Melted battery terminal

Peckerwood

Peckerwood

Active Member
Anybody know what the cause of this might be? Started the bike up Friday after a long winter sleep, went for a 10 mile shake-down ride, all was good. Went to start the bike yesterday, just got a clicking noise as in a loose connection somewhere. Lifted the seat off to check the battery connections and found my positive post is actually partially melted. What's the deal?
 
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bigdogtech01

Well-Known Member
Peckerwood said:
Anybody know what the cause of this might be? Started the bike up Friday after a long winter sleep, went for a 10 mile shake-down ride, all was good. Went to start the bike yesterday, just got a clicking noise as in a loose connection somewhere. Lifted the seat off to check the battery connections and found my positive post is actually partially melted. What's the deal?
Click to expand...
Most likely the bolt was loose. More common to happen on the negative side, due to the high amp draw of the starter, but if either one side is loose, this will happen. The posts are made of lead, and easy to melt with the high current draw and cable being loose.
 
FrankBDPS

FrankBDPS

Well-Known Member
My guess would be a loose connection and it could be the wire terminal or internal in the battery. Something is causing an excessive amount of heat there.
 
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bigdogtech01

Well-Known Member
Frank, you are suppose to tell him to buy a battery from me :lol:
You should have your's Tuesday or Wednesday :2thumbs:
 
mml03102

mml03102

Active Member
That Happened to me , the ground wasn't tight and it did the melt down like your saying it sucked !! Andrew will hook you up with another one!!
 
Peckerwood

Peckerwood

Active Member
another culprit could be the seat pan touching the terminal. take a look.

Thanks everybody. Woodbutcher, looks like you win first prize. I noticed a slight indentation on the seat pan, under VERY careful inspection I also noticed a small area where the felt has worn through, probably allowing metal to metal contact. And I WAS sitting on the bike as I tried to start it yesterday. Now, what to do about it? Suppose I could slightly enlarge the dent and re-insulate the seat pan, or possibly place a rubber strap over the battery and under the hold-down strap; or both. Ideas?
Also, Andrew-Lotta respect for you, see your posts all the time. I've been using HD soft tail batteries, and get good service out of them, no starting issues and they seem to last a few years. But I'm starting to hate giving my $$$ to that particular HD shop. Just for the hell of it-what are you selling?
 
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bigdogtech01

Well-Known Member
Peckerwood said:
another culprit could be the seat pan touching the terminal. take a look.

Thanks everybody. Woodbutcher, looks like you win first prize. I noticed a slight indentation on the seat pan, under VERY careful inspection I also noticed a small area where the felt has worn through, probably allowing metal to metal contact. And I WAS sitting on the bike as I tried to start it yesterday. Now, what to do about it? Suppose I could slightly enlarge the dent and re-insulate the seat pan, or possibly place a rubber strap over the battery and under the hold-down strap; or both. Ideas?
Also, Andrew-Lotta respect for you, see your posts all the time. I've been using HD soft tail batteries, and get good service out of them, no starting issues and they seem to last a few years. But I'm starting to hate giving my $$$ to that particular HD shop. Just for the hell of it-what are you selling?
Click to expand...
Glad you found the problem. The H-D batteries are good and usually last a long time. I can get you one of these in the future if you want BATTERY GYZ20HL | Products | Drag Specialties®
 
Doggin it

Doggin it

Active Member
I just bought one of these batteries from Andrew. I didn't want to wait for the braille to be back in stock. Also, if it works out I just saved a bunch of money. God that sounds like that stupid little lizard.
 
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woodbutcher

Mr. Old Fart member #145
Staff member
Peckerwood said:
another culprit could be the seat pan touching the terminal. take a look.

Thanks everybody. Woodbutcher, looks like you win first prize. I noticed a slight indentation on the seat pan, under VERY careful inspection I also noticed a small area where the felt has worn through, probably allowing metal to metal contact. And I WAS sitting on the bike as I tried to start it yesterday. Now, what to do about it? Suppose I could slightly enlarge the dent and re-insulate the seat pan, or possibly place a rubber strap over the battery and under the hold-down strap; or both. Ideas?
Also, Andrew-Lotta respect for you, see your posts all the time. I've been using HD soft tail batteries, and get good service out of them, no starting issues and they seem to last a few years. But I'm starting to hate giving my $$$ to that particular HD shop. Just for the hell of it-what are you selling?
Click to expand...

DAMN, will wonders never cease??????????????? :roll::roll: :2thumbs::2thumbs:
 
john sachs

john sachs

Well-Known Member
Get a Deka / Big Crank. Solid posts, and they will take a beating. You can find them for under $100.00 Softail style. That's what the factory Harley batteries are.
If your seat pan is hitting the post, use a hole saw to remove the metal in that area, and then tape up.
John
Check out Battery Mart on the web, for info and pricing. :2thumbs:
 
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Peckerwood

Peckerwood

Active Member
OK, Part II.
Woodbutcher, I officially reverse my decision to award first prize to you. I took John's advice and used a small hole saw to remove the offending parts of my seat pan, only to discover that the pan is made out of FIBERGLASS, not a prime conductor of electricity. Guess it's OK, though, it was a clean job and I didn't need the ass-pressure on the battery terminals, anyway.
The ground was just a small tad loose, probably could have gotten another quarter turn on it, and it was impossible to check the pos. terminal because most of it had melted and congealed on my garage floor from Saturday's attempt to start the bike.
So, I guess I'm ready to accept everybody's opinion that the connections were a little loose and that was the cause of the meltdown, but I really don't want to fry another battery. Suppose I should peel back the rubber boot and also check my connection at the starter, too, eh? Any other possible culprits that wouold be easy and worthwhile to check?
Thanks in advance for everybody's help.
 
FrankBDPS

FrankBDPS

Well-Known Member
And while you have your tools out check about every other nut and bold on the bike to be sure you don't start loosing parts on the road. There is a chart on here someplace that gives you the proper torque values for each type of fasteners.
 
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bigdogtech01

Well-Known Member
Peckerwood said:
OK, Part II.
Woodbutcher, I officially reverse my decision to award first prize to you. I took John's advice and used a small hole saw to remove the offending parts of my seat pan, only to discover that the pan is made out of FIBERGLASS, not a prime conductor of electricity. Guess it's OK, though, it was a clean job and I didn't need the ass-pressure on the battery terminals, anyway.
The ground was just a small tad loose, probably could have gotten another quarter turn on it, and it was impossible to check the pos. terminal because most of it had melted and congealed on my garage floor from Saturday's attempt to start the bike.
So, I guess I'm ready to accept everybody's opinion that the connections were a little loose and that was the cause of the meltdown, but I really don't want to fry another battery. Suppose I should peel back the rubber boot and also check my connection at the starter, too, eh? Any other possible culprits that wouold be easy and worthwhile to check?
Thanks in advance for everybody's help.
Click to expand...
When you install new battery, put some star type washers behind bolt head along with using blue loctite on threads of bolt. This will help with possibly loosening up. But, it's always a good idea to check them every month or so.
 
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woodbutcher

Mr. Old Fart member #145
Staff member
Peckerwood said:
OK, Part II.
Woodbutcher, I officially reverse my decision to award first prize to you. I took John's advice and used a small hole saw to remove the offending parts of my seat pan, only to discover that the pan is made out of FIBERGLASS, not a prime conductor of electricity. Guess it's OK, though, it was a clean job and I didn't need the ass-pressure on the battery terminals, anyway.
The ground was just a small tad loose, probably could have gotten another quarter turn on it, and it was impossible to check the pos. terminal because most of it had melted and congealed on my garage floor from Saturday's attempt to start the bike.
So, I guess I'm ready to accept everybody's opinion that the connections were a little loose and that was the cause of the meltdown, but I really don't want to fry another battery. Suppose I should peel back the rubber boot and also check my connection at the starter, too, eh? Any other possible culprits that wouold be easy and worthwhile to check?
Thanks in advance for everybody's help.
Click to expand...

OK, OK, so i was wrong,,,,,,,AGAIN :roll::roll::roll::roll:

sorry about the hole in the seat pan, now there will be a place for the gas to escape on that next fart :lol::lol::lol: some of the earlier ones WERE metal and i thought possibly with yours being an '04 it would have been, but the newer ones are fiberglas. mine has the same rub mark as yours and i smacked on the pan and could tell it is 'glas so i didn't worry about it.
 
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