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I just bought the battery on Amazon this past December. It is a 310 CCA battery. It might be cheap but the one the bike had was even weaker and now it still behaves the same way. The bike has been sitting for a year waiting for me, surgery!
Ok Amazon battery well it could be worse maybe LOL
Do you have or can borough volt meter most times refered to as a DVOM Digital Volt Ohm Meter ?
Something similar to this https://www.northerntool.com/product...E&gclsrc=aw.ds.
If getting the battery tested is a problem them the DVOM possibly could help you.
If you think it might be the starter, there is no need to buy a new one. Call an auto-electic repair place and have them test/fix it.
I've had many starters rebuilt over the years, besides my Shovelhead, I've had snowmobiles, tractors, and even my 24V Deere backhoe starter rebuilt at a fraction of the cost of a new one, and still have a quality OEM unit.
Use a real battery charger to charge the battery before testing it, not the battery tender. If the battery test good then test the battery cables with a multimeter with the battery disconnected, you should have very, very low resistance, if either are high then replace them, if they are good I would take the starter out and have it tested, most auto parts stores can test them. While the battery is still out clean the ground cable connection that attaches to the frame. You can also get an clamp on amp meter/multiple to see how many amps the starter is drawing on start up.
another thing you can do is put a multimeter between the positive battery cable and positive battery post, document the amount of amps being drawn, start pulling fuses to see if you get a big amp drop on one of them.
I just bought the battery on Amazon this past December. It is a 310 CCA battery. It might be cheap but the one the bike had was even weaker and now it still behaves the same way. The bike has been sitting for a year waiting for me, surgery!
1. Okay you have been given all the data you need to locate the problem. Cheap may not be the best and could be a cause of your issue.
2. However, depends on the battery, you say 310 CCA, OEM and battery charts say 340 - 350 CCA
3. Suggest you remove the battery and take it to your local auto store and have it tested to see what the actual CCA is. Then report back. It may well be that you have the voltage but not the amperage.
If you need a battery, suggest getting an OEM battery or a Big Crank battery (listed below). Make sure you use the spacers provided if you get a Big Crank, you can thank me later.
If you do get a new battery, recommend that you fully charge it before use. Might take a day depending on the amperage your battery maintainer puts out.
Additionally the original battery on your bike was a flooded cell battery not an AGM that are normally used today. Use the OEM part number to cross referance if you do need a new battery.
after an all night charge the bike starts right up.
If I then take it for a ride to the store maybe 5 miles away at around 50 mph and turn it off, 5 minutes later when I return the bike starts but it sounds sluggish as if it was struggling to turn.
It has always started with a sort of sluggish sound but it always turns enough to start the bike.
Are you sure your bikes charging system is properly working?
1. Okay you have been given all the data you need to locate the problem. Cheap may not be the best and could be a cause of your issue.
2. However, depends on the battery, you say 310 CCA, OEM and battery charts say 340 - 350 CCA
3. Suggest you remove the battery and take it to your local auto store and have it tested to see what the actual CCA is. Then report back. It may well be that you have the voltage but not the amperage.
If you need a battery, suggest getting an OEM battery or a Big Crank battery (listed below). Make sure you use the spacers provided if you get a Big Crank, you can thank me later.
If you do get a new battery, recommend that you fully charge it before use. Might take a day depending on the amperage your battery maintainer puts out.
Additionally the original battery on your bike was a flooded cell battery not an AGM that are normally used today. Use the OEM part number to cross referance if you do need a new battery.
I would just like to report that I ran into a similar situation with my '09 Fatbob. Bike was starting slower and slower and finally it needed a jump to start up leaving work one day. Started right up with the jump so I figured it was time for a new battery (installed the last battery around 2018). Well, about a week after I installed a new battery my bike turned over real slow and didn't have enough juice to start one morning when I wanted to leave for work. I cleaned the positive and negative cable terminals at the battery end and engine/starter contact points and it starts right up now. Even though they didn't look too terrible aside from some grime on them and some rust on some ground contacts running to the rear fender I sprayed all ring connectors and studs with electronics cleaner and hit everything with a brass brush.
I don't know if this message updates everyone but I'm new and don't know how this forum works. I found the issue to be a faulty connection to the stater and had to buy a new volt regulator because the problem was that the plug to the stater was broken otherwise the regulator works fine. After the replacement I rigged the old regulator, connected it back up and the the battery was charging again. The bike starts right up without a tender now and charges normally. Thank God it wasn't the stater because I don't think I could have done that job myself.
Thanks to everyone here and a friend near me who gave me really good advice and I was able to figure out what the problem was by process of elimination.
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