Battery problem?

[Neil E.]

You have an interesting problem. Keep in mind that the stator output is not that high. It should maintain a charged battery, but will not charge a low battery in a reasonable time period.

The voltage reading on my Voyager also jumps around although I don't look at the reading very often. Mine varies from 12.25 to 15.25 volts. This also depends on what setting my LED lights are on. At 40% output (what I use as a low beam) the voltage is closer to the high reading. At 100% output (night riding) the voltage is closer to the low reading. An hour of night riding will drop the voltage low enough that the estart will not crank the engine, so I kickstart when needed.

It sounds like your stator is reaching the necessary voltage but not delivering enough current. Try cleaning all of the wiring connections to see if that helps. Make sure the female spade connectors grip well. You may need to squeeze them down with pliers. Aslo clean any ground points.

I use the 8cell "Ballistic" brand battery and it seems fine for my needs. It is close in size to the stock battery but lighter in weight. There are some Ohm readings posted in this forum that you can use to check your stator.

I used to run my heated grips on DC but they would pull the battery voltage down too quickly. I now run them on AC power. If I did more night riding I would install an Electrex 3 phase charging system.

The stock 2K3 system is only really capable of running a typical lighting setup (35W headlight or equivalent). Any significant electrical loads that are added require more than the single phase stock stator can provide. This is even more important for those of us riding mostly single track at partial throttle (like me).

[tzsuzuki]

Thanks to everybody that chimed in.
So this morning I had a Epiphany of sorts. I remember replacing the bulb with one I found at Walmart. I don't ride at night except for the odd occasion when I get back around dark, and the light isn't much good anyway.
Apparently I installed a 60/55 watt bulb (stock 35w) So that was drawing done my battery. When I had the lithium battery installed, I must have ran that down too. When the bike didn't start the light must have been on.
I tested this out, I removed the battery but left the voyager connected to the battery leads. Bike fired right up voltage good. I shut it off turned on the light, wouldn't start. Turned light off bike started. While running turned light on voltage went down to 8
All this from choosing the wrong bulb!!
For some reason I thought the output was much higher than 60 watts

[Neil E.]

One thing to carify here is that your bike should always be able to kickstart. The stator ignition winding is separate from the lighting windings and will always power the CDI. A shorted kill circuit is the usual thing that prevents kickstarting.

Estarting is a different situation since it is totally dependent on the condition of your battery.