electrical issues

[vigilanty21]

have had nothing but issues with my dogs electrical. love the bike but wish i could ride it. im going to go thru the connections one at a time this week. then from there i dont know. i turn the key and nothing. battery is brand new and has a full charge. nothing turns on at all (no lights ...nothing) the EHC barely lights up. when it does they are all red no green yellow etc.. Any ideas?

 

[woodbutcher]

FYI a year and a half ago i bought a new interstate battery. installed it, went for a ride, stopped, wouldn't crank. took it back, got another one to replace it. it was charged overnight and load tested before i left the garage with it. installed it, went for a ride, same thing.

found out later the 310 cca batteries i bought were nothing more than re-badged 270 cca pieces of crap. batteries are not all created equal. go with a battery mfg. with a known reputation (harley, big boar, braille, etc.) and make sure you don't skimp on the cca's. AND, have your charging system checked out. :2thumbs:

 

[Oldhvymetal]

Wise words from Butcher... Let me add a few specific things I would do. Check that battery- and yes I'd bet a dollar this info is on the "how to" notes in the technical section (you may want to have a read there, there's some very good stuff).

Take a 2-3 foot hunk of 12 guage or less (heavier) wire with about 1/2" stripped at each end and with the bike on a flat surface IN NEUTRAL, remove the red wire connector from the starter solenoid. Use the hunk of wire to jump the positive battery terminal to the starter solenoid lead. If the bike cranks well, it ain't the battery. Let us know if you need a pic of where the starter solenoid lead is.

After that, it could be a lot of stuff. While you're looking at all the connections see if you find cut or chafed insulation, or extreme bends where the inner wire could break. Look at as much of the wiring as you can. If you don't have or are not good with a volt/ohmmeter buy a six pack for a friend who is and offer an invite!

Some of these problems have been found to be simply a loose or dirty connection at the battery, but you probably already covered that when you replaced it (I hope).

Others have had bad ignition switches. See if you can jumper the switch out of the circuit by connecting the two wires directly together.

That's a start...

 

[PurpleDog]

Agree with others; check and advise on charging sys status:
Stator (output if you get it running, ohm test if not)
Voltage Reg
Circuit Breaker (might want to replace with a fuse)

 

[N8KAM]

I have seen several battery cables that look ok but the wire inside has broken at the connector under the insulation.. give them a wiggle/tug to check..

 

[vigilanty21]

I wiggled some of the wires last night coming off the positive side of the battery and when i did that i could see my EHC get brighter. right now i still have no luck with finding the problem. thanks all for your comments.