[Chris Gibson]

I've got a 97 Honda Valkyrie that I can't seem to keep the battery charged on. Had a buddy replace the alternator and put new battery on. Started a dozen times and rode 10-15mi and let rest an hr and battery is dead again..... any advice is appreciated

 

[Dodsfall]

It could be a short drawing the battery down. If that's the case, a bit of wire tracing will need to be done.

To check and see if the battery is getting enough charge, put a volt meter on the battery with the motorcycle running at a high idle, 2000-3000 RPMs. You should be reading somewhere over 14 volts. If not, the fault probably lies in the charging system.

 

[Chris Gibson]

Thank you sir I'll start there

 

[Ray'ssporty1200]

The charging system consists of a stator, a magnetic rotor or wound rotor for the field, a regulator and rectifier, some Honda's use a wound rotor , same as car alternator, meaning it must be supplied with some power to be excited, doing same as rotor with permanent magnets, then a.c. must be changed to D.C. to be able to charge battery. reg/rec. must be checked. I had it go in my Sporty, either it won't charge or it will over charge. If bike has a wound rotor, try to apply power to the brushes, then check output. R U confused? then call me at 727-204-2767 I will be VERY glad to help u.

See if u can get a tail-lite bulb with socket an wires, place in series or between bat and system wiring with ign. sw. off if bulb lights to some extent, it will give you an idea of current drawn, low fil. is .59 amps would be a tail lamp, Hi. fil. is 2.10 amps this would be a stop light. I am not familiar with that bike but if it has a lot of accessories, that might be the reason battery is maybe not dead but not enough to crank over either.

 

[DGS65]

There is a forum just for Valkyrie owners and there are a ton of people that really know these bikes.
I have a 98 tourer great bike but i have only owned it for a few weeks and dont have a answer for you. If yiu have a petcock issue let me know I'myour guy
Good luck.

 

[WintrSol]

The alternator is the same as many on autos, so has a built-in rectifier and regulator. The field coil regulator gets its power and Voltage reference through a Bl/Lg (black/light green stripe) wire from the harness, that goes through a mini connector, then splices to a white wire which goes to the fuse block (the bank angle sensor and relay get power from the same fuse). The alternator output, a larger white wire, goes through Main Fuse B, a 55A fuse in line to the battery. That fuse, if I recall correctly, is under the right side cover. If either of these are interrupted, you will not get any charge into the battery. You may get a small amount of charge from the alternator because of a residual magnetic in the field coil, if the Bl/Lg wire is open.