battery draw

[Gannon]

Hey guys, When i would turn off my bike while listening to FM radio and then turn it back on it would always reset to AM radio upon start up. now all of a sudden the the bike will stay on FM and stay on the same station as it was when i turned off the bike. i believe this is related to my battery dying a few days ago after sitting for only one week. i tested for a draw and got 0.012 between the neg terminal and neg cable.
1)is it normal for the bike to reset radio back to AM every time you start up?
2) is 0.012 with the multimeter set at 1000v an acceptable amount of draw?
2002 voyager 1200cc

[SgtSlag]

When you are checking for amperage, you need the DVM (Digital Volt Meter) set to Amps, not Volts. You need an Ammeter with a fuse, to avoid a fire... Set your Ammeter to 10 amps, first, then measure; drop the Ammeter's capacity to 5 or 1 amp capacity, if possible, as this will give you a more accurate reading of how many Amps/milli-Amps are being drawn. The Amp-Hour rating of the battery will tell you how long it will take to kill/drain your battery:

The Voyager XII's Battery is rated at 22 Amp-Hours.

1 Amp drain, on a 22 Amp-Hour Battery, means the Battery will die in 22 hours.

A 0.5 Amp drain on the same 22 AH Battery will drain it in 44 hours/1.8 days.

A 0.2 Amp (200 mA) drain on the same 22 AH Battery, will drain it in 110 hours/4.6 days.

Et cetera. Cheers!

[Gannon]

thanks i think my multimeter has a setting for 10a thats the correct setting right? just to confirm i measure between the battery post and the neg cable ? will pull the radio fuse this time to see if measurments change.

[SgtSlag]

You want the meter's leads between the negative battery post, and the negative cable, such that it will measure how much current is flowing between the battery post and the black ground cable. The bike's chassis is connected to the battery's negative cable -- negative ground. Avoid touching any other cables with the Ammeter cable...


The 10 Amp setting is very un-likely to have a fuse in it... If you exceed 10 Amps, the meter will likely explode, or burn, or both. Be careful... Cheers!