Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Charging system

I have an 03 America seems the charging system is not 100%.
First start in the AM is fine [I have a Battery Tender on it at night,] after that all other starts get harder untill Its just clicking from the solinoid. I checked the voltage yesterday after I got home, at idle 12.7v reved rpm up to 3k voltage dropped to about 11.2-10.8v I was checking voltage across the bat. termials. I'm thinking the regulator? Any thoughts on this. Also I was looking at the removal of the regulator and the wire cable goes between the rear of the crankcase and the frame. No room for the conector to fit thru. Any thoughts on this if the regulator needs to be replaced. Chuck

I doubt it's your regulator, I had the same thing happen to my bike a few years ago and it turned out being the wire that feeds power from the the regulator to the battery in the wiring harness was undersized and it didn't provide a good charge... I bypassed the harness and ran a wire(12ga. if I remember correctly) directly from the regulator to the positive battery terminal. All it took was a splice and a connector for the battery. You can see in the pic, the black/red wire comes from where the rectifier hooks to the harness, spliced to the red wire which is direct to the battery.

Lots of discussion in this thread

Thanks, Dave I'll give that a try.I remember reading an article somewhere about the charging wires on bikes being to small and not providing the current to give a full charge.I think it may have been in Rider Magazine in the tech talk dept.
Chuck

Welcome to the forum, by the way!

Hey Chuck, sorry to hear about your charging woes. I too had similar readings on my own '03 and in my case it turned out to be the stator. Not saying that's the case with you but ya never know. Doing the mod Dave mentioned is a great idea (I even consider it necessary). I'd do that first, then see what readings you get. If you need further help here's my thread from when I had charging issues. It's packed full of useful thoughts, tests and ideas.

Best of luck, and welcome! Keep chiming in for more help as needed.

http://www.bonnevilleamerica.com/forums/...part=1&vc=1

Thanks Keith I read through the threads got some ideas also liked the tests will give those a try also. Chuck

A lot of reading there I realize, but I learned a lot from the help of others here. You'll figure it out, just a matter of time. Keep us posted.

Dave I just rewired my power wire as you had suggested the only thing I did different was I pushed the pin out of the connecter and and used a female bayonet connecter instead of cutting and splicing the wire. I started the motor and got 13.5 volts and at 1500rpm I'm getting 14.5 volts.Thanks for the input,have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all Chuck

Way to go, Chuck... glad it worked out!!

It's a Festivus Miracle!
Peace On Earth, Good Will To All!
Uncle Charlie

Thanks for your input also Keith Merry Christmas

Hey Chuck, glad things worked out for you. That Keith guy is a pretty smart cookie having gone through the no charging process himself.

And Merry Christmas to you also.

Hey Chuck here again thought all was good with the charging system when I rewired the power wire directly to the batt.I went out for a short ride to a friends house to return an item i borrowed. All was well on the ride there, when I tried to start the bike to leave it wouldn't start.It cranked then the solinoid just clicked. My friend jumped me with a batt. charger to get home. the way home I monitered my volt meter and the were all over from 9.5 to 12.3 no steady reading. On the way to my friends house the volt reading was 14.5 steady when crusing. Any ideas?

Have you checked the connection where the neg batt cable connects to the frame?

I haven't checked the ground cable yet I was thinking about that I'll try that next. Thanks

I just checked the ground cable where it connects to the rear of the crankcase and it was tight. I'm out of ideas. Any body got any thoughts?

It jumping around like that sounds like a dodgy connection,
have you checked all of the relevant connections?
I'd double check anything that I'd fiddled with, especially that baynet connector, before going onto expensive things.
HTH

I checked all the connections I could get at.All this started before I installed the jumper wire with the bayonet connector.

You could have killed the battery by running it on a low charge like it was before, and combined with a jump start or two... mine needed to be replaced shortly after I modified mine because the battery was toast. Motorcycle batteries are fickle, sometimes they crap out easily.

You stated that the bike charged fine at 14.5 volts to your friends house then you had to boost it and on the way home it was below 12.3 volts.

Sure does point to a battery. If the bike charged well to your friends house, it should have had the capacity to start the bike. On the way home, you couldn't charge the battery. Take the battery to an approved auto pro shop and have it tested. Sounds like it has no capacity and shorts out at times.

There are other things that could cause the problem from a faulty ignition switch to a poor ground or power lead. Since the ground was checked, make sure the hidden connections under the seat are not at fault.