Battery losing charge.

[Burty99]

I am now on my third new battery and their not cheap ones!, they do not seem to be able to hold a charge for more than a few weeks. I don't use the bike everyday and the garage it sleeps in does get cold. No electricity so I can't trickle charge. Any ideas suggestions as to why this is happening will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you all

 

[AberdeenAngus]

Do you have an alarm fitted ?

 

[Burty99]

No. One thing that is common with all three batteries is that I did put them on charge overnight on my yamaha charger before I fitted them. Could it be the charger is faulty?
Thanks

 

[AberdeenAngus]

Do you have a multimeter?
Need to measure the current drain with everything turned off.

 

[Burty99]

I don't but I'm sure I can borrow one from somewhere. Thanks Aberdeen.

 

[ian640]

On my X the speedo lit up permanently following a soaking. Needless to say this helped to drain the battery quickly. Might be worth checking if you have the same problem - it's difficult to see if it's permanently lit in daylight so best checked in darkness. I couldn't find a cure and had to buy a replacement speedo (£££ )

 

[AberdeenAngus]

Soooo use the meter to measure current drain with everything off. Anything over a few mA will drain the battery in days/weeks and its no fault of the battery.

Also, stick the battery on charge and measure the voltage across it. It'll go from something like 11v while charging, gradually rising to about 13.5v fully charged, on charge.

When fully charged, measure the current whilst on charge. It should just be a few mA. If that's what you get then there's not much wrong with the charger.

 

[Burty99]

Thank you very much Aberdeen. I have decided to let my local bmw dealer investigate on Monday.
Busy arranging a loan with the bank to pay them!
Also thank you to ian640, I will check that later!
Thanks again.