Another Odyssey PC680 Battery Problem/Question

[jconway607]

I put a new PC 680 battery in my R1100RT in March of 2016, making it about 2 years old. I have a file four pages long of problems I seem to have been having with it back then, and talking to Odyssey, and then to charger companies. Odyssey blamed everything on the chargers. I bought a new, expensive charger, although it performed the same as the one that I replaced it with. (That's using a digital Fluke to measure everything.)

To summarize, this battery seems to be the most delicate thing I have ever encountered. As soon as I get off the bike, I have to hook it up to the charger. If I forget, and it sits for just a few days, the battery is so low that the ABS light sends the low battery signal. I then ride it for just a mile, the bike charges it up enough to re-set the lights. Yesterday, I had that happen, rode the bike 18 miles and let it sit for 6 hours, and again, low battery signal when I went to ride it. Even when it's fully charged the bike seems to crank a bit slow, like it's barely got enough juice to crank it. And, by the way, after riding, then plugging it in to the charger, within a minute, it reads "fully charged".
When the bike is sitting, the only thing draining the battery is the little digital clock display. This thing ought to hold a charge for a month at least with that kind of drain. Not two days.

Everyone raves about the Odyssey battery being great and tough as nails. Not this one. Is this normal for these batteries? Am I being unfair to the company? Doing something wrong? Can't think what it would be. At this rate, I am just a bit fed up with Odyssey and growing tired of babying it. When it's time to replace it, I think I'm going to go back to an old school lead acid system. They may actually work better. Any thoughts?

 

[gsaddict]

First things first.
What is the ACTUAL MEASURED parasitic load?
Need that number to proceed with diagnostics.

Next what is the charging voltage engine warmed up at 2500 rpm? Measured right at the battery posts.

 

[jconway607]

First things first.
What is the ACTUAL MEASURED parasitic load?
Need that number to proceed with diagnostics.

Next what is the charging voltage engine warmed up at 2500 rpm? Measured right at the battery posts.

I'll try checking them both. But as far as the parasitic load, that's just that little digital clock. How will I measure the amp load that it is using? I assume that is what I will need, not the 12 volts it's running on. What is the procedure to measure it?
I can check the charging volts using the pig tails for the charger easily enough, but as I said, it only takes about a mile of running to get the battery back up. The bike only has about 43,000 miles on it. I'm going to be surprised if it's a charging problem on the bike. What is the proper voltage reading at 2500 RPM?

 

[happy wanderer]

The best way I know of to check ALL parasitic load is to remove the left side tupperware so you can access the left terminal of the battery. Put your meter on DC amperes setting and after removing the -ve terminal put one meter probe on the battery post and the other on the terminal you just removed. This will show ALL current draining off the battery.

Another way to check the two biggest drains is to remove Fuse 3 in the fuse box (battery connected for this test) and put the meter between the two F3 terminals in the fusebox. That will tell you how much the RID is using.

Next pull F5 which will tell you how much the Motronic ECU is draining.

Do you happen to have a Kisan signal minder on the bike? If you do and it is an older version that thing is probably your problem. They will kill a battery in short order as the parasitic drain of the early signal minder was quite high and yes, it drained batteries quickly. There is a post here somewhere from Roger04RT who discovered this issue on his 1150.

I've had the Odyssey PC680 in my '00 RT for 7 years now without any issues. They are indeed great batteries when maintained with a proper charger off the approved Odyssey charger list on their website.

 

[dieselyoda]

I am going to go with check yiur charging amperage, if you can. You can get decent voltage out of an alternator that is somewhat toast.

Next, grounds. Clean.

 

[gsaddict]

The best way I know of to check ALL parasitic load is to remove the left side tupperware so you can access the left terminal of the battery. Put your meter on DC amperes setting and after removing the -ve terminal put one meter probe on the battery post and the other on the terminal you just removed. This will show ALL current draining off the battery.

Another way to check the two biggest drains is to remove Fuse 3 in the fuse box (battery connected for this test) and put the meter between the two F3 terminals in the fusebox. That will tell you how much the RID is using.

Next pull F5 which will tell you how much the Motronic ECU is draining.

Do you happen to have a Kisan signal minder on the bike? If you do and it is an older version that thing is probably your problem. They will kill a battery in short order as the parasitic drain of the early signal minder was quite high and yes, it drained batteries quickly. There is a post here somewhere from Roger04RT who discovered this issue on his 1150.

I've had the Odyssey PC680 in my '00 RT for 7 years now without any issues. They are indeed great batteries when maintained with a proper charger off the approved Odyssey charger list on their website.

What he said. You should not exceed 3mA (.003A)

 

[98lee]

You said that after riding the bike, the low voltage light came on after 6 hours. What was the battery voltage at that time?

Fully charge the battery, monitor voltage drop over a few days without riding or charging. Then do the same thing with battery disconnected from bike. If voltage drop is the same and excessive (more than .2 volts over a few days), the battery is bad.

If it only drops while connected to the bike, you have an excessive drain and the problem is in the bike.

 

[dieselyoda]

You said that after riding the bike, the low voltage light came on after 6 hours. What was the battery voltage at that time?

Fully charge the battery, monitor voltage drop over a few days without riding or charging. Then do the same thing with battery disconnected from bike. If voltage drop is the same and excessive (more than .2 volts over a few days), the battery is bad.

If it only drops while connected to the bike, you have an excessive drain and the problem is in the bike.

Not necessarily the battery. It could be as simple as ground voltage drop or a little more complicated that the alternator can't keep up with the load.

However, I did have a PC680 that pooped the bed after a few months.

That's why they have warranty.

 

[Paul_F]

I have Odysseys in both bikes. The K's first Odyssey lasted seven seasons. The second one, installed in March 2017, with the bike sitting for seven days, died in SLC last summer. After checking everything out, turns out in my case I had a relay that malfunctioned and was always on.

Unlikely that's your problem, but another item to consider.

 

[m_stock10506]

It’s also possible that you have a dragging starter motor. But, check the amps and voltage first.

 

[Omega Man]

This may help with chasing down battery draw-

OM

 

[98lee]

Not necessarily the battery. It could be as simple as ground voltage drop or a little more complicated that the alternator can't keep up with the load.

However, I did have a PC680 that pooped the bed after a few months.

That's why they have warranty.

If you have a fully charged battery that is not connected to anything and it is loosing .1 volts a day for several days, as I said in the previous post, you have a bad battery. Most likely a shorted cell. Just like the first two factory batteries in my wife's F700GS. One lasted 14 months. The second one lasted 8 months. It's unfortunate that BMW didn't provide room for a decent size (PC680) battery in that bike.

By doing that test, you can determine whether to troubleshoot the bike or just get another battery.