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Maintain your Battery and check your charging method!
9 times out of 10 the reason why your bike will not commence is ordinarily since of the battery condition or loose connections. A charging system failure is less most likely but is nonetheless possible.
I will speak about both of them here.
1st appear at your battery connections. Check for obvious and easiest to fix troubles initially. A loose connection, poor ground etc. will likely cause intermittent operation of the beginning and charging systems. If you acquire a loose connection and/or corrosion, clean the connections with a wire brush.
Just before re-attaching apply a small grease to the make contact with points. The grease helps to prevent any of the white corrosion residues creating up about the battery terminals.
Try and begin her up now. You still have a situation? Go down to the mall and get yourself a smaller electronic multimeter. (Make certain it has both AC and DC volt functions, as effectively as a continuity (or OHMS)function. Pull out the battery and set it on a counter. Set your multimeter to DC volts. Measure the Battery voltage by placing the red lead on the positive and the Black on the negative.
The voltage read ought to be around 12.five volts (higher is OK) If the voltage is much less than this it could indicate a poor battery. Notice I say, "may" here simply because the bike's charging program may be at fault. In this case the battery will most likely be OK.
Confirm that the electrolyte level in every cell of the battery is great. Add distilled water only to cell's with a low level. (Clearly you cannot add water to a maintenance absolutely free battery) Charge the battery overnight with a slow charger only. Motorcycle batteries cannot handle a fast charge. Make positive the charger only charges at a rate of two amps or much less.
Install the battery and attempt and get started her again. If she nonetheless will not go invest in a new battery and your challenge will most likely be fixed. If she begins and runs like a charm, then you have to discover out why the battery went dead. You need to have to check the charging method.
With the engine running, spot the multimeter leads on the battery. Rev the engine a little. The technique voltage must rise with engine RPM. A voltage of about 13.5 to about 14.five should really be displayed. If the voltage stays constant and/or is slowly decreasing, or if the voltage rises above 14.7 volts the charging program is not functioning.
What do you do now? You have to check two issues. The Stator and the Regulator. The stator creates an AC voltage. The regulator adjustments the AC to DC voltage and also maintains that voltage at the proper level.
The Stator can be checked with the Ohms function on your meter. Find and eliminate the plug for the stator on the front of the engine block. You will see two or three pins inside.
Set the meter for low Ohms, and measure the continuity among these pins. five Ohms or less is what you are seeking for here. Set the meter to the highest setting. With 1 lead attached to a metal part of bike check for continuity to each pin. You meter really should read infinite, or no continuity. If these tests check out then your stator is fine. If there is a fault in any of these tests, then see your dealer
The regulator is the easiest of all to check. The regulator is made of solid state electronics and can't be opened. Replace the regulator if everything else on the charging method checks out or if there is an overcharging situation.
On most Harley's you will not know if the charging method is beginning to fail. The evidence shows up when you have dim lights or she just will not start off. There are aftermarket accessories that you can install on your bike that will tell you the current state of the charging technique.
Save your self some bucks here!! With a very simple multimeter on the market from any Electronics parts shop you can troubleshoot your charging technique and check your battery and most likely repair any problems oneself.