All good advice above. Also a 2002 battery is starting to get long in the tooth.

 

There is piece that you can buy, after market, it is a metal clip that installs and sits on top of the plug to hold it in.....I think a guy could fabicate something. it attaches to the bolt just above the plug. At first when I bought it, I scratched my head as it gives you the medal clip and new bolt......then I realized that I had to take out the old bolt and replace it with the new chrome bolt that this medal bracket is held on with........but I had the same problem as my plug would come loose and I would loose my charge......I did the prong thing and made them tighter but I didn't want any more problems.......but Dennis Kirk has them, I think the Big Book Drag has them but look first and if you are handy, I think a guy can make one.........but this one I have is chrome and doesn't look bad........The only problem I see with it is it may have to be loosen and pulled up out of the way to change my oil filter

 

My '93 had a clip on it when I bought it and it is installed on the engine mount bolt below the plug but I think it is either missing a peice off of it or it is the wrong clip all together because it doesn't come up high enough to even contact the plug. I have seen others clips on ebay that look like they may work better but I haven't purchased one yet to see. Best thing to do in my opinion is to bring your bike to the Harley Dealer and see what types that they have and bring them out to the bike to see which one will work the best.

Hey 93 bagger....have you had any problems with your voltage gauge dropping when you apply the foot brake? Mine does this and it seems like a common problem with the older electraglides. Drives me nuts and i haven't seen anyone that has found a fix yet.

 

Tbird,
How much does the guage drop? This is most likely normal. The guage reads the voltage inside the fairing, not at the battery, remember. With the brake on, you not only have the brake light adding additional load, but also the anti-dive air control valve kicking in. It is nothing to worry about. If it doesn't do it when you apply your hand brake, then you likely have a bad brake light switch in the handlebar control.

 

Dr. Hess,
The guage will drop from about 12.5 volts down to 7 or 8 volts. It comes back up when I release the brake and rev the engine up alittle. I do think I have a bad switch for my hand brake because it doesn't illuminate the brake light when I apply it. Do you think this might be what is causing the voltage drop with the foot brake? Whats so annoying about it is that when I apply the foot brake and the voltage drops down, my right turn signal will not work until I rev the engine up to get the voltage back up. If I put the turn signal on before I hit the foot brake then it comes on like normal and will work fine even when I apply the foot brake. I only have the problem if I apply the foot brake first and the voltage drops and then try to put the turn signal on.
Also one other thing is when my turn signal is blinking (either side) the volt meter will drop and raise as the turn signal light blinks. Weird!!!

 

I have a noticable drop when the blinkers are on, but haven't noticed anything with the brake lights yet. I am guessing that it would be about the same 13 volt to 10 or so that I am seeing with the directional lights. I will look the next time I take it for a ride. Back to snowing and crappy out again in Wisconsin.

 

Tbird,
You have a couple of issues here. First off, yeah, the brake light switch in your handlebar control is broken. The brake light and anti-dive valve should come on with either the front or the rear brake. The front is a mechanical switch. The rear is a pressure switch (unless things changed between your bike and mine). The switch isn't too bad to swap out, but I think you have to solder the connections. I took one apart last year when I changed out the throttle cables on the 883 and I seem to recall it being soldered in.
Next, 7-8 volts with the brake on is probably too low of a reading, and on top of that, your turn signal issue isn't right either. I'm going to say that they are both related. The problem is most likely a dirty/corroded connection. You can trace it out with a volt meter if you know how and find exactly the bad spot, or start at the battery, go to the starter, then the feed wire to the ignition, ignition to the various breakers, etc. Take apart each connection, hit the terminals with a little wire wheel on a Dremmel Brand Mototool, put a little Oxy-Guard grease on it, put it back together. The main breaker could also have an internal problem. It could also be the ground connection block. Basically, you likely have a single connection point that is dirty/corroded. You just have to find it. It would probably take me an hour to find it.

 

Much better! Exactly what was needed! I cleaned up the stator plug holes good and spread the regulator plugs a bit, globed some Silicone Dielectric Compound in the holes and put it all together. Tough to get at the motor mount nut. I hope I don't have to move this thing every time I change the oil filter.

Thanks for all of the replies!

 

I too am having this same problem with voltage to the point that if I turn on the passing lights the gauge reads a shade over 12 or a little under 12. I have noticed that if I appl the front brake, sometimes the voltae will not come back up to 12.5+ but if I hit the ffront brake again, it will come back up to 12.5+/ A meter on the battery indicates 13+ volts going to the battery. BUt the same meter indicates less than that going to the volt gauge. Bike is a 95 Ultra. Put it in the shop and the mechanic can't find anything. Where would you start looking?

Thanks for the help

Bubba

 

Some of what you are seeing sounds normal, but if you have noticed it degrading, you should tak apart every connection between the battery and fairing and clean them. Not as hard as it sounds, just follow the wiring diagram. With age, corrosion starts setting in. I just did that on my 90 ultra. Also, it sounds like your brake switch may be sticking. I think 95 had a brake relay also, but it's not as common for them to stick.

[IMG]local://upfiles/48173/A06C136399A745C19BE251125306B20A.jpg[/IMG]