I've had good luck with DS batteries, smart charger in winter.

 

From your voltage readings, you are charging fine and do not need to check the stator output. Follow the directions. Anyway, you probably have a short somewhere. Those are a biatch to find. Besides the blinkers, does anything else not work when the voltage is showing low? Also, I'm not familiar with the 96, but is a 50 amp breaker what they come with?

 

Well, my last MoCo battery lasted from 06/06 - 10/14. It's still in decent condition, just was showing it's age when the outside temp was below 45 degrees.

I replaced it with a Big Crank from Battery Mart: http://www.batterymart.com/p-Big-Cra...ring-1980-1996

Get yourself a BatteryTender for the off season.

 

I took out a 50 amp breaker and replaced it with an identical one from napa auto parts. They call it the 'main' breaker in the manual. (Under seat by battery) the others are 15 amp - lights, accessory, ignition, & constant

About the battery, sometimes the volts have dropped to 10, or 11,
and the blinkers worked. When they weren't working my lights were fine, didn't see them dim or acting funny. Does it make any sense?

 

I guess they changed the 30 amp breaker to a 50 with the larger charging system on the later bikes.

Do you mean the voltage at the battery measured with a real volt meter or the voltage on the volt meter in the dash dropped to 10? Either way, it sounds like a short. Even if the regulator was going intermittent on you, with nothing else on (like brakes, etc.) it shouldn't show 10V on the dash meter, and never at the battery unless you're starting the bike, and it shouldn't then either.

 

I had the same problem on my 90 fltcu. The connector from the stator was not making a good connection. It was intermittent which made it a bitch to find. Recheck the plug mine the radio would cut out and the blinkers stopped working when the plug was not connected. Don't go by the volt meter on the bike it can be off by a volt or two. Hope this helps.

 

Check around the bottom of the voltage reg, were it bolts to the frame and make sure it is not oily from changing the oil filter, if it is oily, loosen bolts and clean with carb cleaner. Tighten bolts

 

The two times I tested it with the hand held multimeter, the numbers on the multimeter were good according to your sticky. I fidnt think to look at the gauge on the dash at the same time.

It's the gauge on the dash that has dropped to 10 while on the freeway, and the blinkers wouldn't work. If I were to turn the key on now, the dash gauge shows around 10 or 11. Start the bike and it's around 12 or just under 13. Putt it around the block and she stays around 13 until I stop or slow down, than she drops a little like around 11. The manual says the dash gauge should remain constant whether your on the throttle or not.

 

I took the regulator down, and the bracket off the frame. Cleaned it all good. Took the ground off too, and cleaned it and where it bolts up. It wasn't loose or anything.

 

The volt meter in the faring is accurate, but it only measures the voltage on the accessory line inside the faring, not battery voltage, which is what you would want. Keeping that in mind, it is still useful as a relative indicator of what is happening in the electrical system. When your volt meter reads 10V and your blinkers are not working, it is most likely because something is shorting to ground, causing a large current draw, which then is visible as a lower voltage inside the fairing. Or your charging system has stopped charging and you still have a relatively large load on the electrical system.

Finding the intermittent short is a biatch. I have found a few over the years, but never when I was looking for it. A common problem with our bikes (per the forum here) seems to be wires rubbing the insulation off under the tank and at the steering neck. You might very closely inspect those areas for a start.