Electrical issue

Reply Subscribe

Thread Tools

Search this Thread

Aug 12, 2018 | 09:47 AM

bobcat437

Thread Starter

2nd Gear

Joined: Jan 2013

Posts: 6

Likes: 0

From: Toledo, Oh

Electrical issue

Just looking for everyones opinion on this. I have a 2008 Ultra with a brand new battery. I was riding through town last night and as I was coming to a stop at a red light, I looked down at my dash and my engine and battery lights were on. I looked over at the volt meter and it was reading about 5 volts at idle. I for some reason shut the bike off and it would not start right away. About 30 seconds later, it turned over. When I am at full throttle, I am only showing about 11.5-12 volts, when it used to read 14 after I got the new battery. Anyone have any advice? I'm thinking its a bad voltage regulator. Thanks.

Aug 12, 2018 | 10:22 AM

grbrown

Club Member

Joined: Jun 2007

Posts: 45,429

Likes: 2,898

From: Bedford UK

You are not the first to have such a problem! Before you buy anything, pop over to the Tech Electrics section, where you will find two Stickies on checking your charging system. You will need a multimeter. They will take you through testing everything, so you can correctly identify the culprit, then replace as required.

Aug 12, 2018 | 10:39 AM

ORradtech

Outstanding HDF Member

Joined: May 2015

Posts: 2,172

Likes: 377

From: Georgia

I agree with mr brown, don't throw parts at it. Do the checks and repair intelligently.
Having said that, low voltage can be several things. Stator, voltage regulator, poor connections, loose grounds to name a few.
That's why it's important to do the testing.

Aug 12, 2018 | 02:52 PM

voodoodrug

Stellar HDF Member

Joined: Sep 2006

Posts: 3,236

Likes: 95

From: lancaster, pa

I recently had the same thing happen, was intermittent(over a few weeks), cleared the code and it came back the next week , 3rd time bike got sluggish,cleared code again and ordered another CE regulator(around 153$ two day shipping). Back story,when my OEM regulator was 9 years old decided to upgrade the charging system.So this 2&1/2 yr old regulator wasn't suppose to act up. Got the new one in the mail last weekend,monday while I was holding all the wires in my hand with suspected regulator off ,I started running the 3 tests in the sm on the stator(passed with flying colors),then I checked the regulator for pos and neg. neg connection was weird, got 7 ohms then under 2...connection looked fine but re worked it,cleaned it and put the new regulator on. got consistent 1.7 ohms on the ground,then I used a small spacer(1/8 inch aprox) to keep the regulator up and out more to stay cooler,might even work on a way to get it farther up/out(nice idea I thought of?)

Even concluding it might not have been the regulator,nice to have a spare...

Aug 12, 2018 | 03:31 PM

bobcat437

Thread Starter

2nd Gear

Joined: Jan 2013

Posts: 6

Likes: 0

From: Toledo, Oh

Thanks everyone. Looking into the problem now.

Aug 12, 2018 | 05:22 PM

woodthumb2

Tourer

Joined: Sep 2016

Posts: 372

Likes: 83

From: FL East Coast /Western NC

as has been mentioned here before.. most of time when batt and engine light light up...if battery is good... voltage regualtor is not... most of time.....cant really test them either... they often fail slowly as mine did and now my son's is... low or high volts one day...perfect the next... this is one situation where i would throw parts at it... a regulator... just my oinion... i would also stay with oem... but do put a meter on it anyway