so guys i pretty much had a stock 96 883 sporty with 900 miles and like we all want to do is chop it or make it our own. Anyways that all happened and since i have chopped it and put it all back together the bike keeps eating batteries. i 1st just got a new battery 200ish miles/and some days later it just would lose voltage and bike would putter and run like poop. looked at it all the grounds to ensure all that was ok also changed out the voltage regulator since it was an easy swap. i got a fresh battery luckily thru warranty and all was fine again for about 250 miles/and a few days. charging system looks to be working correctly battery also was checked everyday that it had a good 12.9 on it before i left. again 200 miles later no good. decided to look for shorts in the wiring harness since i deleted everything except brake lights and headlights. looked like i had good connections and then i was advised to just swap out the stator and i did and got a fresh battery thanks warranty. but yesterday it all happened again... so now that you have some back story has anyone had this issue and is there something im overlooking. I really am about to break down and take it to harley but this is a custom sporty so im sure they are going to give me **** and charge me up the ***... anyways guys thanks for ur help anything would help me at this point...

 

Call in the DIY Electrical section and check the Stickies there, which tell you how to check your charging system properly. Stop chucking new parts at yours until you have identified the source of the problem!

 

Thank for the tips. I finally got a chance to take a swing at the charging system. It all seems to be ok. 12.6v off. 13-14v while idling. I was wondering if u guys have heard of the battery getting shorted out and killing the battery? It seems to be fine then sometimes just out of no where the battery will be dead. I love my sporty but keeping this guy on the road is a pain. Thanks guys

 

Over time sulphur precipitates, (I think that's the correct word), out of electrolite and eventually shorts the plates together in the bottom of the battery. It happens faster in a partially discharged battery. Glassmat Technology and other measures delay this and prolong battery life.
My bike was starting to do that delay when hitting the first compression stroke, so yesterday I pulled the battery out of the bike and sure enough there was a little corrosion in the negative terminal connection. I cleaned up the terminals, coating them with No-Ox and fully charged the battery on the Battery Tender Plus and then re-installed the battery, but left the charger unconnected. About 10:00 am today it fired right up going through that first compression stroke as if it weren't there. It's an early 2007 battery.

PS, you mentioned the words, what a pain, well, what a pain it is to hold that battery in its opening while you get the negative bolt started in, that's a holy moly if ever there was one.

 

So if I'm following you correctly ur saying that my battery could be getting dirty and I need to coat it with that no ox?

 

Only the connections and High Dialectric grease from an auto parts store works just as well.

 

So does that cause a short that will kill the battery? Thanks for ur advise

 

"Anyways that all happened and since i have chopped it and put it all back together the bike keeps eating batteries...decided to look for shorts in the wiring harness since i deleted everything except brake lights and headlights..."

Ah the old I chopped everything and now $hit don't work thing. I wish this weren't so common. Anyway, what exactly does it mean when you say you deleted "everything..."? Could you please be more specific?

Since the bike is a '96 and I haven't seen this mentioned yet, I'd check the condition of the battery cables themselves, not just the connections. I've worked on a lot of truck liftgates and have seen 50amp 12v+ power cables that looked good on the outside but were found to have some pretty bad corrosion 24" up into the cable from the battery ends that was causing inadequate power flow/loss of operation. This wasn't part of the charging system but the end result of no or loss of power to the "system" is similar to the scenario of no/limited power returning to a battery through a bad cable. 'Easy enough to check and cheap enough to replace if found to be bad or suspect. Also be sure to check your [-] ground cable at the engine as well for signs of corrosion, and if found, disconnect the cable and clean both areas where they make contact with each other, tighten 'er up, then apply some Permatex purple/red battery terminal spray that inhibits corrosion, it works great. Best wishes in finding the culprit.

=8^)

 

^^^Agree^^^

Go back to the "root" cause and re-check the obvious...sometimes it's the easy oversight that keeps biting you in the a$$. Good luck!

 

You did not say where you got the battery and what brand it is. It is conceivable that you are getting old batteries, that are poor when you get them. I have gone through three batteries getting one good one for my van, at an auto parts store.

Also if you are trying to use an inexpensive wet cell from the auto store they may break down pretty quickly with the vibration on a sporty.

If you look through the forums you will find that the Harley Davidson batteries are the best bet in a standard AGM battery.

If you use a multimeater and get good readings, and your fuses are all clean and everything else checks out I would suspect the battery is the problem.