Battery flat in a day but no current drain ???

[cliverlong]

I might have found the problem. Or at least what I see makes sense.

1. I left the battery disconnected for about a week and my crappo-multimeter consistently showed a battery voltage of 12.67 V

2. I replaced the reg-rec (with, yes, an EBay sourced one) and reconnected the battery. I left the battery and reg-rec connected overnight. This morning the battery voltage read 12.67V with the ignition switched off.

3. I started the bike helped by my shiny lithium(?) ion "booster", so as not to drain the bike's battery too much as the bike has been sitting for a couple of weeks. The bike started and ran pretty well. I disconnected the "booster" and checked the charging voltage. The charging showed between 12.7V and (max) 13.5V as I revved the bike's engine. So for now the regulator looks like its doing its job , delivering DC and limiting the voltage supply. I will reconnected my crappo-digital voltage display on the handle bars so I can see if there is an obvious drop in charging voltage. I will also connect the crappo-battery tester I bought that shows various things like the cranking performance - how it does that I have no idea.

So my guess is the problem I had with the parasitic draw was (might) have been down to a failed reg-rec which both failed to charge the battery and also had some open circuit , draining the battery, even with the ignition switched off.

I still have the Electrex RR40 reg-rec that was way more expensive than the EBay-crappo-reg-rec currently fitted and apparently working (for now). I dimly remember the Electrex RR40 delivered 18V DC to the battery - which I measured after I realised the previous battery had been fried. Which led me to fitting the handle-bar digital "voltmeter". To be honest there have been so much tinkering and failed components my recollection of events may be a bit confused.

[jeffyjeff]

13.5 volts is weak. I doubt it is enough to charge your battery. At 2.2 volts per cell, a fully charged battery can read up to 13.2 volts no load. Your charging voltage should be in the neighborhood of 14.0 volts (13.8 to 14.5). I suspect a problem in the stator or in one of the 3 wires that connect it to the R/R, and suggest further diagnosis. The electrosport flow chart I attached earlier will guide you to the cause straightaway.
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History shows again and again how nature points out the folly of men - BOC

[Hong Kong Phooey]

If the output from the regrec is that low, and you keep needing new regrecs then you can measure the AC voltage across all three phases from the stator. It's not perfect but can indicate a stator problem if the three are out of whack.

You'll need to set your meter to AC, and run the bike off the battery only, for a few minutes, so switch lights off. Then disconnect the stator at the engine end and measure the voltage at a set rpm across the three combinations of the three outputs. It'll fluctuate with rpm so keep it steady. It'll be somewhere like 20v to 35v (check online for specs) roughly at about 3000rpm. It's not really about the voltage, but mainly to check if there's a considerable difference between phases. Any dead or lower phases probably means the stator is due to be replaced.

Then reconnect the connector and measure the same thing at the regrec, the three phases usually have the same colour wires. You should get similar voltage as before. If not the connectors or wiring might be shot.

A simpler check supplementary to the above is to switch on all lights and full beam, there might be a high frequency flickering at the bulb which can indicate the smoothed dc output is fluctuating. Doesn't always work but if it is flickering it means check your phases.
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'81 CG125, '97 FZS600 : '99 CBR600F4, '09 KTM RC8

[oilyrag]

[jeffyjeff]

[oilyrag]

[Hong Kong Phooey]

For clarity, the test at the regrec end was for the wiring continuity from stator to regrec harness, and also connector condition, so would be done with regrec unplugged. Output from regrec was already checked by OP.
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'81 CG125, '97 FZS600 : '99 CBR600F4, '09 KTM RC8