VIDEO: Check Your Harley Davidson’s Battery – Quick Guide
While, like any motorcycle, you can start a Harley Davidson
with a dead battery, it can be a pain. The best way to make sure
your battery will be there for you when you need it is to check it on a
regular basis. This is a task you can do without taking your bike in
anywhere.
Tools Needed
- Screw Driver
- Voltage Meter
- Box Wrench/Ratchet
- Wire Brush
Steps
- Access the Battery
Since most Harleys have the battery
underneath the seat, removing the seat from the bike is the first
step. This should just require removing a couple bolts. - Check
the Voltage
Using a voltage meter you’ll want to
attach the red lead to the positive terminal on the battery. The
black lead goes to the negative terminal. Look to see the voltage
your battery is delivering. Twelve volts is proper operation. If
it’s less than that it is indicative of a problem. More than
twelve is OK. - Inspect the Contacts
Corrosion
and other residue are common
enemies of good conductivity in any vehicle battery. This is true
with Harley Davidsons, too. You can check for and clean up this
problem quite easily. Start by removing the cables. You always want
to remove the negative connector first (with any negative ground
vehicle). A box wrench or possibly a ratchet will do this job
nicely. Any corrosion on the battery contacts or the ends of the leads
can be removed easily with a wire brush. When you put the cables
back on be sure to do the positive first. - Recheck
Voltage if Necessary
If you had a result that was
less than twelve volts and you found corrosion on the battery
contacts, you can check the battery again. If your voltage was
twelve volts or more to start, though, you can skip this step and are
done. When rechecking your voltage if the result is now at least
twelve volts you have fixed the problem. If it’s still below that
level you will probably need to replace your battery.
Regular checks are a great way to maintain your motorcycle’s battery.
It can also help you to know when to replace a battery before you find
out the hard way – when the bike has no power to start.
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