with the lights could not be any lower with regards to gauge size. Since the intended purpose of these lights is to be used in the front of a vehicle the wire lengths were designed were mounting point/battery/power switch are all pretty much close together. Since I'm using them as back up lights (mounted on roof) I needed to extend the wire running from the battery to the switch and I used a wire with a better gauge (at least 12).

Would the mismatch of wire gauge types cause this?

Nope. Besides, you said with the switch off there is zero draw per your meter which was placed between the battery and the power supply wire. Let me ask this-is there a relay in this system? and if so, how do you have it's coil ground and the light's ground connected to the frame?

[sddonov]

So a thought.... Original wiring that came with the lights could not be any lower with regards to gauge size. Since the intended purpose of these lights is to be used in the front of a vehicle the wire lengths were designed were mounting point/battery/power switch are all pretty much close together. Since I'm using them as back up lights (mounted on roof) I needed to extend the wire running from the battery to the switch and I used a wire with a better gauge (at least 12).

Would the mismatch of wire gauge types cause this?

Nope. Besides, you said with the switch off there is zero draw per your meter which was placed between the battery and the power supply wire. Let me ask this-is there a relay in this system? and if so, how do you have it's coil ground and the light's ground connected to the frame?

No relay's used. Set up is:

- two lights mounted on back of roof with grounds leads for each onto frame (ground is good - don't ask how i know lol)
- positive wires from each light directly linked to one wire that goes to on/off switch
- one wire leading from battery to switch which has an OEM fuzed link in it.
- switch is grounded directly to frame.

[NMKawierider]

So a thought.... Original wiring that came with the lights could not be any lower with regards to gauge size. Since the intended purpose of these lights is to be used in the front of a vehicle the wire lengths were designed were mounting point/battery/power switch are all pretty much close together. Since I'm using them as back up lights (mounted on roof) I needed to extend the wire running from the battery to the switch and I used a wire with a better gauge (at least 12).

Would the mismatch of wire gauge types cause this?

Nope. Besides, you said with the switch off there is zero draw per your meter which was placed between the battery and the power supply wire. Let me ask this-is there a relay in this system? and if so, how do you have it's coil ground and the light's ground connected to the frame?

No relay's used. Set up is:

- two lights mounted on back of roof with grounds leads for each onto frame (ground is good - don't ask how i know lol)
- positive wires from each light directly linked to one wire that goes to on/off switch
- one wire leading from battery to switch which has an OEM fuzed link in it.
- switch is grounded directly to frame.

Ok...and you are real sure the LED is off when the switch is off and... super-sure the LED ground and the load didn't get switched?

[sddonov]

yup, %100 the LED's are off with the switch off and super sure the ground and load cables did not get switched. All splices and end pieces have proper connectors and the load wires are covered with split tubing loom.

The only thing I cannot look into is what is going on within the LED housing so I can't open them up to see if maybe there is a bad soldered wire.

[motoman]

Not sure if this will help, but I've noticed with some lights that have white and black wires, the white is the ground and the black is hot.

[glenlivet]

This may not be relevant but what is your 'trickle charger'? If it is a voltage controlled charger well and good, but if it is one of those old 2-6-12 amp boxes that rely on switch controlled transformer windings then I have seen those where the 2 amp setting actually doesn't exceed 12 volts output (a fully charged battery ought to read 12.65 or so)
A battery can stay on one of those forever and never get more than a partial charge. The voltage drop from the starter motor consumes most of the available current in such a battery.
It might eliminate some gremlins to make sure the battery actually carries a measured full charge for the sake of troubleshooting.