Volt meter wacky!! Electrical Gremlins??
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Road Warrior
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 1,474
Likes: 1
From: Acworth, Ga
Volt meter wacky!! Electrical Gremlins??
My 09 Ultra has a demon.. Im wondering if this is common and what the cure is..
around town (stop and go) I have no issues and the charging system seems fine as the volt meter shows
on the highway, after a few miles..the voltmeter will jump all over the place..from 12-16 volts.
Regulator?? meter? Is there a common issue?
around town (stop and go) I have no issues and the charging system seems fine as the volt meter shows
on the highway, after a few miles..the voltmeter will jump all over the place..from 12-16 volts.
Regulator?? meter? Is there a common issue?
Extreme HDF Member
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 14,744
Likes: 402
From: Phoenix '53, '88, '09 Big Twins
the smart thing is to check the voltage at the battery, that bypasses the factory voltmeter, wiring, connections and the ign. switch.
If you have a battery tender, it is easy to attach a voltmeter to those leads and see what is really happening.
Tape the voltmeter to the bars or somewhere you can see it
Once you see the battery voltage(s) then we can guess what may be happening
the regulator should never allow voltages higher than 14.8 DC to reach the battery the "16" volts you report could be a problem
mike
If you have a battery tender, it is easy to attach a voltmeter to those leads and see what is really happening.
Tape the voltmeter to the bars or somewhere you can see it
Once you see the battery voltage(s) then we can guess what may be happening
the regulator should never allow voltages higher than 14.8 DC to reach the battery the "16" volts you report could be a problem
mike
Road Warrior
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 1,672
Likes: 18
From: Orange, VA,
I had a similar problem and found the connector under the front of the frame near the oil filter was not making a good connection with the regulator, check and clean and also check and clean the voltage regulator mounts, I did all that and have had no further problems.
Cruiser
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 182
Likes: 0
From: south of Nashville
I had a similar problem with my 2009...the gauge read steady at idle but would start bouncing between 14-16 volts when the bike was in motion. The first thing I would do is remove the connectors from the voltage gauge and thoroughly clean the gauge terminals. i could have saved a couple of hours and a battery had I done this first. Interestingly, I checked for a loose gauge connections first, but I did not clean the mating surfaces.
Road Warrior
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 1,988
Likes: 17
From: Between Fort Worth and Wichita Falls Texas
How in the world would that have anything to do with the volt meter?
Ultimate HDF Member
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 6,508
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From: WPB, FL
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Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 90
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From: Oregon
Same thing happened to my 2011 sg. Volt meter jumped all over. Dealer replaced guage 5 times. Rewired once. Turned out it was the front wheel bearings. Sounds crazy but true.
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My 2011 SG is doing something similar.
Volt gauge will read normal then peg out.
I checked the voltage at the battery while the volt gauge was pegged and it read 14.30 volts.
Guessing I've got a bad connection at the gauge.
Volt gauge will read normal then peg out.
I checked the voltage at the battery while the volt gauge was pegged and it read 14.30 volts.
Guessing I've got a bad connection at the gauge.
