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Headlight on battery dies

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charliechopper

New Member
Heres a simple problem (someboby please help) my bike runs fine when my headlight is in the off position and runs great even when on,, now heres the story, I can ride the bike with the headlite off and the bike will start everytime but if I run the headlight it drains the battery and want start.. whats up with that? Is it a short or has the rectifier stop working? Has the stator gone bad? Now remember the light is still running bright while riding no change in its appearance,(deemer or brighter)
 
Welcome to the forum Charlie, Sounds like the the charging system has gone south, just a guess, the bike almost runs forever if it does not have to support a headlamp. I would get a cheap volt meter and check your battery voltage, then start the bike and check the battery voltage again, with bike not running should it be 12.6-12.8 and running with a few rpm's put to it you should be reading at lease 13+ -14+ volts. Thats the place I would start so I can rule the charging system out.
 
Theres no good way to test your regulator so i generally test the stator, and have the battery load tested, and if that tests good then 90% of the time its the regulator. Always check the obvious stuff first. Corrosion, loose terminals, or something grounding out somewhere.
 
thanks springersteve,,yeah its happened before at bikeweek in Florida. fixed it, was a short in the wire going thru the backbone, seat had wore a bare spot then, but cant find any spots on the wire now, also had a airdam covering the rectifier the past two times I've ridden a long route anything to do with that? Gonna check all options given, gotta come up with something without paying for it with my left you know what..

Well just to let all those who helped me get the thing running again, it was the rectifier/regulator...! Thanks again guys for the help only cost 109.00 bucks to fix (this time). LOL

Thanks again
Charlie
 
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