Parasitic draw clarification

[saddlewarmer]

now that i am confused!!! (i had to deal with a 2 solar powered radio sites all day with Battery and charging issues). 10 milliamps of current can be significant on a bike, i was thinking car on my statement(oops). current draw is what is going to drain the battery, not any kind of voltage draw. if current draw is excessive , the battery will die, but what is excessive in this case? narrowing the offending circuit down is the first step, and then narrow it to the offending item. could even be corrosion between a hot point and ground! might take some work, might not. resistance measurements at different points in the offending circuit (to ground) can narrow it down to a specific area, maybe even a specific item. the lower the resistance, the closer you are to the shorting item ( measured to ground). the light bulb trick is an old but good one, had not thought about that in ages. hope i have not confused anyone anymore than i am. any questions ask!

[Boondocks]

The consequence of a parasitic current drain can be estimated by comparing the current leak in MA to the ampere hour rating of the battery. A new fully charged battery of the type commonly used in larger GS bikes may be rated at 14 AH (10 hour rating). This means that the battery should be able to deliver 1.4A for 10 hours before its charge is depleted. A smaller current will usually allow more total power to be delivered over a longer time period.

In the case of a 100MA drain, it would take 140 hours to transfer 14A from a new fully charged battery. At 70 hours, about 3 days, the effect of losing about half the battery's charge would be so apparent that it might seem like battery failure. If the battery is not new and in perfect condition, the performance loss would be even more rapid and severe.