| Author | Message | ||
     Damnut |
Before anyone give me any shit, yes I know where the Knowledge Vault is. LOL I was riding into work this morning and the bike died on the way in. dead battery. I know my volt meter said it was charging before I left so something happened on the way in. When I stopped on the side of the highway I noticed that both battery terminals had loosened up. I was able to tighten them on the side of the road and get a jump. Was not charging after I got a jump and I barely made it to work. So now I'm here and do not have time to go and look through the Knowledge vault to see what and where I have to ohm things out to see WTF is going on. Can someone give me a list of what and where to check? I'm here at work and, well, I have to actually do some work and get off this computer. Can anyone help a brother out? Cheers, Jim | ||
| Totalnutah |
put it on a charger , it could be that the battery is so flat, it does not have enough voltage to induce a field in the alternator & charge the battery (Message edited by totalnutah on November 27, 2015) | ||
| Damnut |
Have the battery charging now. Hopefully it's as easy as that. I was hoping to ohm out the voltage regulator or stator just to check to make sure they're ok before I make the 75 mile commute home. | ||
| Hughlysses |
put it on a charger , it could be that the battery is so flat, it does not have enough voltage to induce a field in the alternator & charge the battery Unlike a car alternator, the Buell alternator has permanent magnets instead of field windings, so a very low battery won't keep it from charging. Nevertheless, hopefully a full charge combined with tight terminals will fix your problem. If not, follow the trouble shooting procedure in the shop manual; it's pretty straight forward. | ||
| Damnut |
That's the problem Hugh, I'm at work and don't have the manual with me. Hopefully with a full charge and clean, tight terminals my problem will be fixed. | ||
| Hughlysses |
If you've got a fully charged battery, you should be able to make a pretty good distance before the battery dies, even if the system isn't charging. How far have you got to go? | ||
| Damnut |
That's the problem Hugh, I'm at work and don't have the manual with me. Hopefully with a full charge and clean, tight terminals my problem will be fixed. | ||
| Oldog |
Jim The only simple check I can think of is to find the alternator connector, OHM it pin to pin, the readings will be very low nearly a short, Neither pin will read to ground ( OPEN ) while running there should be AC output at idle probably more than 20 volts and it should go up with revs. then re connect to the regulator / rectifier system voltage should come up over 12 volts to 13+ while running at say 2k rpm. If the alternator has low/ now output or reads short to ground stator/ rotor issue if alternator has AC output and no ground short regulator / rectifier is possible issue. I hope that this helps ... | ||
| Damnut |
That helps greatly, thanks Jim! | ||
| Steveford |
Without a multimeter pull the primary chain inspection cover and give it a sniff. There's no mistaking the charred electronics smell. | ||
| Harleyelf |
Could be as simple as a loose output wire on the voltage regulator. It's under the regulator, you have to take it off the mount to get at the screw for the output wire. Mine came loose and gave me no end of trouble until I bought a new one and found the loose wire while changing it out. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Get it figured out? | ||
| Damnut |
No not yet. I charged the battery while at work and rode home, made it most of the way before the bike died at an AutoZone just off the highway. One of the employees there gave me a jump and charged my battery enough to make it home. So it's definitely not charging now. My guess is that the loose battery terminals killed the voltage regulator. I have to dig into it and find out. I've been busy with finishing my basement and haven't got around to finding the problem. One of the good thing about owning multiple bikes, one dies just ride another one.  | ||
| Zac4mac |
That's always been my reason for having 4 bikes and 3 cars... | ||
| Harleyelf |
Stator check time. Ohm out the two contacts on the engine side of the voltage regulator feed connector. You want small resistance, not an open or short circuit. The wire harness to the stator gets pinched sometimes. |
