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Boiling battery

mlrc10

mlrc10

Active Member
Hey guys, I have a 02 Superglide Sport,with 30,000 miles.Replaced stator last year @ 20,000 miles.The last long ride (300 miles ) it boiled the water out of 2 outside cells on on the negative end and 1 cell on outside of positive end of battery.And yes ,since I didn't see it until the next day,it took some of the chrome off my Pythons.After I got every thing cleaned up.The battery was still holding 12.4 volts.Refilled it and cranked the bike it went to 15 volts then started falling to to 14.3,which sounds normal to me.Is it probable that when the regulator gets hot that it passes more voltage than the bike is using. Thanks in advance for any help
 
It should not do that. Normally the battery should have 2.1 volts per cell or 12.6 volts not 12.4. You may have a bad cell which will impose the total charging voltage across what remains and it will boil out the good cells.

I would not mess with a battery that is near 3-4 years old. Get a new one. If the battery is already near new, remove it and check it with a load tester. I would not do anything until I knew the battery was Good. Once you know that, check the voltage regulator output using a voltmeter.
 
I have seen voltage regulators go out and cook batteries, I would check voltage at the battery with a high rev and see what the charging system is putting back to the battery like Glider suggests.
 
This is an excellant time to consider installing a voltage monitor/gauge on the charging system... (Not much money)
 
Thanks for the tips guys,and I have already had a voltmeter on it at higher rpms ( 3000 ) and it stayed stable @ 14.3 volts.
 
That does make you wonder if it's a intermittent problem with the regulator, although I have not ran across that before, usually when someone comes in with a cooked battery the readings are over the line, if you had some kind of volt meter hooked in while you're riding you could tell, but the regulator is a good bet, don't see what else could cook a battery.
 
mlrc10 said:
Hey guys, I have a 02 Superglide Sport,with 30,000 miles.Replaced stator last year @ 20,000 miles.The last long ride (300 miles ) it boiled the water out of 2 outside cells on on the negative end and 1 cell on outside of positive end of battery.And yes ,since I didn't see it until the next day,it took some of the chrome off my Pythons.After I got every thing cleaned up.The battery was still holding 12.4 volts.Refilled it and cranked the bike it went to 15 volts then started falling to to 14.3,which sounds normal to me.Is it probable that when the regulator gets hot that it passes more voltage than the bike is using. Thanks in advance for any help
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I agree with Chopper, and if your battery was runnig a charge of 15 volts for a length of time bad things are going to happen, I would replace the regulator JMO
 
As JK, Chop, Glider and others have said, an intermittant ground means the parallel or "shunt" regulator is not removing the excess charge energy all the time and intermittant implies you have to time your test just under the right conditions to find it. Sitting in your garage or slowly idling may not let you find the problem.

The regulator is "relatively" inexpensive when compared to other charging components, so replace it and while you have it out, you can inspect and clean all mounting surfaces and mating connectors. Mate them in & out several times are using a non-chlorinated spray tuner/control wash (Radio Shack has stuff that works fine and doesn't attack plastics) then use a bit of dielectric grease grease and you should be good to go. Having a voltage or charge guage indicator to monitor while on the road would be a good thing to check, but not everyone has that luxury.
 
Cranked the bike with a voltmeter on it and it fell to 9.4 volts.Pulled it and had it load tested.The guy said it was good,but it was only 12.25 volts but that should crank it.Since it was 1.5 years old I just decided to replace it.Charged it last night and rode it 18 miles to work.Pull the cover off and it was clean. Rode to lunch and 18 miles back home.Still good,so Hoople wins the prize I think.We are riding to Hammond this weekend (200 miles 1 way)to HOG Rally. If it (EDIT) out I'll have to get on wifes Honda LOL.So keep your fingers crossed.Thanks to everyone for the help.


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