A few nights back I was cruising about 25 miles from my home when I noticed the Voltmeter pegged to the right. All else was fine then I noticed my Speedo and Tach gauges were not lit. Upon my first downshift, the lights came back on, voltmeter went back to it's normal position but the bike sounded like it was getting ready to stall, pipes popped, radio lights went out etc. Limped home and took it to my Indie the next day (in my trailer).

After checking battery, connections, voltage regulator he decided to tear it down and look at the Stator. Once he cracked open the Derby cover a foul smelling electrical odor mixed with gear oil was filtering out of the outer primary cover. Sure enough, the Stator was fried. I replaced the Voltage Regulator on the advice of my Indy as well. He said things like that are a bit more common in the heat and even finding one in stock wasn't easy. Bike has 29,xxx miles on it at present just for reference.

Either way, back on the road just glad this didn't blow in a few weeks somewhere in the Black Hills.

 

I take it the photo is of the new stator? I ask because there appears to be no defects in the windings on it.

Typically excessive high reading on the voltage meter indicates AC voltage entering the system due to a bad regulator. A bad regulator can short the stator and melt it down.


Often this is caused by a wire from the charging system rubbing off it's insulation and shorting to the frame.

A bad stator will either not provide voltage or it will be very low voltage.

Are you running any aftermarket lighting?

 

I'm with Johnny C on this one. The symptoms you describe are characteristic of a failure of the voltage regulator, which then caused the stator to fail.

 

i would say voltage regulator problem too, but the smell from the stator can't be mistaken when they burn up. did you use a volt meter to check it out?

 

The copper winding at the very top (12 o'clock) is the one that's fried to a crisp. I replaced the voltage regulator as well. No aftermarket lighting installed.

 

You just confirmed my fears...

Mine is doing the exact same thing.

 

I noticed a smell when I pulled into the garage a few times. I thought it was the powder coating burning off my new pipes. When the derby cover came off you could see a visible fume/smoke pouring out form the primary chain case.

Check to voltage regulator first. My Indy said mine was good but it's wise to change it out with the new Stator. I don't argue with him because he's been working on these for over 40 years.

From start to finish I'd say it took my mech less than an hour to pull the stator, install the new one and button it back up.

 

I know that stench!

My eyes missed that one fried coil in the photo. Now that you mention it it's obvious. Odd though, typically several show signs of frying.

I'm glad he went with a new regulator too.

Only reason I asked about additional lighting is it don't take much to overload the system when you add on heavy duty driving lights, or even change your headlight to something that draws a lot of current.

I just hope that it was a defect, because something caused this and if the regulator was still good then I'd still be looking for a power lead that may be shorting. Keep a close eye on the volt meter.

Something as simple as water getting into the connector between the stator and the regulator can toast those stator windings too.

Hoping the best for you and that you'll be trouble free ... Aw heck what am I saying it's a Harley, keep your eyes open for the next trouble that inevitably will happen ... LOL

 

Best bet is to replace bad stators and regulators with a Cycle Electric brand.

http://cycleelectricinc.com/

 

My stator looked almost identical when I removed it. It would produce adequate voltage at highway speed, but I would get low voltage codes getting to and from the freeway.