I will start by saying I am NOT a mechanic and have very little mechanical ability. I just got my 92 Fat Boy back from the shop. I took it in a couple weeks ago when I got back from deployment and they did what I thought was a real good job fixing it up. Well here I am 5 hours later and unable to get my bike to turn over.
They replaced my battery, I knew I needed a new one
They rebuilt my starter.
The rest was replacing seals and weathered hoses, so no big deal.
I have a Pingel electric shift on there because I am a left leg amputee. I know this draws a bit more power off the battery, but I dont think I would have an issue today. I rode 30 minutes back from the shop. I washed my bike and then rode it for another 20 minutes to let it dry. During both of those rides I did use the shifter, but didnt feel as if I should have lost too much power on the battery.
I currently have the battery hooked up to my trickle charger and will try and crank her later and if she cranks, take her for a ride without using the electric shifter. Maybe I got over zealous and lazy and used the shifter too much. I can shift without it, but I paid for the damn thing, I would like to use it.
I guess my main question is do you knowledgeable dudes think I have a recharging issue or should I not use my shifter so much?

 

I wouldn't think that would drain your battery. I have a radio, aux lights on and an air compressor and have no issues with my battery.

 

I am not 100% sure on this but I would think by adding that shifter it should NOT have such a drastic effect on your bike. I mean why would they even manufacture one that you can't use but for 30 minutes at a time? It is not that and I would bet the farm on it,unless they hooked it up wrong, now that might be an issue. I think I would be calling them back and letting them know you have a bike that won't run after they worked on it for you. I am assuming you are a VET, that is bad publicity to F*#@ over a VET! I think I would let them know that as well too!!!

 

Sounds like it could be a charging issue, I would check to make sure that the charging system is supplying the battery with the proper amperage. I have seen alternators show 14 volts but not a single amp. Thats where I would start looking.

 

Check to see if battery connections are tight at the battery and the starter as well as the ground.

 

Thanks for the answers. Fat11Lo how would I go about checking the charging system. Please remember that I have little to none mechanical skills and therefore have very limited tools. I think I have a voltometer laying around somewhere. I know some mechanics, but they dont know much if anything about bikes. I am sure they might have the tools if I knew what to do...... I know there is a lot of knowledge floating around this forum and i hope I can get and retain some of this for the future.

 

Use a volt meter to check the batt. You should see at least
13.-8 volts. Then start the bike give it some rpm you should see
A voltage increase to 14.5 volts ,if I'm not mistaken on the
Voltage numbers. Id start with doing this.

 

If you have a simple volt meter its a good place to start. Hook up to the battery with the bike off and battery charger disconected and check your battery voltage, should be close to 12 may be higher if you have had a charger on it. Start the bike and check voltage at idle should be higher 13.5 to 14.5. Load down the electrical system by turning the high beam on and turn the 4 way flashers on, the charging system should be trying to build the battery up after starting it, cranking the engine during starting is the biggest drain on the battery. At this time your voltage should stay in the 13-14.5 range, at least be higher than before you started it. If your voltage looks good then I would check my connections from the battery out, starter and so forth, its an older bike so there may be a coroded connector somewhere. Be sure to check your grounds. If all that appears to be in order then I would look into checking the amp output from the alternator, this requires some special equipment( I have an inductive clamp for my digital meter, ask someone who does mechanic work) or possibly checking the battery, just because its new off the shelf does not mean that its good, sometimes they won't take a charge, although this is pretty rare. Chances are its pretty simple like a connection problem, that may not have been obvious when they worked on your bike. Mechanics are human too and sometimes they don't catch everything.

 

If you have a voltmeter ck and see if it is charging, when running it should have at least 13.8-14.8 volts depends on the charge of the battery. Make sure the connections are tight

 

Your shop needs to set this right for you. You deserve it.