Problem with charging system on 1993 softail every time i ride it have to charge battery for the next time have had new battery lights on dash but wont kick over is there spose to be any other wires to the battery other than the turminals thanks gavin

It sounds like your alternator is not charging the battery. Fit a new battery remember to undo negative lead first to remove and fit positive lead first to refit the battery. When the new battery is filled please charge it using less than 1 Amp DO NOT use a car charger or try to jump start it. Your new battery should show 12.5 to 13 volts on a meter for a 12 volt system and 6.3 to near 7 volts for a 6 volt system. Start the scooter and check across the battery terminals your meter should show about 14.4 V for 12 volt battery and about 7.5 V for a 6 Volt one. No voltage increase means your charging circuit is not working. Either the alternator or rectifier(regulator) are not operating correctly. Worst case scenario is both units dead.

I would check the start fuse. Its from back of engine to right panel of dash.

the best way to check for a draw is to remove the neg cable from the battery charge if then place a test light between the battery and the cable if the light is on you have a draw then start to unplug connectors one at a time the first one i would test is the charging system plug first if the diode is bad it will drain the battery

Could one WHAT be overcharging the other WHAT???

To understand the problem you must first understand that the car runs off of the BATTERY. The job of the alternator is to replace the power that the car uses back to the battery. The car DOES NOT operate off of the alternator (many people do not get this). The charge light comes on when the charging voltage from the alternator is lower than the voltage that is available at the battery posts (that is why the charge light is ALWAYS on when the ignition switch is on but the engine is not running.

If the CHARGING SYSTEM had been PROPERLY tested, you would have seen this in the tests. If you removed your alternator to have it tested, this does not test the charging system in the car.

This can be caused by a failure or high resistance in ANY PART of the charging system. This includes not only the battery and the alternator, but also all of the connecting cables, wires and the ignition switch.

If the battery and alternator are both good, then the problem is most likely a loose or badly corroded battery cable. However, high resistance in the ignition switch circuit to the alternator can also cause this type of problem. The charging system in your car needs to be PROPERLY tested to pinpoint the location of the fault.

It might be a wiring issue or Battery issue.
Have your battery checked first. if the battery is the issue, it might not be charging. have your rectifier checked
if the battery is fine, check for grounded cables.



Hope this helps

The battery is 12 volts and to charge use a 2-10 amp charger.

mille get yourself a cooler and put 8 cold beers in it. Put that cooler into the gap between the seat and the "dash" of the mower. Make sure your gas and oil are good. Have someone jump start your mower from a car and then you mow and drink and mow and drink until the beer is all gone. If the mower does not start from the battery the next day go out and buy yourself a new battery. If the battery and charging system are good then you do not have to charge it if it is being used regularly.

check the generator output as this normaly fails on this model

is it charging sufficiently? short jorneys do not allways put enough charge back into a battery, is your charge light coming on then going out once the engine is started?