what exactly happens if the generator dosn't get flashed. Around midnight last night, I was buttoning up last minute details so I could ride to work today, forgot to flash it, then rode 8 miles to work with a stop in between. Will all be ok if I disconect -batt cable, reconnect, and re-flash?
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Rich

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You shouldn't have to disconnect wiring.&nbsp\\; Just flash it with a jumper wire as soon as you can.&nbsp\\; It can wear the generator out if you ride to long with out flashing as it will not charge correctly.&nbsp\\; But just take a piece of wire and polarize the generator as soon as you can.

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Randy

Thanks Randy. That't what I figured, I just wanted to be sure. I've allready flashed it so I only went 8-10 miles.
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Rich

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supr2nr,i'm new to this forum i've never heard of flashing a generator.what does it do and how is it done. thanks

The actual technical term is called polarizing.&nbsp\\; The purpose of it is just as it sounds to polarize the terminals.&nbsp\\; It "flashes" the terminals into being the correct polarity.&nbsp\\; Without looking I believe the polarize procedure is to touch the Armature lead on the generator to the positive battery post with a jumper wire for a brief second.&nbsp\\; By doing that you have set the armature terminal as the correct postive lead and the field lead as the negative lead.

You have to do it every time you disconnect your battery for any reason.&nbsp\\; Otherwise you stand the chance of burning the points in your voltage regulator.&nbsp\\; That happens and you won't get a succesful charge to your battery when your driving.&nbsp\\;

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Randy

The way I understand it, it ensures the the generator has the correct magnetic polarity, whitch is important because you want the battery to get a positive charge, not a negetive one, which will destroy a battery and maybe the generator. Would you think of hooking up a battery charger backwords (red to -, black to +). Page 5-23 of the H.D. service manual (covering 70 - 78 models)&nbsp\\;mentions it, and 5-27 goes into detail about polarizing and how to do it.
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Rich

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thanks for the info.i didn't know this was necesary.i do have the hd manual i'll chack it out.