Just hooked up the new regulator. Stator checks good, VR has 15 -16 at the connector. Connected it to the brand new circuit breaker and I get nothing going to the battery. Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

1995 FLSTN

 

Make sure the VR is grounded, it grounds through the nut that holds it in place.
Also, what side is the VR connected too on the circuit breaker.
Mine's connected to the battery side not the ignition side.
I always felt this was wrong, but that's where it was.

BTW, you'll burn out the VR if it's not grounded well.

 

Thanks for the reply Ranger. Yes, the VR is grounded and I've tried hooking it up to both the BAT side, the AUX/ignition side, and hooked it up directly to the battery. I tested the wire directly from the VR and got the following:
REGULATOR


BATTERY

I don't know what else to do. The VR appears to be working. But when I connect it directly to the battery I get no charging.

 

STATOR

 

How long have you run it with everything connected?

Depending on the regulator and somewhat the battery charge, it can take almost half a minute or so and rpms over idle (like 1500) for the battery voltage to start coming up after a start, especially on a cold start and lights on.

 

Haven't took it out for a ride for fear of killing the battery. I've had it running in the garage for about 20 min with no change.

 

Yeah, good idea. It should at least start to come up within 30 seconds or so.

Is that the same battery as when the VR shorted earlier (?) and I remember you have a charger(?) Put the charger on it, lowest setting and see if the voltage is slow to come up or not at all.

 

Try cleaning the terminals on the battery and the wires / cables on the battery. You test the Ohms resistance between the battery cable and the battery post itself. I have seen some with near zero continuity there. The alternator is charging just fine but the voltage is not going into the battery.

 

Is that 12.56 volts at idle?
Bump up the RPMs and see if it goes up.
Older Harley's don't charge below 1200 rpm.

 

Lets make life simple.

VR wire should be to ground on chassic, postive wire out of VR should be to gold terminal alone on main breaker, and rest of wires to main breaker should be on silver terminal isntead.

So multi-meter set to DC, ground to battery ground post, check silver terminal of main breaker for power and should be same as battery voltage, then switch to gold terminal, and should be same. If no, then problem from battery cable end on starter solenoid cable, back to silver terminal on main breaker that is breaking the current.

If voltage is correct on above, change from battery terminal to chassis ground and retest. If volt is not same as battery, then have a problem on the ground side from battery to engine chassis instead. If voltage is good.same as battery, then double check ground point of VR as negative, to battery positive terminal for battery voltage to make sure VR grounding to chassic is good.

PS, don't confuse the AC current out of the stator, for the DC output of the VR. If stator is good, then its Ac output will be fine, while if VR is bad, then could be no DC output instead (or could be AC output to battery that would be bad as well). myself, with motor running, will set the meter to AC then check the VR ground as one point, the gold termial as the other other point, and make dam sure that the VR is not pushing ac out of it (should only be DC alone).

And as stated, on older bikes, will not see a rise in DC current until the motor gets over 1200 rmp, and voltage should max out about 14.2 volts DC at top RPMs as well. If you are seeing more than 14.2DC at high revs, VR has a problem and will try to boil the battery.