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2nd time out on the 84 Shovelhead . 165 miles yesterday , today 41 miles . Sitting on the side of the road cussing the Ole Girl ! 4 month old battery , 12.86 volts sitting , and load of the headlight battery drops to 4.15 volts . Typical in todays world , we try to rely on all we can spend good money on . I call most junk ! New battery , running like I stole her . I had to push her about 1/2 mike to get safely off the road and under a street light .
My Dad is 83 , chuckled at me if you ride one you did the right thing fix it and ride it home ! Dont call the happy hooker !
His last scooter was a K model , my Grandfathers was an 74 Cu in Flathead .
Before I blamed the battery there are a few things to check. Voltage regulator, alternator/generator output, connections or parasitic draw.
I am surprised the ride lasted as long as it did (voltage wise) I have been in that situation buddy and she crapped out at about 9 volts.
Before I blamed the battery there are a few things to check. Voltage regulator, alternator/generator output, connections or parasitic draw.
I am surprised the ride lasted as long as it did (voltage wise) I have been in that situation buddy and she crapped out at about 9 volts.
This isnt my first rodeo ! The battery is now sitting on my work bench . It reads 12.87 volts , I wired a headlight bulb , to load test it . It dropped to 4.15 volts with the light bulb load only . Disconnect the bulb , let it sit 10 mins 12.78 , reconnect the bulb 4.05 volts . The bike is producing 13.65 volts while idling .
I dont claim to be the sharpest knife in the drawer . Please me to locate what Im missing here . Thanks , and be safe in your travels
sounds like the battery is either almost dead flat & needs a good charging, or it isn't holding a charge & needs replacing,
it needs a heavy amp load check done
,...in the day most garages had this bit of kit as the only real way to check the amps.
if left to recover, even a pretty well drained battery can read a 12+v at sitting, but no amps to power anything, so down to 4v with a bulb in line.
This is getting no where , if the battery is reading 12.8 volts it is plenty charged , if it drops to 4 volts with a headlight load , there really isnt much need to try charge it or to attach my Sun charging load tester to it .The battery in totally junk ,I installed a new battery on the road side ride it home 60 miles with the lights on , new battery was 13.08 volts on arrival home . I dont see need to further was time and energy testing anything . I started the post to try to remind people to KISS : Keep It Simple Stupid , as it was explained to me in ASME school. Sorry to be a pest , Ill hold off the posts and just be a reader .
Don't get discouraged by the wise-asses. I was happy to see you troubleshot and cured your problem. Post on, sounds like you have knowledge to share. Also hope you can get a credit for the bad battery, if you didn't already.
Last year I "upgraded" a very old, lead acid battery with caps and drain tube that registered right on the line between good and weak with THREE, yes Three brand new DieHard AGM batteries. My old battery gave you one shot to start cold in the morning; after it was started it would start the bike all day. The first Die Hard lasted 100 miles, the 2d 55 miles the 3d 5 miles. They tried to give me a 4th and I said no I want my money back. I bought a factory HD AGM battery and the bike has run flawless and starts right up everytime.
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Battery
