Electrical problems

[Evo1]

I've got a 90 flhtc. Last summer I replaced the battery and starter and rode the bike 175 miles. The next morning the battery was completely dead, Batteries Plus tested the battery and replaced it. Rode home(150 miles) and the battery was down. Charging system is OK. I pulled the new starter and put the old one back in and the problems seemed to go away, other than that starter being weak ( bike is constantley on the tender). Two days ago I removed the battery tender from the Harley and put in on my Honda battery. Today I put it back on the Harley and it charged away like never before. I have never had this battery need that much charge before.... Ideas? Short?

[dave_9113]

From what you describe, I don't think your charging system is OK.  What are your volts reading on the battery while bike is off and then running at 200rpm?  Check to see if your stator is grounded.  There should be no continuity at each stator pin.  Then check your regulator.  If you are getting battery voltage at the regulator, then it's bad. 

I assume all your connections are good and the newly replaced battery passed the load test.  Let us know what you fine out.

dave

[Evo1]

Dave, I replaced the voltage reg last summer and tested the stator at that time and it checked out good . No problem with the charging system since then. Battery seems to lose charge while sitting. It has been in storage on the tender all winter. As I said earlier I took the tender off for two days to charge another bike and when I put it back on the Harley the tender  cycled on and off at a very fast rate. it has never done this before and dosen't do this when hooked up to the other battery. A little history, the bike has never started good when the temp drops to the 50's. 9.5 CR, Gorrilla cables(new), the new AllBalls 1.4 starter didn't help all that much and when it was in the bike the battery drained to nothing overnight. Put the original starter back in and no more overnight draining.

Steve

[Traveler733]

You seem to have a dead short.     Remove the negative battery cable.    Charge your battery back to full charge.   Use a 12v test lamp and hook it between the still removed battery cable and the negative post.    If you get a bright light on your tester, you now know you have a dead short.   Leave the tester hooked up as described, and remove fuses one at a time until the test lamp goes out. When it does go out, that is the circuit with the short in it. There are breakers in the fairing that you will need to access. As well as the main breaker under the cover near the battery. A radio with a station memory will light a test light sometimes, but very dimly. It will take that a long time to discharge your battery. Check the start relay for corrosion and I would install a new one at this stage in the bike's life. Keep us posted, and your findings may prompt more response, when grey bearded memories are awoken.  If memory serves, there are fuses under the left cover too.

[Evo1]

Traveller,

Thanks for the logical method of tracking down the short, helps alot.  I'm out of town this week so I'll have to wait to tackle the problem. I'll let everyone know what I find.

Steve

[takwolf]

What kind of tender do you have! I had one of the Harbor Freight tenders and I didn't check the output. I left it on the bike for a few weeks, and the battery was dead. Turned out the tender was putting out about 19 volts and cooked the fairly new battery. I now check tender output.

[Evo1]

Takwolf,

It's a Victor brand charger. I bought it at Wally World about 4 or 5 years ago. I've seen the same charger with a Black & Decker lable also.

Steve