My 06 battery lasted me almost 8 years on a tender when not riding

 

You might wanna check your battery tender. I keep one on my lawn mower and started having batteries go bad on the mower, went over everything and found nothing wrong.............Turned out it was the battery tender, thing had gone bad and was killing the battery.

May not be your issue but its worth a look.

 

Question for the group. I have a 2015 Ultra Limited and this is my first Harley. Have had 4 other bikes and never remember the following. Is it normal that my voltage meter shows 14 volts while riding along but in the time it takes just sitting at a red light it goes down to 12 volts.

 

Harley gauges are not known for precise accuracy, especially the volt meter. If you really want to know what it's doing check it at the battery then compare to what the gauge says. My 2012 Ultra was off over 2 volts at every point on the factory gauge.


+2 to the OP to check the tender, like a lot of things we purchase these days it may not be worth two squirts of duck poop, and killing the battery instead of tending it.


Another thing to check is the battery cable connections, at the frame, starter, etc. A loose or poor connection will cause all sorts of grief when it comes to these things. So will a constant draw on the system outside of the very low voltage draw considered "normal" for the bike in question.


I never had any issues with my 2012 Ultra, but my 2001 Electroglide, 2002 and 2003 Road Kings all gave me grief at one time or another with the charging/starting system, and each time it was loose main battery cables at one end or the other........Cliff

 

Yes, when the motor is running it produces electricity...when it is idling it is not.

to simplify; the faster the motor turns, the more power is produced.
the voltage regulator is to limit the power produced to under 14.8

mike

 

Thanks for the pointers. I picked up the bike this morning. I will take a look at all the connectors very soon.

 

So at idle then is the meter actually measuring what the battery level is? If not and the bike is not producing electricity at idle then it should read zero right?

 

don;t overthink this....

if you see a reading on your meter that is abnormal...way high or way low- then pay it attention.
otherwise watch the road, it's more fun.

mike

 

Look at it this way...when the motor is running, voltage reading is the charging system voltage...the higher the rpm, the higher the voltage reading, up to 14.8V like Mike said...at lower rpms, voltage reading could be down around 12V...

When the motor is not running, voltage reading is the true battery voltage, which will usually be lower than the charging system voltage...

Don't ever let the true battery voltage go lower than say 10.5V for any length of time or the battery will degrade and if left that way long enough, could make it so it won't take a charge (NG)...battery is toast at that point...

Clear as mud??

 

I won't buy another HD battery until they fix the problems with them. My dealer is having batteries going junk on the show room floor.
Replaced my last with a yuasa gyz battery, it has more cca too.