If the voltage doesn't start to climb after it starts, it's not being charged. If it's not gaining volts, it's time to start looking deaper into things electrically. Still think it needs a battery, but this shouldn't be that hard to determine.

 

A battery reading 12.3 volts is 50% charged...If the voltage remains the same when the bike is running you have a problem. Your voltage regulator and stator should be putting 13-14 volts out when the bike is running otherwise the battery can't recover from the starting process and the juice that it uses to get started.
I rode all day yesterday and according to the volt gauge the bike was putting out 14.5 volts. My bike is always on a tender in the garage if it is not being ridden. When I got home yesterday and plugged it into the tender, it immediately read full charge.
Your 1st problem is the battery...get a new one. Then check to see if the voltage coming from your voltage regulator is higher than 12.3 volts.
BTW 12.8 volts is a fully charged battery...100%.

 

Wow, so pretty much I'm probably gonna have to replace all electrical items. Battery, Regulator, and Stator=most likely...unless the regulator or stator are in good condition which chances are one them are not due to the battery not lifting in voltage during idle or revving. Jeez this is going to be expensive

 

well wait wait wait wait....I know I'm slow, if the battery was bad or not strong enough would it still jump up in voltage during idle/revving??? Or will it stay at about 12.3-5???

 

PROBLEM SOLVED!!!! ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY BEAST....ok, turns out this was the problem. I noticed this earlier but didn't think anything about it, sort of. Pretty much last week my fuel line was dry rotted and I lost a whole tank of 93 grade gas(just filled 'er up). The grass was burnt and destroyed around the bike...so anyways the connector from the regulator to the stator had electrical tape around it that was brown and burnt...inside it there was juice of some type(whether it was gas, whether it was melted tape, or whatever it was) juice or ooze of some sort inside the connector. My dad cleaned it with special cleaner and used an air hose to blow out the stuff, made sure the plug was on even tighter(the oil filter placement makes it practically impossible to get the plug on all the way so you really have to give it a struggle snuggle). Anyways we cranked the bike up, read the meters, and it's charging(this was while the bike was charged at only 75%, got it up to 14.08 volts at high rev)!!!!!!!! Wow, can't believe I doubted him...sure shows you what I know. Seriously thank you everybody for the tips and I'll definitely know what hell is going on in the future if I ever have issues in the charging department again!

 

I would guess that the stuff in the plug was probably silicone dielectric grease put there to protect against water and corrosion...you might want to put some more back in the plug if you didn't do that.

The plug was encased in a rubber boot that was secured to the front of the engine case on my SG. The over time the boot deteriorated and became unusable and I have not been able to find a replacement so far so it is still exposed. Your's could be the same way and some PO just taped it up to keep it from being exposed. I secured the plug back to the engine case using a plastic zip strap made with with a mounting hole and keep an eye on the plug and wiring and have not had any problems so far

Coming from an electrical/electronic background and a firm believer in the area of probabilities known as Murphy's Law, I am always suspicious of fixes to major failures that turn out as simple as this...

Thanks for keeping this going. It is always interesting to know what the final outcome is to a puzzling problem, especially electrical related because they can be so strange sometimes...and good find.

Now ride!

 

Ok ok...thanks for the reply Skinman13. I do believe you're right, it has to be the plug because today I did not charge the battery or anything. I checked it and the battery wasn't charging when on and during high rev(and had drained down from 12.6 to 12.1 volts while off from yesterdays lil' charge). I sprayed down the plug with wire cleaner, plugged it back in after a few hours, cranked my bike up and now all of a sudden it's charging like it's supposed to be. The real question is this: HOW DO I STOP THIS PERMANENTLY? Should I purchase a smaller oil filter for the bike??(Do they even make smaller oil filters for my 93 Wide Glide)? Because the oil filter happens to be right in the way of where the stator plug and regulator plug, although it's pushed in as far as it can go it still is plugged in at a small angle which leads me to believe that it's vibrating apart and/or causing liquid to seep through. Would water and corrosion really seep through that fast though? This is an overnight ordeal here, although the plug is at a slight angle it is still in pretty snug and it seems to me that it would still be sealed off pretty good. Anyone else out there have this problem? PLEASE LET ME KNOW, and I want to try that Skinman13 if it worked for you...I did notice that there was tape on it and a zip tie but I'm assuming that isn't good enough??? I really don't see how the zip tie really keeps it together, I think the tape did a better job

 

Take a small pen screwdriver and separate the pins on the regulator side of the connector (they are male pins) a little to make for a better fit. Sounds like you have an intermittent connection issue there. Also check to make sure that the primary fluid is not leaking through the connector. A bike that sits a long time can dry the insulator and leak. Battery should be ok, but if it sat a while or should I say 11k in all these years its time to replace........ the rest sounds like it's ok... AND ONE MORE HING... show a little RESPECT to your father he's only trying to help.

 

I fought an intermittent voltage regulator last summer that gave the same identical symptoms that you are describing...when it was working, there was no problems to identify, but when it was not, there was no charging voltage at the battery. My local Harley Service Manager told me that a batch of defective voltage regulators had got out on the market and were causing problems.

It seems that you can duplicate the problem when you manipulate the plug either by cleaning or just disconnecting and reconnecting. If you really feel that it is the plug, then the only thing I can think of that will cause your symptoms is a bad connection in the plug contacts or broken wiring.

There are two wires output from the voltage regulator, is the ground and the other is the DC output to the main circuit breaker then out to the circuit and the battery. Be sure to check these two wires, especially the ground. Pull the main fuse and check the fuse socket for corrosion.

If you cannot find anything physically suspect with the voltage regulator/stator plug and system wiring, you will need to see if you can duplicate the failure. You will check this by getting the bike running and charging (meter reading at 14 vdc minimum across battery terminals). When it is all working normally, start shaking, twisting, and pulling on the voltage regulator/stator connector and wiring and see if you can duplicate the failure. If it is an intermittent connection problem at the connector you should be able to duplicate the failure it as you mess with the plug. If you cannot get it to fail, then you probably have a component failing internally. Check and make sure your stator windings are not shorted internally and the AC output is correct and if that is good, then get another voltage regulator and start all over. But, before buying a voltage regulator, make sure that you have verified the correct AC output from you stator and looked at all the system wiring and connections. In an older bike like yours, loose/dirty connections at connectors, broken wiring at contacts and terminals are a reasonable scenario.

 

A very common regulator problem is a bad or intermittent ground. Make sure that you remove the paint from the frame and the regulator is getting good contact. It grounds through the body of the regulator itself contacting the frame.