I'm seeing a battery at rest with just under 13 volts, as soon as I hit the starter the voltage drops to 9.96-9.98. As soon as the bike starts the voltage is right back up to 14 volts, so the charging system is working fine.

The bike is a '17 1200 Custom, is that amount of voltage drop when starting 'normal'? I had the bike set a code that can be caused by low voltage, loss of PCM communication. The bike runs fine, and ran fine with this code set.

I have no idea how old the battery is.

 

How old is your battery? Have you load tested it? Sounds like it's on the way out.

One of our members, tcup, is having issues with a trouble code, similar to what you had. Perhaps you can pop onto his thread and help.
https://www.hdforums.com/forum/sport...-xl-1200c.html

John

 

As I said, I just bought the bike back in December so I have no idea how old the battery is. Load testing would be my next step, just curious if that amount of voltage drop is normal.

The 883 spins right up when starting, the 1200 seems to struggle the first couple of rotations when engaging the starter.

 

Bike's a 2017, probably on it's second battery and it's probably at the end of it's life.
Replace it, it's not worth risking it giving out on the road.

 

If the battery is like my OEM, they are 240 CCA. You'll get that slight hesitation before it cranks over. I went with a lithium and higher CCA and cranks right up easy.

 

A voltage drop in that range is normal. If you have doubts, get it load tested and see what the Cold Cranking Amperes (CCA) are.

If the bike cranks over normally and does not drag, it is probably okay.

 

I think that is rather common. I know my 1250 has more compression and is a bit tough on the starter, especially when engine is hot. It depends on where the pistons end up when you shut down.

John

 

Battery load test first and clean all cable ends and grounding points. Go from there, sounds like the charging system is ok.

 

Normal and that is a good result, 9.6 volts DC minimum while cranking is a spec I've seen published by Bosch and others. I worked as a generator tech for a few years and that was a standard test we did when performing repairs or maintenance.
No big need to use a load tester on the battery, starting (and seeing an acceptable voltage drop) IS a good load test. Some useful info is in the PDF below...

https://www.boschautoparts.ca/docume...%20Systems.pdf

 

Appreciate all the input on this.

Sounds like everything is pretty normal, but not knowing how old the battery is I think I will just replace it. Peace of mind is worth $120 or so to me.