Hi all...2000 flhtpi 63k ....have been having issues with the electrical system lately...hit the brakes..turn signal..turn on the spots...if I do any of those things the radio restarts. Must be a short somewhere...so I thought...come to find out is the positive terminal on the battery was loose...before I found the loose connection the check engine light came on..gauges went wacky...wasnt pretty...my question is....since I ran the battery down to nothing does any one think I may have cooked another part of the charging system in the process?? The voltage regulator was replaced last year due to wire chafing on the frame...Does the stator and rotor fail all of a sudden?? Or do symptoms present themselves when they are starting to fail??

Thanks in advance...Mike

 

I would open the primary and see if the oil stinks really bad. That's one sign your Stator is going out or gone. I have seen the stators charging irregularly when one of the phases is going out. The charge gauge will drop a bit and then recover. I would suspect if a rotor goes bad it's all at once. The rotor is composed of numerous magnets placed around the inside. If they come loose or fall off the charging will stop. I don't believe i would have just replaced a voltage regulator when the chaffed wires were found. If the power was going to ground that can't be good for the regulator, stator or battery.

 

thanks for the reply....tested the stator and it only puts out 10 vac at 2000 rpm...looks like that's not working right...I think I found the culprit for the intermittent problems...the plug for the stator and regulator was full of oil...maybe not allowing the current to flow???I swear the oil makes it way thru the wires from the stator...because I don't have any oil leaks...that happened before too...the oil in the plug condition...I thought because I changed the oil filter it made its way in there...but not this time...so... looking for more advice...just change the stator and rotor? or do the regulator as well?? also has anyone done this job before?? any input as far as parts, gaskets or any thing else I should look at while in there... advice on what manufacturer is best? Ive seen good things about Cycle Electric products....also what about output? can I go with the larger output stator without upgrading anything else?
2000 flhtpi

Thanks, Mike

 

Your stator is FUBAR. I just went through this with my 2000 FLHTCUI. erratic charging voltage, then nothing..... stator had a couple of poles totally cooked and was shorted internally (not to ground) Was only getting 2VAC out of it, so yours hasnt totally kicked off yet, but it is well on the way.

the output of the stator is determined by the rotor. Standard bikes got lower powered magnets, while some of the cop bikes and the big Ultras got the neodymium magnets. Mine has the high power rotor and it was a laminated construction. all pics of the low powered unit show as a stamped construction. It was also nearly impossible to get the rotor off without a puller (and I resorted to one anyways, a harmonic balancer puller and a couple Chevy starter bolts fit right in)

Good things keep being said about Cycle Electrics, although I went with used HD (budgeting issues kept it on the cheap). When/if the stator dies again, its getting a Cycle Electrics three phase system. HD updated to three phase in 2006, and its less stress on the components, as the charging is spread over more poles and more wire.

I still have the factory regulator on the bike, and its doing just fine. for me at least, it falls under if it isnt broke, dont fix it. Same goes for the rotor, if the magnets arent loose, then there is nothing wrong with it. it doesnt have any moving parts (other than being a rotating mass) so there is very little to fail unless the magnets come unbonded

 

Thanks for the reply....has me rethinking my game plan budget wise...

 

Replace it all, upgrade if possible.

 

In the Tech Electrical section we have a couple of Stickies that will help you diagnose the problem. Don't go spending money until you are confident you have nailed the guilty party!

 

It has been several years, but I replaced my charging system on my 2000 Ultra with the 3 phase Cycle Electrics for bout $400. IIRC it puts out 50 amps instead of 35. No electrical issues since.

 

I have the same problem. I check the stator output and it indicates 25 ac at idle. At 3000 rpm it indicates 60. I put in a new battery, a new starter and a voltage regulator. Still the same problem. When driving the voltage fluctuates between 14.5 and drops to 12 and then rises again. If I maintain the revolution at 2000 rpm nothing moves but when I accelerate that is when the voltage drops. I must conclude that the stator is defective?

 

This, and better yet, the 3 wire system puts out way more voltage at idle, to charge the battery even then, instead of the Two wire system that does not ever get close to 14 volts until the motor is up past 2K instead. So is not really the extra amperage that is the big deal (unless you have a lot of add ons that are draining the battery), but the fact that once the motor is started, it's charging up the battery and holding it there at all times while motor is running, to get longer life out of the battery with less drain and recharge cycles isntead.