With my headlights (LED) connected my voltmeter does not read past 12.5 most of the time and if I run the bike like this it will drain the battery and won't be able to start up again later. Voltmeter will drop to 11.9 after running.
Without headlights (LED) connected my voltmeter reads 13.5 on idle and will up to 14.x while running. Battery will stay charged and bike will start again later. Voltmeter will read 12.1 after running.
My thought is that the battery is dead or weak. But I want to rule out anything else before buying a new battery and killing that one two with the constant drains.
If the bike isn't giving a decent charge your alternator or regulator is more likely. Older Vees are known to have the magnets move and nodt work properly. A clean up and reposition them with a adhesive seems to be the answer.
You could take the battery to the auto shop to be tested.
A good battery should read about 12.8v across the terminals with the engine off, and up to 13.8 -14v while running, so all seems correct when the LED's are disconnected.
The draw of the LED's is minimal compared to incandescent bulbs and should not have a negative effect on battery voltage. That part is odd.
Are you registering 11.9v across the battery after the bike has been turned off? That is low and should only occur if the bike has not been started for a few weeks.
I would recommend that you take the battery to an auto parts store and ask them to stress test it.
Did you do the stator tests (both of them)? You may have a bad stator and/or loose magnets.
With the engine running, even with a bad battery should see at least 13.5V across the battery terminals, regardless of whether your lights are on or off. As you don't, it's an indication to me that your charging system is not keeping up.
Of course, repeated deep discharges may ruin a battery, but the bad battery is not the root of your problem then.
While replacing the battery might be a good thing as it has been run "low" a lot with the charging issues, it will not fix your problem.
You can test the stator with engine running and with it off. Check AC voltage across any two legs of the 3 that come out of the stator by disconnecting it before the Regulator/Rectifier. With engine revved to about 5000 you should see around 80 VAC and all three combinations fairly close. With engine off and ohmeter at hand place one lead on any one of the three wires, the other lead to a known good ground. Repeat this on all three wires. ANY change in a digital ohm meter, or any wiggle in the needle of an analog ohm meter means the stator has failed.
You should pull the magneto cover and check the magnets.
My bet is the magnets are moved out of place......and there is a very high chance the stator has failed.
I replaced the stator with an electrosport and JB Welded a few magnets last year, but I will crack open the stator case again during my next oil change and take a look at everything again.
Isn't there any harness or wiring that I should look at to make sure that is pulling more power than needed?
I will plug in the Vee to the battery tender and delay getting a new battery until I am ready to see the stator again.
There is your problem. I will all but guarantee it. Don't know what the magnets will look like, but I also wonder how it could not be vibrating some from only some of the gaps being filled with JB Weld? Doesn't take much weight to make one vibrate and JB Weld is rather dense.
Electrosport and Ricks stators have a rather high failure rate. They have been known to act exactly as you describe in the first post.
So I stopped by walmart one night a few weeks ago and to get something and saw that they had a battery for the Vee and picked it up since it is cheaper than the dealership.
For the last 3 weeks I have not had a single discharge issue. I believe the old battery was shot and not able to hold charge.
Another issue I found with the old battery is that the battery tender will go into Full/Maintenance a few minutes after plug in and voltage still showed 12.1 or lower.
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