I have a problem that i thought was solved.my bike vstar 1100 was burning head lights and some one on this site said that the battery works like a regulater and if it were bad enough it would allow to much voltage to the head light,so i replaced the battery and thought it fixed the problem.With the new battery the bike started great and did not burn head lights.But it did not last,after a few weeks the bike started starting hard and the battery would not stay charged.If you rode all day it would re start no matter how many times you stop but if you left it over night the battery would be low or dead. I guess my question is could there be some kind of short draining the battery when the bike is parked that does not keep the bike from running once the bike is started.I checked the volts while the bike is running and it seems to be charging.
Hi Carl – electrical gremlins are always a bit tricky. If your voltage at the battery is 13+ when running then you should be charging ok. The voltage should increase a bit when the motor is revved.
It is possible to get a bad battery, but sounds like you have some other issue going on. A test I would be tempted to run is to charge up the battery then let it sit for a day or two on the workbench and check the voltage periodically. It should hold it constant. If it drops then the battery could be the fault. If it holds charge then reinstall it in the bike and check the voltage periodically for another day or two. If the voltage drops when installed then you have a drain or short somewhere in the wiring. You’ll need to grab a voltmeter and a wiring diagram and start tracking it down line by line.