HELP! battery overheating
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Joined: May 2011
Posts: 58
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From: Southern Indiana
HELP! battery overheating
Rode about 80 miles and we stopped for gas and smelled a strange burning smell. We started looking around and the smell was coming from the battery. The battery was hotter than chit and had a little bit of water coming out and was steaming. It started right up and we rode another 10 miles and stopped for some grub. Got back on the bike after about an hour and it fired right up again. Rode another 10 miles to my buddies house and the bike sat for about 10 minutes and went to start it and... click, battery dead! The battery is only a month old. Would the regulator or stator be overcharging while running? Any ideas? Any help is appreciated!
Tourer
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 412
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From: Northern Virginia
Wow I have no idea, but you gotta figure it out before you ride it anymore. Last thing you'd want is that battery exploding while your crotch is 3 inches away from it. Or having a fire ball under your seat.
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Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 682
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From: In the World
....on a car ... the culprit would be a faulty voltage regulator...first take a look at the terminals ... if they are corroded ... clean them. But ... what the hell spring for a new regulator ... and you'll need a new batt ... the one you got is fried ...
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Joined: May 2011
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From: Southern Indiana
Battery is practically brand new, bought on 5/28 so I'm pretty sure the regulator or stator fried it. My speedo has been acting up too. I've done some searches and have seen that bad regulator can overcharge battery and can cause the speedo to act funny too. I will take the battery to the stealer tomorrow and hopefully they will honor the 1 year warranty. Then I will try new regulator. Thanks for the info guys
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 2,477
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From: Western MD
i would take the batt to a place like autozone and let them test it. the stealer will say theres nothing wrong or is normal.. if the batt test bad take it to HD and get them to honor the warranty. after you install the new battery put a volt meter to it and see what you have. i think the volt spec should be between 13.5 and 14.5 volts.. theres no sense in replacing parts if theres nothing wrong with them.
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Road Master
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 766
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when my battery did that, (so hot it was whistling) it was the voltage regulator and it also fried my speedo, tach and tail light!!!!
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Joined: Feb 2011
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From: San Diego, CA
i would take the batt to a place like autozone and let them test it. the stealer will say theres nothing wrong or is normal.. if the batt test bad take it to HD and get them to honor the warranty. after you install the new battery put a volt meter to it and see what you have. i think the volt spec should be between 13.5 and 14.5 volts.. theres no sense in replacing parts if theres nothing wrong with them.
Account Closed
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 682
Likes: 1
From: In the World
.... forget the battery .... think it through .. and if you can't then buy a shop manual and it will steer you to it. It's the regulator. By the way ... you can put a meter on it and it will give you correct voltage ... but the circuit that stops overcharging is still fried. The more you ride it the more you will fry other components ... speedo .... lights ... relays.