I posted not to long ago about this issue and I am still STUMPED! I have rebuilt this bike from the ground up 1984 FLTC 1340 EVO tour glide 4 batteries in the past 2 years this past month on my 4th one I ordered a brand new stator and reg from cycle electric new battery did all the test and they past went riding and 2 weeks later blaaa! battery dead again WTF? I have checked wires put new cables on all grounds good and clean WTH? this is a side mounted battery (could it be vibration?) it rattles a hell of allot? checked batt the first week I rode with a volt meter it read 13.4 to 13.5 after riding then boom dead??? stopped the other day got on and no go wouldn't even start tried jumping nothing! not even a click? I have had this bike for 9 years now and tried back tracking anything I did different? a new starter was put in about 5 years ago the charging system was bumped up to a 32 amp prolly didn't need it My grounds all good paint cleaned off at connections ect I have a new ground strap attached from bottom cross member to inner primary and ground going from NEG battery post to the bolt on the starter housing checked for good ground points all over bike with volt meter all read good now what? should I add an extra ground to frame? anyone have this issue? with this type of bike? its got to be something stupid I have done? or a simple issue I am just STUMPED here anymore

 

1. Make sure your voltage regulator has a good ground to the frame, add an additional ground wire and make sure there is no paint limiting the ground connection.
2. You should be reading 14 + VDC on your battery when the bike is running at about 2000 RPM.
3. Have the battery load tested to rule out a battery issue and note the cold cranking amps (CCA).
4. Cycle Electric is top notch.
5. What manufacturer batteries are you using and what is the CCA of those batteries.
6. Are you using an AGM battery or flooded cell battery?
7. The only other thing could be a parasitic electrical draw but that is not likely.
8. I would run the electrical test of the Stator & voltage regulator again just to be sure. https://www.hdforums.com/forum/elect...sting-1-a.html


NOTE:
The above information, while credible, is worth what you paid for it and should not be considered gospel.
Do due diligence, research and have a H-D Field Service Manual before working on your bike.
You will probably have many opinions and suggestions presented; make sure you research the person providing the helpful information as there are some who provide good information that is useful and some who speak out of other orifices with gibberish. You will figure out this quickly.

 

Turn everything off.
Take the positive cable loose.
Set your digital meter to 10 amps.
Connect negative meter lead to battery +
Connect positive meter lead to positive battery cable.

Post the reading...

 

I have checked for parasitic absolutely none I am using the Duracell AGM ultra 18L with CCA 330 I have sanded off paint from reg bracket where it rest on then from where it attaches to frame as well I have even gone as far as opening the wire harness to check for broken wires none I used a meter attached the red lead to POS post of batt then used the NEG meter lead and touched everywhere on frame I get the same reading as batt all over frame even where the reg is which is anywhere from 12.9 to 13.5 volts its got to be something silly causing this?

 

If main breaker has not been changed out in 10 years, replace it now. The 15 amp main breaker is in line with the DC side off the voltage regulator, other side of it has the rest of the connections, and when the breaker over heats to pop it open from just surface corrosion, bike will still run off the battery, but battery will not be charging.
Note auto part store should carry the one you need.
The breaker again, is just a 15 amp that you can find in most auto part stores, or can do a quick search under hd 74589-73.
Gold post is the wire coming from the voltage regulator, and the silver post is what you connect everything down line of the breaker.


As for the Duracell AGM ultra 18L battery, the first one on my 97 RK went dry cell in a years and half, the replacement did the same in about the same amount of time, but since Sam's not longer carriers it to replace it, popped the fill port caps to fill the cells up to just the top of plates (not bottom of fill channels like you do on a wet cell battery) with distilled water to re-moisten the acid gel in the cells to resolve the dry cell problems, put the fill caps back on, and now year 4 on that same battery.

So this being a 84 tc that your pulling more power, and it have an even lower amperage charging system then my RK, it may not be the bike/charging system over all, but the battery being used more, and it going dry cell faster isntead.



The down and dirty on agm, verse wet cell, is instead of water/acid in liquid form, the AGM used water/acid in the mats instead. As a cells mats starts to go dry, the charging system will try to over charge the other cells, which cause the first cell to really dry out, and starts to dry out the other cells as well. The acid is still in the mats and on the lead plates, but the water content of the acid mix in the matts has just been lost as humidity from heat isntead.

So the distilled water trick to re-moisten the matts in the cells, and the reason that we only want to add just enough water to only comes to top of plates only, this light amount of water will absorb back into the mats of the cells, so you don't have have standing distilled water in the cell that can freeze instead.

Its either that, or you go back to a wet cell battery, since as stated, lower amperage charging system on the bike and your pulling more power with added electrical items, so kind of the reason that the agm battery is going to dry cell a lot faster.

Also, with you being in Florida with higher heat, means battery is hotter to begin with, and as it being charged up back up, will loose more moisture out of the battery matts each charging as well.

 

Yep, electrical problems do suck. Riding with a voltage meter hooked up is a good idea like you did. Maybe try inspecting all the wiring for a possible rubout? What about eliminating the lighting circuit from the equation via the ignition switch. I took out the jumper wire on mine which lets you leave the lights off on the first position. Good luck and don’t give up.

 

Funny I thought of the Main breaker I did replace it about 6 years age with a 30-40 AMP breaker? cant remember is that over kill? and I thought the same way you are with the battery Ill try both good advice thanks Dano523
I will try to freshin up the cells see what happens if no luck I will put a new old school flooded batt in it

 

Good advice Ill try that as well you mean the jumper as in the green wire they show on the wiring diaphragm that goes to all 3 breakers? I think it goes from IGN,LIG,ACC?

 

Thank you for the encouragement I will try that thanks guys

 

Funny I thought of the Main breaker I did replace it about 6 years age with a 30-40 AMP breaker? cant remember is that over kill? and I thought the same way you are with the battery Ill try both good advice thanks Dano523
I will try to freshin up the cells see what happens if no luck I will put a new old school flooded batt in it Im not much of a fire bug Im terrible when it comes to electrical I will try these things and keep you guys updated on what my results are