Replaced regulator, but still not charging

[Jake Fatboy]

Hi All! 03 Fatboy charging system not working. Bike starts and runs great for about 75 miles with a charged battery. I keep a trickle charger on the battery between rides, so don't know how long this has been going on. Load tested my 6 month old HD battery. Tested good. Voltmeter across battery at idle and revved up only shows 12V or less. Performed all of the tests in Glide's "Testing the Charging System" (great procedure!) Regulator is 3-phase, so had 12v on each pin to battery negative. Stator measured good (no shorts to chassis ground and good continuity between pins). Started bike and measured 30-40 volts AC from the stator, so I bought and installed a new regulator and still don't have 14 volts across the battery. Now I realize that when I measured the 30-40 Volts AC from the stator that I measured 40 volts across two pins and probably only 30 volts across two other pins, as well as less than 20 volts once, probably from different pins. Is this fairly positive that the 3-phase stator is bad and should be putting out 40 volts on all 3 phases? I guess it doesn't hurt that I have a new regulator. Should I replace the rotor too? Thanks for your help!

 

[NEWHD74FAN]

Welcome Jake Fatboy to the HDTimeline forum and your first post. I know this is an odd question, but did you pop open the cam chain inspection hole and get a *wiff* of what the fluid smells like? If the odor is an acrid "burnt" smell, yeah, you likely have a bad stator. And yes, you have either a bad connection to one of the pins or you referenced one of the probes to the wrong place and measured 'cross two winding. Good luck and keep in touch as how your troubleshooting progresses...

 

[Jack Klarich]

Welcome Jake Fatboy to the HDTimeline forum and your first post. I know this is an odd question, but did you pop open the cam chain inspection hole and get a *wiff* of what the fluid smells like? If the odor is an acrid "burnt" smell, yeah, you likely have a bad stator. And yes, you have either a bad connection to one of the pins or you referenced one of the probes to the wrong place and measured 'cross two winding. Good luck and keep in touch as how your troubleshooting progresses...

And check the ground on the regulator, alot of times they can lose there ground, even a new one. To test for ground, connect alligator clip from a test light to positive on the battery, probe with the pic end to metal , if you have a ground the test light will light up, hope this helps

 

[Hoople]

Started bike and measured 30-40 volts AC from the stator, so I bought and installed a new regulator and still don't have 14 volts across the battery. Now I realize that when I measured the 30-40 Volts AC from the stator that I measured 40 volts across two pins and probably only 30 volts across two other pins, as well as less than 20 volts once, probably from different pins.!

Somethings not right. Did you measure the stator output with the 3 wires free standing? Take all 3 readings and see how close they are to each other. This test tells you nothing about current producing ability of the stator. Did your old regulator have at least 1 stator input pin shorted to ground? If so your present stator most likely is toast. If no, retest your current stator at a fixed speed of say 1800 RPM.

 

[Jake Fatboy]

Yes, took a whiff through the cam chain inspection hole and it does smell a little funny. Don't know that it smells decidedly burnt, but definitely funny. I took a whiff through the engine oil resevoir and it just smells like oil.

 

[Hoople]

Then I would perform the stator free standing output test at a fixed 1800 RPM (or so) one more time. See if the 3 AC outputs 1-2 // 2-3 // 1-3 are very close to each other. If not, the evidence is pointing toward bad stator.

 

[Jake Fatboy]

OK, I performed the stator AC output test again, measuring pins 1-2 // 2-3 // 1-3. I don't have a tach but at what I guessed was about 2000 RPM, I measured very close to 30V AC on each pair. At higher RPM, each pair measured 41-43 VAC, which is what I would expect. This just doesn't make sense...even though this test doesn't measure the current producing ability of the stator, shouldn't I still see 14V across the battery?

 

[SpringerSteve98]

With the bike running you should see real close to 14v across the terminals. If you've replaced the regulator, and have had the battery load tested... The stator is about the last piece to your charging system.

 

[Hoople]

OK, I performed the stator AC output test again, measuring pins 1-2 // 2-3 // 1-3. At higher RPM, each pair measured 41-43 VAC, which is what I would expect. This just doesn't make sense...even though this test doesn't measure the current producing ability of the stator, shouldn't I still see 14V across the battery?

I agree that it is not making much sense. Do you happen to have the factory schematic for the charging system for your bike. The only diagrams I have are for later models. I want to know if there is a circuit breaker in line with the positive wire coming out of the regulator that eventually goes back to the battery positive.

Either the positive wire from the regulator goes through a fuse/circuit breaker then onto the battery,,,
OR the positive wire goes through a fuse/circuit breaker and then goes onto the starter.

I would also check the ground wire coming out of the regulator. Check to see if in fact it is cleanly bolted to ground.

Sounds like something is just not right with either the positive lead, ground or fuse coming out of the regulator.

Did your year bike use any resettable circuit breakers or is it all fuses.

 

[NEWHD74FAN]

Yes, took a whiff through the cam chain inspection hole and it does smell a little funny. Don't know that it smells decidedly burnt, but definitely funny. I took a whiff through the engine oil resevoir and it just smells like oil.

Well gear oil should smell very similar to motor oil...so it really sounds like you may have a problem with the stator.