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Regulator Issues

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wobelsocket

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My stator went out on my 06 Street Bob back in July. Had a new Accel stator,rotor,ip bearing,voltage regulator,and battery installed but it keeps frying voltage regulators. I still cant figure it out. Ive checked wires and connections. Im ready to throw in the towell. Any suggestions before I run it off a cliff?
 
Thanks Tank.
Looks like I have some more research to do. As of right now she sits in the garage with another fried VR. The mechanic I took it to said I must have an intermittent short somewhere in the wiring loom but he couldnt figure it out. Ive checked some of the obvious places but have had no luck finding anything. I may have to break down and take it to Harley.
 
wobelsocket said:
Any suggestions before I run it off a cliff?
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You said the stator was changed in July but was the regulator actually bad? Did you have one of those rotors that came apart (assembled with screws rather than welded) and was that the reason for the repair. Was the battery you just changed out in July the original battery that came with the bike in 2006?
 
yep it was the infamous bolt together rotor.(great design) When it came apart it thrashed everything. I was working 60+ hours a week at the time so I took it to a local mechanic. He said the regulator was fried too so he changed it as well. It keeps eating regulators. Its sitting in my garage in need of its third one. The mechanic I originally took it to thinks that I have an intermiitent short in the wiring loom. Ive checked connections,ohmed battery leads, checked grounds, cut open the wiring loom in a couple of suspicious place and I have found NOTHING. Give me a big white flag and I'll wave it.....
I surrender.
oh .. yea it was the original battery from 06.
 
wobelsocket said:
It keeps eating regulators.
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You say it "keeps eating regulators". But the 1st and original regulator was trashed by the rotor coming apart. You said that yourself. I don't see that as being a short in the wiring harness or being a fault of the regulator. The 2nd regulator,, the Accel you installed in July did go bad but that could just be from the fact it was defective or a unit that just did not live past the warranty period, which can happen through no fault of the bike.

Unless there is more to this story, I don't see any pattern or evidence that backs up you having a short or problem within the bike that's eating regulators. After just 4 months I would think Accel would exchange that regulator for a new one.

Also, if you had a short that WAS eating regulators, you would be blowing fuses including the main Maxi fuse along with a host of other problems. Is that happening? I don't know how robust Accel regulators or stators are, but I'm not yet convinced you even have a problem other than some good old fashion bad luck..
 
wobelsocket, Hoople's post can sometimes sound different than what you might expect from a given scenario. But he is very smart and what he states is a very distinct possibility given you haven't been blowing any fuses with a short. Was your Accel covered under warranty ?

But I would still think it pertinant (if your Indy has not already done so) to do a milliamp draw test, to eliminate any draw that may be occurring while the ignition is off. Do you possibly have any accessories wired directly? The links Tank gave will prolly have this test along with stator check and AC output tests.

Examine all the circuits of the charging system to make sure there are no abused looking cables or connections that might cause a voltage drop. Might as well have your battery load tested while you are at it.

As far as searching for problems in other parts of the system, it's also possible there that you don't have a full blown short but a bad or loose connection somewhere causing a voltage drop(s) where it shouldn't be. In some circuits (like the lighting and starter systems) it's easy to test for voltage drops. For the starter cirucit set your voltmeter with the red (pos) probe on the positive Battery terminal and the black (neg) probe at the positive (NON black wire) side of the connection item you want to test (the the starter soleniod).

Activate the starter ( or if doing light circuits turn them on ) The voltmeter will read the amount of voltage your are dropping. In most cases (unless there is another item in series with it) if the circuit is ok you will read zero volts or very close to it. If you read very much voltage at all then you have a bad or loose connection in that circuit. Voltage drops can put an abnormal load on the system and could be bad enough to cause your symptoms (IMHO).

You can also test for bad grounds using voltage drop testing. Put the black (neg) probe on the Negative battery terminal. Then put the red (pos) probe on the negative connection you want to test. Same scenario, the voltage the meter reads (always a difference in potential) will show any voltage being dropped across (along) the ground circuit. If no voltage is dropped due to series resistance then it will read zero or close to it.
 
wobelsocket said:
This is the 3rd new regulator. Fourth counting the factory installled one that shelled out.
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When you say Regulator is shorting out, are you seeing low voltage high voltage or NO voltage? If indeed you have a dead short some where as Hoople said you surely should be blowing a main fuse
 
wobelsocket said:
This is the 3rd new regulator. Fourth counting the factory installled one that shelled out.
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Jack Klarich said:
When you say Regulator is shorting out, are you seeing low voltage high voltage or NO voltage? If indeed you have a dead short some where as Hoople said you surely should be blowing a main fuse
Click to expand...

Webbtron said:
Wondering out loud here, but if the wrong stator was installed wouldn't that blow the regulator?
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Yep he's got a bad something in the trio OR the bad connection somewhere over time wearing out one of the trio.

The trio being stator, regulator and battery.
 
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