The Rundown-by Craig

[alantf]

I remember, with pimp's bike, that I said that, usually, a rectifier either worked or it didn't. Turned out that it must have been an intermittent fault, because he changed it and the problem went away. Seems like there's something weird about the gz rectifier, if it's doing the same thing on another bike. :??:

[PimpS]

Alan: I must agree on that about gz's rectifiers. I remember that to a mechanic guy it wasn't strange, cause he immediatly said it was a rectifier (that's why I was suspicious), but later when all was ordered, mounted and fixed I spoke to my friend, who also was saying simlar things like you, he said whether the rectifier is dead or not, but in my case it was like he worked and then stopped working... Considering the fact that my bike made 5000km after that with no problem, (same battery, new rectifier), those rectifiers are cranky Again, thanks for all the input to check everything to find real cause, before you spend your money. Astiryu, keep us informed what solved the problem, it makes this place so much valuable to all of us. Ride safe!
ps. Due to my dentological problems i can't ride for another week... Damn!

[raul10141964]

some time rectifiers and CDI work cold an stop on hot

[PimpS]

raul: exactly.

[mrlmd1]

It doesn't matter how many times you changed the battery - if you don't charge it up fully before you use it, it will crap out and you can keep doing that ad infinitum. You can keep charging it all you want - you have already ruined the battery by not charging it up before you started the bike with it he very first time. Understand what I said?
I also went through 3 batteries before discovering that the battery itself was not the problem. These batteries MUST be charged up by the user first to a full charge, and that comes direct from a conversation with Yuasa and with every other AGM battery manufacturer if you read the enclosed directions in the box. So the problem may be very simple to solve, and it is YOU, not the battery.
And all the anecdotal remarks on here about how others solved their problem by doing this or that is a total waste of time. Unless you do things in a stepwise fashion like I said, you are just spinning your wheels and if you get lucky by replacing some part, you just got lucky.
Do yourself a favor and go about this in a stepwise fashion and give us the results after each time we ask you something. And at least alantf agrees with this approach. If you want your mechanic/biker friend to solve your problem, then let him do it. The worst thing is to ask for advice, get some good advice, then do what you want anyway and come back and ask for the same advice again.
Sorry for the rant but that's the way it is.

[Astiryu1]

I charged the battery(ies) fully; multiple times (once before riding at all) and many more times after the eventual and almost predictable failure. I have went at this step by step with my friend that knows much more about bikes than I do. First step: was finding out that the batteries were failing changed battery(ies), kept having problems. Second Step: Pin pointed the stator it was throwing bad readings and has been changed, there is improvement but not to full working order obviously. We have went through the wiring harness (multiple times). The "problem" is not the battery but the battery keeps going dead which is an issue. There is something/multiple things wrong in the system that makes the batteries fail. Basically I think this problem was happening and that is why it was traded. The Harley dealer sold it "as is" so I am not getting any help from them... I prefer to keep my money in my bank account lol. That said I will post the results of the tests as soon as I can. I am not ignoring anyone on the contrary I am following what has been posted as a way to fix the problem(s) but there is the fact that the bike isn't sitting in a garage being tested all day it is my only form of transportation and therefore problems are attacked when they are presented.

[Astiryu1]

I am now in what I consider the 3rd Step. There is still an issue that drains the battery (which I consider a symptom). Considering that the bike has improved since I changed the stator it is not that but was an issue before. My Question: If there is a drain/short and/or bad rectifier would riding back and forth to school and work (between 20 and 40 miles one way for each) be ill advised until the issue has been fully resolved?

[Water Warrior 2]

Disconect the battery and leave the bike parked until you can get the time to fix it properly. If there is a bare wire or short somewhere you may do more damage or even start a fire in the wiring. Nobody wants a flaming bike and a tank with gas in it. I would want to be safe rather than sorry.

[alantf]

You said that you'd checked the wiring several times. If the battery had been knackered ,also, several times, it sounds more like a short circuit or overcharging. If it was just a leak to earth, you'd probably just discharge the battery, then be able to charge it back up again. Same if the rectifiers went bad, and didn't let juice through to the battery.

Just a thought, with no test results to back it up, but there's a voltage regulator in the same unit as the rectifier. Have you tested across the battery at around 4000 revs (To make sure it's charging) and made sure that it's not kicking out too high a voltage, because that's what usually fry's a battery, not draining it.

[mrlmd1]

To see if you have a short somewhere, you can disconnect the negative battery cable, or ground, from the battery, and then to that negative battery terminal connect one of the leads of the voltmeter, (set it to amps), and the other lead of the voltmeter connect to the negative (ground) cable. You should get no current reading with the bike turned off unless you have an open short somewhere. If you do measure any current, you will have to trace the entire wiring harness looking for a short - an abraded wire rubbing on the frame somewhere or inside the headlight bucket. You could have an abraded wire not directly contacting the frame, but have dirt and moisture around it causing a slow current drain and not enough to blow the fuses.

Did you ever get the bike running and measure the battery voltage at midrange rpms (2500-3500 at least) like we have asked and see what voltage the charging system is putting out? If you don't do that, you cannot analyze anything.