Put in new stator and voltage regulator. Voltage read 14.9 to 15.3. Yesterday I had a backfire and lost all power. When I took off the seat, the sealed caps on the battery we all blown off and the battery was dead. When I put a charger on, it shows the battery as shot and won't take a charge.
Ordered a new voltage regulator (again). Is it the regulator that was bad from the beginning?

 

That voltage is high and will overcharge the battery as you have found out. You may have a bad regulator out of the box. What brand regulator did you purchase? Some have warranties and you may be able to get a new one for free. You want the voltage to be in the mid to upper 14's at 3K RPM when you check...

 

Bought the regulator on ebay, aftermarket. Should have known better. Ordered a Harley regulator today. Should be here Friday.

 

Check out "Cycle Electric". Best charging systems on the market. Made in the USA.

 

^And a limited lifetime warranty if I remember correctly...

 

A lifetime warranty on an electrical component?

Two year warranty (it took me about 30 seconds to fact check this).

I haven`t had any better luck with the Cycle Electric regulators as I have had with the OEM units.

 

I've had two issues with OEM regulators, one replaced by Cycle Electric and one replaced with OEM per HD service bulletin.

The Cycle Electric regulator bike was still working when I sold it several years later and I've had a few bikes, and several friends with bikes, never needing attention to the OEM regulator.

In the last couple years, I've been reading a bunch about OEM regulator issues. I had a friend who went through two OEM regulators on a Sportster. Both replaced by OEM via warranty.

Can't say in my experience that OEM is poor quality, but, I've read of OEM regulator issues and this is the first negative comment I've heard/read about Cycle Electric products......

I'd probably still give Cycle Electric the nod over OEM if I needed a replacement.

 

Excess voltage is a nasty failure mode. Prudent design would include redundant voltage clamps. But, that cost a few $ more, maybe that's why some of the after markets are cheaper than OEM.

 

My bad, I am sure glad I put the caveat about remembering correctly in my post, I wouldn't want to be outright wrong about something on here......Accel has a lifetime warranty on their electrical components, not Cycle Electric.

45 second fact check...

 

I had never seen the lifetime warranty by Accel, but I did a search on complaints about their customer service when trying to get them to honor the warranty, a lot of horror stories.

I don`t think anyone makes a good regulator for Harleys. At least not for a Harley that shakes like my Evo Softail...