First off 1996 heritage softail.
A little background as I haven't rode much this year.
First of March was first ride this year. Cranked up fine and no issues on about a 2hr ride.
Fast forward to mid may and 12 mi into a ride it dies at a stoplight and won't start because of a dead battery.
Got a jump and found ground connection about a 1/4 turn loose.
Got it home charged battery overnight and all seemed good.
Today fired right up, rode about 15mi ate breakfast and acted funny when I fired it up. Stopped for gas and same thing.
Came home and it just click click clicked. Done some test. Here's the results.
1.Voltage across bat terminals key off=11.64
2. Key on=11.45
3. Engine running at idle (jump started)= 11.5
4. Engine running well above idle =11.25 (I don't have tach)
5. Grounds at both battery and regulator ohmed out ar 0.00
Stator and vr replaced 3 year's ago, new battery less than 12 months old.
Any ideas? Any other test I need to do?
With the price of everything the way it is these days I don't want to just throw parts at it without being pretty sure it'll be fixed.
Sorry for the long post.

 

First impression - it's not charging. A weak or dying battery will not hold charge or accept charge with the headlight on and only 15 miles.

Follow the steps in Hess' sticky thread, tells you everything you need to do to check - https://www.hdforums.com/forum/evo-c...ng-system.html

 

In the mean time you should be able to start your bike by using a jumper wire like to image below. I have to do this regularly with my bike.

 

This isn`t going to help with an inoperative charging system and a dead battery.

There are folks here who can help you fix that issue. ​​​​​​​

 

If you are having those low voltage readings after testing a battery that has sat for 24 hrs, after it was charged up, your battery is toast. Battery has to hold at least a 12.5 Volt, resting voltage, for the bike to start. Fuel Injected bikes are even less tolerant of battery voltage than a carb'd bike. Charge the battery up and then do a load test. The bikes charging system won't charge up a battery that is that low.

 

12.2v is 25% charged13.0v is 100% charged..
either that battery is no good or your charging system is ****.. check stator out put. 2000 rpm, put your volt meter to ac and measure the stator out put.. Should be 30-40vac.. doesn't matter if you replaced the rotor and stator 3 years ago..

 

Thanks for the advice guys, pretty sure my battery is shot but going to check Stator first.

 

I think you need to really look at the entire charging system closely. The fact that your only getting 11.5 volts with engine running tells me either the stator and/or the voltage regulator is suspect.

Another thing to look at is the boot/connector at the engine block where the regulator plugs in/ That connector is a known weak point and the two electrical pins can arc/melt creating a no charge situation. Fairly common problem. Not saying that is your problem, but something to look at while your going thru the Hess charging system check procedure.

Also check all of your grounds and charging system connections. You found one that was loose, so all the others are suspect till you check them. Probably good idea to clean all connection points you find. Oxidization over the years can add up and create resistance.

 

Yeah, it seems you have charging problems...

I just had to buy my '96 Heritage a new battery this past weekend.

The old battery read only 8.3 volts at rest, after being connected to a battery tender for more than 24 hours (3/4 amp charging capability with the tender).

I connected a 2-amp charger, and the amp meter needle on the charger wouldn't move at all from 0 amps. The battery wasn't accepting a charge.

After the new battery was in, with the bike running at idle, I measured 14.2 volts at the battery terminals.

Both of my Ironheads measure the same if I increase the rpm's to around 2000. (Both have generators instead of the alternator the Heritage has.)

 

When doing charging voltage checks on a running bikes battery, the battery has to be fully charged to get an accurate reading. If you got the bike started on the 11.5 volts and checked the charging voltage at the battery, you will get a low, inaccurate reading. When doing these types of tests the battery has to be fully charged. A Harley is hard on batteries and with the vibration and heat don't be surprised if your battery suddenly goes south. A lot of the problems with charging systems on a motorcycle start out life as a bad battery, that then causes further problems with starters and stators.
I look at a motorcycles charging systems ( stators in this case ) as being just adequate to maintain a good battery. They aren't strong enough to charge a low battery and keep the bike running.