FLHTCUI Charging System Issues

[jwkinney]

I have an 05 Ultra, with 58k miles on it. Bought it new, and have had one voltage regualtor replaced two years ago. The volt gauge stayed at 14V until last weekend. took it to the dealer they said bad voltage regulator. Replaced it TWICE and then they said battery is bad. Replaced the battery last night, still not getting back up to 14v on the gauge. completely recharged the battery last night, and rode it this morning for 25 min, almost didnt restart after sitting for about 15 minutes. They say the stator is putting out 299.4 any thoughts or ideas that could be the problem? ive checked the ground wire coming off the battery, cleaned and tightened that and no change... is there a common problem that i am missing?

any help would be greatly appreciated. Dont want to put a stator in, which i am sure the dealer is going to tell me it needs now. I cant imagine what else it would be.

[frankysfree]

first thing i would check is the main circuit breaker. they occasionally go bad and when they get hot will cut off.
second a common problem with the stators are not that they quit charging but that they ground out. there is supposed to be no continuity between either of the wires and a ground.
by the way have you thought to check the charging system with a voltmeter? i never rely on the voltage gauge on the bike.

hope this gives you a good starting point

[jwkinney]

I did not test it today, however I suspect that it is not charging because it cranked rather slowly after that short ride. The dealer checked the voltage with a meter and said several times the stator was good, Im not sure I beleive them

[springer-]

Originally Posted by jwkinney

I did not test it today, however I suspect that it is not charging because it cranked rather slowly after that short ride. The dealer checked the voltage with a meter and said several times the stator was good, Im not sure I beleive them

Do you have a factory service manual and are you a little bit mechanically inclined? If so the charging system is easy to check and the procedure is spelled out in the factory service manual. The only tool you will need is a cheap VOM meter (VOM=Volt Ohm Meter). You can get one at radio shack for $20-30 that will work nicely for this.

The testing involves checking for an open in the coils of the stator. Using the lowest OHM setting (x1), place the probes on 2 of the stator wires, it should read less than 1 OHM, basically shorted. Now move one of the leads to the other stator wire, it should read less than 1 OHM also. Now move the other lead (not already moved) to the open wire, and again it should read less than 1 OHM. Basically there are 3 coils and this will test each coil to make sure none of them are open.

Next test, set the meter on a higher OHM scale (x10,000). Now connect one of the probes to engine ground. This is any open piece of metal that is grounded to the engine. Take the other probe and touch each stator wire. The meter should not show a reading. If the meter reads anything, there is a short to ground in the stator and that is not good. Check all 3 stator wires.

The last stator test involves checking the output of the stator while the bike is running. Set the meter on AC Voltage (100 or 200 Volt setting is a good). Then connect the meter up to 2 of the stator wires. Make sure the 3rd wire does not touch anything during the test. With the bike running, the meter should read approximately 20 Volts AC for every 1000 RPM of the engine. There is some leeway in the voltage, exact specs are in the factory service manual. At 1000 RPM it should read 20 VAC and then rev it to 2000 RPM and it should read 40 VAC. No need to rev it any more as that is sufficient indication that the output of that specific coil of the stator is good. Shut the bike off, and move one of the probes to the open wire and test again. Then move the other probe to the currently open wire and test again. This test all 3 coils for proper output.

If it passes all of those test, the stator should not be the problem.

It may should difficult but it only takes about 5 minutes to do all of the above tests and it can be easily done at home without relying on the dealer to get it right.

[jwkinney]

Thanks for the tips guys, I'll try the stator tests and let you know what I find. Is it unreasonable or even possible to have two bad voltage regulators out of the box bad?

[springer-]

Originally Posted by jwkinney

Thanks for the tips guys, I'll try the stator tests and let you know what I find. Is it unreasonable or even possible to have two bad voltage regulators out of the box bad?

I would doubt you had 2 new regulators that were bad out of the box.