2016 300rr gauge battery solved for good

[mbeers6]

I did what Bryan suggested, powering gauge from the 12v flasher circuit on my '17 Xtrainer, but STILL my 3v batter only lasts one ride. So frustrating.

Anyway I think I'll try what you did Vossman. Can you confirm this is the correct buck converter to buy from Amazon?
https://www.amazon.com/Qunqi-MP1584EN-S ... +converter

Thank you!

[wwguy]

IMHO some of these workarounds you guys are talking about are harder than they need to be. And some of these solutions obviously still aren't solving the basic problem. Looking at the wiring diagram you can see that Beta's wiring harnesses for these bikes only connects 12V from the bike's battery to two things:
1) The starter motor, and
2) The infamous "diode group" near the ECU, which permits recharging the battery from stator power after #1 above. (The diodes only permit stator voltage to flow in one direction towards the battery.)

Everything else electrical on the bike runs off of stator power when the engine is running. This includes the red Trail Tech speedometer, which is basically a Trail Tech Endurance II in a red case with addition of 4 Beta-specific indicator lights. If you read the installation instructions for the Endurance II you'll see that Trail Tech intends these units to be connected to the bike's 12V battery full time. Those instructions are clear that "Endurance II will operate in the range of 9.0-55VDC/9.0-400VAC, but will not draw enough power to drain a vehicle battery." The CR2032 is only intended as memory backup in event the main 12V battery is discharged or replaced etc.

Instead Beta opted to connect the speedo power wire to the stator circuit, which means that it's only powered when the bike is running AND the capacitor/diode packs aren't corroded or intermittently connected. Under any other conditions, such as rolling the bike around or coasting downhill, the speedo will operate off of the tiny CR2032 battery.

The solution is to wire the speedo 12V wire to the bike's 12V battery and disconnect the existing speedo power from the stator-powered circuit. Connecting it to the turn signal flasher circuit doesn't do anything different than factory wiring because the turn signals are powered from the stator too. Connecting the speedo to the battery while still leaving it connected to the stator-side too will just slowly drain power from the 12V battery through the 4700uF capacitor intended to clean up stator power for the ECU and OI system. So the solution is to connect the speedo power wire to only the 12V battery.

Between April 2016 and June 2017 I rode my 2016 Xtrainer 100 hours and replaced at least 7 of the CR2032 batteries. (I coast downhill with the engine off a lot to conserve fuel on backcountry rides, which means running the speedo with the bike's engine off for extended periods.) Since making the wiring mod shown below in June I've ridden 50 hours and haven't had to replace any more batteries. I also haven't had any issues with the main battery draining, including when the bike was parked for almost a month in August/September.

Below is how I wired mine. The red line is a new wire I ran from the fused connector under the seat near the battery. The blue lines represent where I cut the existing stator-powered wire power near the speedo behind the headlight. I soldered the speedo side of that wire to my new 12V wire and capped the bike-side wire with heat shrink to avoid a short etc. later on.

Hope this helps.

[chrisinflight]

Post moved.

[chrisinflight]

I did what Bryan suggested, powering gauge from the 12v flasher circuit on my '17 Xtrainer, but STILL my 3v batter only lasts one ride. So frustrating.

Anyway I think I'll try what you did Vossman. Can you confirm this is the correct buck converter to buy from Amazon?
https://www.amazon.com/Qunqi-MP1584EN-S ... +converter

Thank you!

Are you sure you have the correct side of the indicator connector? A good way to test if your computer is being powered by the bikes battery is the computer display should light up when re-connecting the main battery after both + and - leads have been disconnected. The display will go off after afew minutes. This mod may not work on XT models. To avoid confusion, Bryans mod and the mod I've done is a 12v fused wire direct from battery or starter relay to the indicator connector. The reason this connector is used is it means no wires are cut and most have this as a spare connector block.
chrisinflight

Posts: 43
Joined: Sun May 22, 2016 2:38 pm

[chrisinflight]

wwguy, thanks for the post, even though I've not had any flat computer batteries, i do have main battery drain. It must be, like you say, due to the stator wire still connected. A workaround is i remove the fuse in the 12v wire (to the indicator connector and my aux. power sockets) if im not riding for awhile.

[mbeers6]

Thanks wwguy! Just to make sure I understand you correctly....I've included some photos below.

So I will cut the red wire coming from the stator to the speedo and solder it to the wire I have coming out of the Starter Relay by the battery. I placed a yellow arrow where I will make the cut, then cap the end coming from the harness of the bike.

If you think I have it wrong, please let me know. Really hope this works!!!

Here is the connector I need to tap into (you must scroll within the photo to see it all):

speedo connectors highlighted.jpg (148.51 KiB) Viewed 13633 times

Exactly where I will make the cut and solder:

notation for power wire.JPG (48.87 KiB) Viewed 13633 times

And the wire from the Starter Relay that will be soldered to the speedo wire:

starter relay highlighted.jpg (112.48 KiB) Viewed 13633 times

[wwguy]

Thanks wwguy! Just to make sure I understand you correctly....I've included some photos below.

So I will cut the red wire coming from the stator to the speedo and solder it to the wire I have coming out of the Starter Relay by the battery. I placed a yellow arrow where I will make the cut, then cap the end coming from the harness of the bike.

If you think I have it wrong, please let me know. Really hope this works!!!

Yes, I did it exactly as you described in your comments and photos.

[yorkie]

Hi,
I realise this thread is 3 years old but being new to Beta's I have only just read it.
Seemed like a good solution to my CR2032 battery drain so I have just done it to my 2020 Xtrainer. The problems now are (A) it zero'd the Odo & hour meter, (B) the clocks are now permenantly "live", i.e. lit up.
The Odo and hour meter are not really an issue as the bike only has about 3 hours and 50ish miles on it but should the clock turn itself off ?
I'm guessing as it has a permenant live it probably won't but what about battery drain ??

[mtdirtbag]

It could have something to do with the new computers being made by a different company.

[wwguy]

All of my comments and suggestions in this thread are based on my experiences with the OEM speedo manufactured for Beta by Trail Tech on 2015-2017 models. Beta has since changed speedo manufacturers twice and I have no insight into the design and wiring etc. for these. Ironically, or perhaps not, the frequent complaints have persisted across all speedo models.