I have a 2004 Sportster 883 and I've been having some on going electrical issues with it. To make a long story as short as possible, when I go to start it all it does is click. The headlight or any lights for that matter are not dim like the battery is low charge. the only electrical mod's I've done so far is get rid of my rear turn signals and after market side mounted brake/tail light. The battery is fairly new, I've replaced the voltage regulator. My battery connections are good and secure. I can trickle charge the battery over night and it'll fire up, run fine but after i shut it off it wont start back up. Someone please give any advice or starting point!! (sorry for the lengthy post, im a first timer)

 

Bad battery? Stator?

 

How long after your electrical mods did the problem appear? BTW, there is an extensive trouble-shooting tree in the service manual.

 

how many miles on the bike & how old is the battery? probably a expired battery.

do you drive it after charging it? you can go up to 30 miles on a charged battery with a bad stator. If the stator is bad the battery light on the speedo should come on and it should have a Diagnostic low voltage code.

you can read here about troubleshooting the charging system

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/elect...sting-1-a.html

My factory stator just went bad at 12,000 miles,,,, I just had a cycle electric installed and sure enough the old one was all melted.

 

the factory service manual gives a go/no go check list for your electric system! buy a service manual! cheers from montana

 

You need to start by using a digital voltmeter to measure the voltage across the positive battery terminal and ground, with the bike running at a fast idle (1500-2000 rpm). If you don't have something between 13.5 - 14.8 VDC, your charging system is bad. Eiter a bad stator, regulator, or both.