Ju8st popped in a brand new battery on my 2007 ultra (12v 400 cca) and it reads on my volt gauge in my fairing 10 volts? Rode around for an hour and still sat at 10 volts while riding. On charger now and not sure why so low so I called batterymart and they said there must be something wrong with the bikes reading. Funny, the last battery before it died on me read 13 volts when cruising. Anything I need to do?

 

I'd take it back and have them load test it. Sounds like a bad one to me. I use a Battery Tender always when not riding and my voltmeter on the bike always reads close to 14v... Good luck!

 

use a real voltmeter- at the battery

1.) cables, clean tight and good ?( I did a post last year on my neighbor spent $1300 on his bike's electrical system...I found a corroded $12 battery cable- which destroyed a few batteries, stators and voltage regulators)


2.) a bad battery ( like your old one?) can destroy your charging system

3.) charge any new battery with a charger ( not a tender) before you use it- this will contribute to a long(er) battery life
if you count on the bike's charging system to charge up a dead or low battery....then you are straining the charging system

4.) you should see 12 volts at the battery with bike off, and you should see about 13.5~14.8 volts at the battery with bike running and revs over 3000.

if you see less you got a charging system problem

 

Thanks

 

If it was truly at 10v at the battery, would the bike have even started up? You didn't state whether the bike is actually having any issues at start-up, you just mentioned the reading at the gauge. Just replaced mine from battery mart and am quite pleased with my purchase. My bike, from new, always seemed to sound sluggish and had a very slight hesitation when the engine was hot. The old battery was still above 12v when I replaced it but was worth the $99 to me to replace it.

 

There are a couple of Stickies in the Tech Electrical section that are helpful, if you want to check your charging system. Use a multimeter to check anything electrical, as those bike gauges are not known for their accuracy! They are fine for alerting us if something changes, but that's all.

 

Do as MKGuitar said check with meter .The only way to be sure.