I just replaced the battery and regulator about a month ago after i had issues with my bike not starting. That fixed everything and the bike was running fine...until yesterday it wouldnt start in the morning for work. It just turns over real slow like the battery had no juice...there is a clicking noise too when you try to start it. My guess was stator...but does anyone have any thoughts? Let me know. Thanks.

 

Sounds like something is draining your battery.

Disconnect the negative pole from the battery
Then with a voltmeter measure the voltage between battery negative and the frame.
The voltage should be close to zero. If it isn't then something is draining your battery.

To locate the source of the drainage, disconnect one unit at a time until voltage between negative and frame drops to zero. When the voltage drops you've located the problem. Start by disconnecting the stator, then the r/r. If the problem persists then pop the fusebox and start unplugging fuses. Should the problem still remains then check your starter and starter relay.

 

Hmmm... interesting way of measuring, although since the frame doesn't go the negative with the battery disconnected, are you truly measuring voltage potential? Something about that seems amiss to me...

 

+1...
j-nasty's guide to troubleshooting

1. buy shop manual
2. get meter
3. open beer
4. engage brain
5. kick bike, slam beer
6. get another beer
7. throw the shop manual across shop, then slam beer.
8. pick up shop manual and re read because you missed something.

moral of story... never troubleshoot without the book and a brew. life is good.

 

This is the best method of locating the source of a battery drain. In fact you will find this method described in almost every workshop/clymer/haynes manual.
Ill explain the theory of it:

A voltage leakage happens when a component of your bike fails to separate the positive and negative voltage from each other.
The positive voltage to that component will then effectively flow from the component to ground - which in turn will cause the frame to have a positive potential.

So, if you measure between the battery negative pole (negative potential) and the frame (positive potential) you will in fact get a voltage potential difference - hence measure a voltage.

Once the leakage has been removed the frame should go back to being a negative potential
and consequently the voltage reading should go back to zero.
(In reality you will probably measure 0.1 - 1V or so due to connection resistances and components forward voltage - depending on the electronics installed and the quality of them.)

---

I have used this method on many bikes and cars and it works every time.
Much better than randomly swapping out components and hoping for the best.

 

so i pulled the seat off and my battery looks like the Hulk...its is bulging like crazy, it looks like it is going to explode. So first thought was something went terribly wrong with the new r/r? What do you guys think would make the battery do that?

 

check voltage on your battery with the bike running and around 5k, i bet its hittin like 19 volts and frying the battery. This is either a bad rr or a loose connection on your ground somewhere.

 

Dude i seriously pissed my ****ing pants reading this! I cant tell you how many times I've done this in my life!

 

Spot on

 

In the manual, troubleshooting charging section, it only gives a faulty regulator as cause for overcharging the battery. Stator output is relatively constant. It is supposed to limit the voltage, change it to dc, and dissipate excess voltage as heat. The bad ground could be the green wire from the regulator. Check your wiring connector from the regulator for burned wires/connectors. This can toast new regulators pretty quickly.