Kev M
Cruisin' Guzzisti
OK, update on my early delivery 2013 V7 Stone:
OK, REAL TEST (running voltage monitor) to follow later in this post.
BUT, last night/this morning I had the first indication that all might not be right.
It occurred to me when thinking about this last night that over the past few years that the V7 has been in the fleet that during the winter months when I rotate a Battery Tender through the bikes (I do that once a month, to each bike for a few hours or a day) that the V7 has always been the slowest to change from RED to flashing Green to solid Green.
I didn't think much of it because at first it wasn't far off from the Sportster, which in retrospect might have been a red flag since the Sportster battery was ALREADY 6 years old the day I brought the V7 home for the first time. By the time I noticed this similarity I think it was 8 years old!
So last night I go out to plug the charger in (changing of the month means it's time again, for reference the "nice" bikes - meaning the Duc and Goose - have been asleep since the end of Nov/beg of Dec when they salted the roads for the first time).
Last night I plugged the Battery Tender into the Goose and waited a few minutes, still RED, ok, I'll check back.
I checked an hour later, STILL RED - UH OHHH.
I checked 2 hours later, STILL RED - OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH.
I checked this morning - OK, it's GREEN.
I unplug the tender from the V7 and plug it into the 2 year older, couple of thousand less miles Ducati that gets ridden less often but which was charged within hours of the last time the V7 was charged AND - FLASHING GREEN BEFORE I EVEN GET TO THE GARAGE DOOR.
So that was my first indication that the battery in the V7 is NOT as healthy as the 2 year older battery in the Ducati.
At that point I kinda knew what I was going to find when I had a chance to test it this afternoon.
OK, so a cold start this afternoon gave me 15.4 Volts from 1-4k rpm.
I figured I've had it for years and it's probably always done this, so I took it for a ride (to drain the fuel a bit, I figure it's probably easier to pull the tank to do this anyway, and I might as well replace that fuel filter now if that's the case).
When I got back it was reading 12.8 volts at idle, but still 15.4 anywhere above that.
I need a voltage regulator, and I'm starting to believe I won't be alone.
My little bro Jay (JAS67 on WG) and Cam (from WG) are gonna test there's this week, but our assumption is that we'll be order 4 voltage regulators by next week.
Todd any plans (I think we'd be willing to wait a few weeks) or should we source it and handle it ourselves?
OK, REAL TEST (running voltage monitor) to follow later in this post.
BUT, last night/this morning I had the first indication that all might not be right.
It occurred to me when thinking about this last night that over the past few years that the V7 has been in the fleet that during the winter months when I rotate a Battery Tender through the bikes (I do that once a month, to each bike for a few hours or a day) that the V7 has always been the slowest to change from RED to flashing Green to solid Green.
I didn't think much of it because at first it wasn't far off from the Sportster, which in retrospect might have been a red flag since the Sportster battery was ALREADY 6 years old the day I brought the V7 home for the first time. By the time I noticed this similarity I think it was 8 years old!
So last night I go out to plug the charger in (changing of the month means it's time again, for reference the "nice" bikes - meaning the Duc and Goose - have been asleep since the end of Nov/beg of Dec when they salted the roads for the first time).
Last night I plugged the Battery Tender into the Goose and waited a few minutes, still RED, ok, I'll check back.
I checked an hour later, STILL RED - UH OHHH.
I checked 2 hours later, STILL RED - OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH.
I checked this morning - OK, it's GREEN.
I unplug the tender from the V7 and plug it into the 2 year older, couple of thousand less miles Ducati that gets ridden less often but which was charged within hours of the last time the V7 was charged AND - FLASHING GREEN BEFORE I EVEN GET TO THE GARAGE DOOR.
So that was my first indication that the battery in the V7 is NOT as healthy as the 2 year older battery in the Ducati.
At that point I kinda knew what I was going to find when I had a chance to test it this afternoon.
OK, so a cold start this afternoon gave me 15.4 Volts from 1-4k rpm.
I figured I've had it for years and it's probably always done this, so I took it for a ride (to drain the fuel a bit, I figure it's probably easier to pull the tank to do this anyway, and I might as well replace that fuel filter now if that's the case).
When I got back it was reading 12.8 volts at idle, but still 15.4 anywhere above that.
I need a voltage regulator, and I'm starting to believe I won't be alone.
My little bro Jay (JAS67 on WG) and Cam (from WG) are gonna test there's this week, but our assumption is that we'll be order 4 voltage regulators by next week.
Todd any plans (I think we'd be willing to wait a few weeks) or should we source it and handle it ourselves?
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