Harley Charging System
Sincerely-
Ricardo
A: Ricardo, Glad to know that our videos are helping you out. You will need to use a multimeter and a test light to complete a thorough charging system test. First – start the m/c. Set your multimeter to DC (voltage) setting. Clip the red lead to the positive side of the battery. Clip the black lead to the negative side of the battery. Raise your idle to aprox 2k or 2,500 rpm. The meter should climb to around 13.5 volts (+/- .25 vdc) DC which is, commonly (or aprox.) 1 volt more than your battery’s static voltage; or the voltage when the m/c is not running. If the system is not charging, you have either a bad regulator, stater, or rotor. Regulator test — (you already did) Clip your test light to the neg side of the battery. Touch the test light to each of the regulator plug pin (male pins). If the light illuminates, the regulator is bad. It is “bleeding back”. Stater/rotor tests — (with m/c off) set your multimeter to ohms. Insert a test lead into each of the female pins of the stater plug, where it exits the engine case. The meter should read no more than 1.0 ohms. Next, (m/c not running) set you multimeter to ohms. Clip the black lead of you multimeter to the neg post of your battery. Insert the red test lead into one of the female stater plug pins where the plug exits the engine case. The meter should read opl (open line) or 0000. Repeat this test at the other female pin, as well. Next – Start the m/c. Set the multimeter to AC voltage (VAC). Insert a test lead into each of the stater plug’s female pins; where the stater plug exits the engine case. The meter should read aprox 20 volts per 1k rpm (at 2,000 rpm the meter should read aprox 40 volts). If your m/c fails any of the stater/rotor tests, you will have to open up your drive to physically inspect your stater/rotor. You will most commonly find a broken rotor magnet, a broken stater winding, or the wires/pins of the stater plug are contacting each other. If you are in need of a stater or rotor; you should always replace them as a new set. It is not good to run old against new as you may be setting yourself up for disappointment in the, not so far, future. Hope this will help you out. Thanks for your question.
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robert, my battery died,i purchased a new one and it won't charge either/ what to do?
when testin my battery with engine off I get 12.3 volts, when running get 14,4 at idle, and 14 22 at 2500rpms is this to much and what could cause this if it is