Battery going flat

[purple_pill67]

I am running a battery on a wassell 12v dc set up. Bgm led rear, jockeys headlight, led speedo bulb, casa ac switch and loom.
The battery seems to drain itself and also when the bike is running the horn/battery wont work if its gone flat.
Am i doing something wrong with my wiring for it to be not working when bike is running.
And why would the battery run itself flat when nothing is turned on?
Is the cure going to be a dc ignition switch or would an isolator switch on the battery be ok, but a major faff?

[Monty]

A mate had a LED on his fuel tank and wanted to isolate everything without changing the ignition switch so I fitted a relay. He always runs with lights so we used the rear light feed to turn on his battery. So no battery on first ignition click, start the bike then turn lights on the relay energises and connects the battery, no drain once the bike lights are off as it disconnects the battery. The only drawback is you cannot turn your lights on without starting the engine, though once started the lights will run of the battery if the engine cut out. A bit better than a switch in the toolbox as you will always forget the ruddy thing.

[purple_pill67]

Ah cool, what relay would be recommended spec wise?
How would I connect it to what i have already?

[Monty]

standard auto relay available from halfords and the like.
connect 86 to your black rear light feed.
85 to ground the relay should pull in when you turn on the lights
cut the wire (red) going to the positive battery and connect one side to 30 and the other side to 87, so when the relay pulls in it connects the battery again

[purple_pill67]

Excellent, thanks Monty

[purple_pill67]

Just got round to doing it.
Connected up as you say but i dont seem to have a brake light, back light looks to be on full all the time.
Its a BGM led rear. Ive took battery off to charge properly as we are off out now so haven't had chance to look into it.
Any ideas where to look?!

[ArmandTanzarian]

I would go back to basics. Make sure the battery is fully charged then disconnect the Wassel and the stator. Check everything works as it should without any of the charging circuit connected. That way any fault is in the loom rather than a component. If that's all good then reconnect the charging circuit and see what's gone wrong.

[purple_pill67]

The brake was working fine the other day, must admit I forgot to double check before joining up the relay to the black brake wire.
Ill give the battery a good charge before doing anything

[coaster]

On my full DC conversion the lights work without the engine running and I don't have any problems with the battery going flat. I have an MB ignition switch that gives me a switched live in the 'accessory' position ( you can take the key out and it's still live) which powers the glove box cigarette lighter socket. The same feed is also available on the second click to the right and also the 3rd which also turns the lights on. This means that the brake lights and horn are always live but this has never proved to be a problem. From memory (my wiring has 'evolved' over time) the lights are fed from a relay which energises via position 3. This took a bit of trail and error....ok a LOT of error and is working ok at the moment although it gives Storkfoot palpitations just looking at it

I wouldn't be surprised if you have a small discharge to earth, if you can get hold of a multi meter you could wire it in series with the battery set to amps, with everything switched off you should not see any discharge.
I would persevere in getting it working without resorting to a relay that will only allow the lights to work with the engine running as to me having lights that stay on if the engine cuts is one of the main attractions to the DC system.

[purple_pill67]

Mine is a Casa ignition switch, AC I guess.
I have a Jockeys headlight too so not got the standard junction box.