Gorilla Alarm drained my battery in a few days

[dog]

I didn't even have it armed. Parked the bike on Tuesday after work and discovered the battery COMPLETELY dead on Saturday afternoon. I had installed it with a kill switch in the frunk so I could silence the alarm in an emergency or depower the system to prevent it from running down the battery if the bike was sitting for an extended period. BUT I didn't think 4 days would be a problem. It's the only thing I have going straight to the battery -- everything else is switched. Trickle charged the battery about 2.5 days before getting a green light on the charger. Everything seems fine now. Does that sound normal to you guys? BTW, ordered these yesterday:

Amazon.com: E-Z Jump : 2 Piece Motorcycle & ATV Jumper Cables: Everything Else

 

[Beemerphile]

Check the milliamp draw of the alarm to see what it is pulling. It is unlikely that it would be a problem unless the battery already has a problem. Several of us have already had battery failures. You might be next. The battery can also be load-tested.

 

[dog]

Check the milliamp draw of the alarm to see what it is pulling. It is unlikely that it would be a problem unless the battery already has a problem. Several of us have already had battery failures. You might be next. The battery can also be load-tested.

Not real sure how to check the draw (though I do have access to a VERY nice/expensive Fluke multimeter), so I wrote to Jon at Gorilla Automotive and here's what he said:

"The 8017 alarm uses 10 mA armed with the LED blinking and 8 mA disarmed. It does use quite a bit more electricity with the alarm going off and sending the 2-way pager signal, 365 mA. Is the alarm being false triggered when you are not a home possibly?"

I had to admit it was possible that it had been going off in the garage while I was at work before I disarmed it for going off for no apparent reason one evening -- maybe Wednesday. Guess I'll have to leave the alarm unarmed at home and watch my battery to see if it's defective like yours was. I'm commuting on the bike this week so hopefully it doesn't totally fail while I'm at work.

 

[Beemerphile]

Not real sure how to check the draw (though I do have access to a VERY nice/expensive Fluke multimeter)

The Fluke should have a COMMON test lead jack and several others. One of the others will be labeled for amperage or milliamperage (and if it is a REALLY high zoot Fluke microamperes as well). Some also have AC and DC separately. Most Flukes are good for 10 amps without a current transformer. Anyway, you put the leads into the COMMON and AMP jacks and insert the meter in series with the circuit and turn it on. You can check total drain on the bike by disconnecting the positive cable and hooking one test lead to the battery positive and the other to the battery cable. If you then did the same thing with the power lead to the Gorilla alarm, you could tell how much of your total drain was because of the alarm.

Ten milliamps is not going to drain a good battery in several months. Even with the alarm running, it could run all night without killing a good battery. I continue to suspect the battery. Give it a good charge and try again. By the way, when a battery is really dead, you need a real battery charger to get it back to snuff rather than a trickle charger or a maintainer". A smart charger with a "small battery" circuit or a normal charger with a 2 amp setting would be ideal. Once it is up to voltage, you can put it on a maintainer if you wish.