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Charging system issue

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Carl_K

Member
I need opnions. problem-Charging system not working on 03 Ultra.Summary - Riding with friends who tell me my brake light is on 50% of the time. Put the bike in my shop. Pin point a bad rear brake light swith. Replace. Work fine. Since I have the bike up and approaching 5k, I change the fluids. Take it on test ride. Check engine light pops on after 4 miles. Votage reading starts to drop. Back to shop. Check this site for support. Get great system testing advise.

Load test battery - OK

Test Regulator (Replaced on Great Lakes ride in Cleveland in 05)- Neg meter lead to neg batt terminal. Read 12VDC on both pins of Reg plug. According to what I read here it is bad. New reg installed. Still reads 12VDC on each pin.

Test Stator - No Ohm reading at each pin to ground. .5 ohm across pins. Fire up bike and reads about 12VAC output no matter what RPM.

Is the stator bad?

Why do I still get a voltage reading at each pin of reg of new unit?
 
Need a little (please read alot!) of help.

03 Ultra
Replaced a bad rear brake light switch. Decided to change all fluids while up in the air. (Run Syn3 in each) Take it for a test ride. 4 miles into ride the check engine light comes on. Voltage reading starts to drop. Go back to shop and check all connections. I only pulled the wires to the brake swith. All others appear good. Visit this site for trouble shooting ideas. (Great site guys!!)

Load test battery - OK

Test regulator - Neg meter lead to neg battery terminal. Read 12VDC at each pin. If I have read the tips correctly this means the regulator is bad.

Test the stator - No ohm reading from stator pins to ground. 0.5 ohm reading across pins. Fire up bike and read 12VAC output at idle. No change at higher RPM.

Install new regulator - still reads 12VDC at each pin.

Do I have a bad stator?

Why do I read voltage at each pin of Regulator? Bad ground?
 
Re: Stator Gone Bad

Carl_K said:
Put the bike in my shop. Pin point a bad rear brake light swith. Replace. Work fine. Since I have the bike up and approaching 5k, I change the fluids. Take it on test ride.
Click to expand...

Since the charging system went bad so close to the same time you changed the brake switch, I have to ask you if something shorted while replacing the brake switch. Any sparks during the procedure? Sounds like a spike took out the regulator. Once that happens, the stator is just minutes behind.
 
Carl, I just went through this. I have an 85 FXEF Evo 1340 motor. My stator was putting out 17 vac and the voltage regulator was putting 12.5 vdc. Which is not enough to charge the battery. I upgraded from the 22 amp to a 32 amp charging system. I don't have a lot of extras on the bike but, it is nice to know that if/when I do add stuff I'll have (or should have) the power to run it. I was told usually if the voltage regulator goes bad that the stator is not far behind it. Plus, it was a little cheaper to buy the kit rather individual parts too. I also never replaced one before and did the work myself. It was pretty easy, I looked at the self help and some of the videos on here and the You Tube links. That helped a lot.

Not sure if any of this helped but good luck with it.
 
Re: Stator Gone Bad

I only worked on the brake switch. No sparks. Quite simple fix. The bike ran fine for awhile. The voltage read a 14+ while riding. It seems the charging system went while I was riding.
I agree it is suspicious that the system went shortly after the repair. That is why I checked the connections. I may have bumped something during the fix, but all seems OK. Before I start investing money and time on a stator I want to be sure I need it. Not just replace parts looking for a fix.
 
Sorry Tank,

New guy who was looking for answers. I did read the rules first, but got carried away trying to get an answer. Won't happen again.
 
Unless you can find a shorted out wire / bad connection right off your bettery or chaging system its pretty safe to say its the stator. not uncommon for both reg and stator to go together
 
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