Electrical Help Needed
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Joined: Mar 2011
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Electrical Help Needed
I've got an '05 sportster with a sealed battery that was new this winter. Yesterday while on a ride I stopped for gas and the bike wouldn't start up again, just clicked away like the battery was dead.
Luckily for me, the shop had a booster pack and I managed to jump the bike but when the pack was removed, it would cut out. I checked for loose wires where I could, tried again and got the bike running.
About five miles up the road, she just went dead, no life at all. Thank God for friends with trucks and ramps because we had to haul it home.
I took the battery out and put it on the tender and noticed that the neg cable had its insulation broken and the wire exposed. I have bolt spacers for the terminals that were also showing a fair bit of corrosion.
I taped up the cable, cleaned up the spacers, and with a full charge on the battery the bike roared back to life.
I'm not sure if I'm looking for problems now though but I'm wondering if that exposed cable was the source of my problem or if there's another electrical problem preventing the battery from getting a good charge. The bike does not have a consistent bu-bu-bu-bu rumble to it. It's more like bu-bu-bu-pa bu-bu-bu-pa. If anybody here speaks Harley.
Luckily for me, the shop had a booster pack and I managed to jump the bike but when the pack was removed, it would cut out. I checked for loose wires where I could, tried again and got the bike running.
About five miles up the road, she just went dead, no life at all. Thank God for friends with trucks and ramps because we had to haul it home.
I took the battery out and put it on the tender and noticed that the neg cable had its insulation broken and the wire exposed. I have bolt spacers for the terminals that were also showing a fair bit of corrosion.
I taped up the cable, cleaned up the spacers, and with a full charge on the battery the bike roared back to life.
I'm not sure if I'm looking for problems now though but I'm wondering if that exposed cable was the source of my problem or if there's another electrical problem preventing the battery from getting a good charge. The bike does not have a consistent bu-bu-bu-bu rumble to it. It's more like bu-bu-bu-pa bu-bu-bu-pa. If anybody here speaks Harley.
Cruiser
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 171
Likes: 0
From: Jackson, TN
If the cables were corroded or not making good connection, then the battery was not getting a full charge. Sounds like you have corrected these condition. Not sure about a sportster, but on my bike with the bike running you should read around 14.3 volts across the battery. Maybe this helps.
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