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Harley's charging system is described in the 2015 Electrical Diagnostic manual:
AC voltage is generated by an alternator assembly driven by the crankshaft. pg 3-20
Here's what Wiki says:
An alternator is an electrical generator that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy in the form of alternating current.[1] For reasons of cost and simplicity, most alternators use a rotating magnetic field with a stationary armature.
There are several threads on checking charging systems, you may want to do a search.
Good Luck
Vernal I want to send a personal thank you to you for taking the time to post the pics from the service manual. Very nice of you to do that. It was very helpful.
Check the ground wire of the regulator for being clean and tight. Also check the three wire connector to the stator for corrosion.
Dealer service manager tells me my starter is bad. Stator putting out good voltage, regulator tests good, they checked all the wires to be sure connections were good, then they put in a brand new battery and then repeated all the tests on the charging system (which were good) and it still would not start up very well. So they think it is the starter. Just giving feedback and I hope they have found the problem for the bike not starting.
Just following up with everyone who helped me with this. They replaced the starter a few weeks ago and so far everything has worked perfectly. Compensator, regulator, stator, were all fine. Replaced the battery too since it was about 4 years old just to be on the safe side. With new battery it would still not start so that is why the starter was replaced.
