No truer words have ever been spoken when it comes to internet forums.

 

Looks like the OP has left the building

 

Thanks guys. As for the battery tender it was flashing that the battery was 80% charged within a few minutes of plugging it in and showed 100% after about 10 minutes of being plugged in. I’ll ride it until something happens. Only testing I did was putting a multimeter on the battery when running. If it starts acting worse while in sturgis then I will dig in and do a full test when we get home. Just seemed odd how the gauge on the bike would show a drop in the hot weather.

 

Which is more proof positive that the so called “gauge” on the maintainer is pretty useless. There’s no way a battery can go from 80% charge to 100% in ten minutes at the minimal current rate that a maintainer supplies. Ignore the display on the maintainer.

Now as to the variance in charging voltage, that’s perfectly normal. Nominal charging voltage is 13.8 volts and it has to be a nominal spec because it’s constantly varying by several hundred millivolts depending on multiple factors; the current load changes depending on what accessories, lights, etc are on or off, how long ago the starter was engaged, how long the starter was cranking, battery temperature, stator temperature, etc. It’s difficult to give a hard number of what’s charging, discharging, or overcharging but if battery voltage is staying in the neighborhood of 13.5 to 14.5 it’s working fine.

 

untwist the panties boys
due diligence to check all possibilities would save a later not so great situation.
I NEVER SAID HIS MACHINE WAS NOT "OK"!
there are a lot of factors such as riding style, rpm and such.
a PMG is fixed and is rpm rated, aka, best output in a band of rpm.
that said, yes you can have voltage and low amps. look what a slipping belt on an alternator will do, voltage but low amps due to low rpm. of course this is NOT a pmg.
if there is an issue with a connection, voltage can show but amps not there, been there and done that and testing by voltage alone is wanting. it is like putting a vom on a battery vs load bank!!
the regulator it self is controlled by zener diodes and they have a skew or range and yep, temperature can effect electronics. so not uncommon to see fluctuations.
i will post a jpeg, this problem went on for some time and NEVER was found using voltage alone, all it took was a few good strands to convey this info but clearly amperage could not pass!!

 

I also checked all connections and they are all tight. I replaced two voltage regulators and one stator on my 04 when I had it and a few years ago replaced the regulator on my wife’s 13 sg cause it was acting like mine but the voltage would drop to under 12 while riding. This isn’t acting anything like my 04 did when the things failed but just peeked my interest. I might dig into it more after my trip or just let it go until something actually does happen. No point in throwing parts at it if it is working as the manual states. Also seeing as my multimeter read 14.0 and the gauge on the bike read 13.8 I now know the gauge on the bike is off by .2. So as long as the bike starts and my voltage stays above 13.5 guess I just need to stop over thinking it. Will report after the trip. Thanks again

 

Kevin ... Get going and have fun

 

Thanks Uncle Larry. We leave Thursday afternoon, but the fun will start whenever I get to leave work on Wednesday.