Regulator destroyed battery?

2006 Super Glide, bone stock.



The question here ends up being would you automatically buy a new voltage regulator if your new battery was fried? Also would you spend the $200+ on a Harley regulator or go aftermarket and save a bunch of money.

Exactly how I came to this question is told below if you're interested.




Last week on the way to work my engine started dying abruptly, then turning back on several times. It was as if the kill switch or ignition was being quickly cycled. The speedo needle dropped off, too. Very intermittent. Same problem on the way home. The bike suddenly died at a red light, I got it running again but it was quitting and firing up again under throttle the rest of the way.

I did some research here and narrowed it down to the usual suspects. Battery, regulator, stator/rotor, bike grounds and ignition switch. ( And each thread is convincing enough that you believe that MUST be your problem lol )

The stator/rotor were replaced with the inner primary bearing about 4 years ago, so I didn't suspect that, the battery is a Mega Crank MTX-20L from Battery Mart less than a year old so I didn't suspect that either. I tested the battery with a meter and it read 12.7 volts, I pulled it out and brought it to a local indy for load testing. At first he told me the battery was no good, then doing something on the tester and then deciding the battery was OK. ( in hindsight he never even asked me what the CCAs were supposed to be on the battery… I should've seen that as foreshadowing. )

So now I believe the battery is good I go home and start checking every ground on the bike checking every plug, ( and by the way when I opened up the plug that goes from the stator to the regulator oil started coming out ), and then I pulled out the ignition switch. I cleaned all three connectors, the middle one was really dirty and I think that's the one the wiring diagram says goes to the battery, and took the switch itself apart and cleaned all the contacts inside and put a new coating of dielectric grease on.

So now I'm sure everything's gonna be great. I get geared up, start the bike and get two blocks from the house and it's the same thing. Bike dies and then restarts, speedo needle drops to 5mph. I don't know if it's actually possible to bump start an EFI bike, but while I was rolling dead, I pulled the clutch, downshifted and dumped the clutch it and the bike restarted.... maybe just a coincidence. Make a U-turn and barely make it back in the garage. The bike is still running so I take off the battery cover put my meter to the battery. It's showing good volts so I rev up the engine and the volts go up to 14 point something. I keep the engine revving and then all of a sudden the volts start dropping lower and lower and when it gets down to 12.0 or something the bike starts cutting out just like it's been doing.

I shut the bike off, I'm sure it's the regulator now. I wait a few minutes and test the battery again. It's showing 12.5 volts again. I go to start the bike one more time to replicate the volt drop but when I turn the ignition on, nothing happens and the volts drop to zero. I turn the key off and the volts start creeping back up and fluctuating up and down until they level back off at 12.5. I go to start it again, and again, the instant I turn the key to on, I get nothing and the volts drop to zero.

Now I think the battery really isn't good and the guy at the indy sent me on a wild goose chase all day. I took the battery out and brought it to Auto Zone to get load tested again. They told me the battery had ZERO CCAs. Now I was on a mission. I took the battery to an independent auto parts store, they tested it and said it was dead. I went to Jiffy Lube, they said it had 7 CCAs, I went to Advance Auto, they said it had 226 CCAs and I went to Firestone and they said it had 16 CCAs. All together I had the battery load tested at six different places and got six different results.

So I bought a new battery. I haven't installed it yet, it's showing 12.5 volts and I may put it on the tender first. I'm waiting to install while deciding whether or not to replace the voltage regulator with it also. I could test it in the garage with the meter and revving the engine again, but that's just going to show me what's going on at that moment. My bike doesn't have a volt meter so I can't watch it while riding. I also want to know if it's worth spending $200+ on the Harley voltage regulator unit or go aftermarket and save some money.

So, would you get a new regulator before you rode the bike again?

 

Regulators don't have a history of being intermittent. You have diode bridges in there that turn AC into DC, and they are either good or they are not.
I would take your meter place on the lowest OHM scale and measure the resistance of your stator first. First determine what your meter sees as a dead short by touching the probes together and reading the meter... some will read zero.. .some will read .1 or .2.. this needs to be considered when reading the rest of the measurements. Unplug the regulator from the wires going to your stator(front left of engine on primary) and measure between any of the wires there and between the wires and ground (engine case). Your measurements wire to wire should not be zero.. but from .1 to .2 ohms. (again, consider your initial "zero" measurement of your meter leads/probes) Anything higher is suspect, and a dead short is definitely bad.
There is no real troubleshooting of the regulator.. .once you've determined you have the correct AC input (stator is good), then the regulator is either good.. or it's bad.

 

If you do replace the regulator go with a Cycle Electric brand over OEM.

 

You have a lot going on that might need more in depth testing ... If your confident the stator is working ok,, and the main electrical connections are good ,,, a few simple things to do...

Try and clean up that oil getting to the regulator connections ,probably coming from the rubber grommet on case from stator...

I would install the new battery and see what happens,,, the battery on bike with the testing you have done , does not give me a lot of confidence ....
Have you got a mate with similar bike you could temporally install their regulator, and see what happens ?.. Or a dealer/ indy close by that you get on with, that may have a good used regulator for testing purposes ?.



Good luck,, keep us posted .....

 

No offense but that story was way too long so I didn't read it, but a faulty regulator can damage the battery but I don't hear about it happening very often. As far as replacing it, I would definitely use HD parts. I always prefer to replace electrical components with oem whether it's a Harley, Chrysler, seadoo, even a riding lawn mower. But that's just my preference.

 

👍🏼 No comparison

 

Go with Cycle Electric.

 

How come you guys keep recommending this? Is it cause it's cheaper or better warranty or product? Just curious. I've never used them before, or had to replace any of my regulators for that matter. Just never used anything other than oem unless on a performance upgrade.

 

lookie here.

 

Interesting...well that says a lot right there. I like that it's made in America. I'll buy an American brand even if it's made outside the us, but I won't buy from a foreign company regardless where it's made. An American company that builds their products here is a big plus for me.

So so does anyone else think the guy in the review sounds like the public defender from my cousin vinny? Except for the stutter of course.