Recent work was the Power Commander III + Yosh pipes and engine work (rings, gaskets, and valve shim changeouts).

Farkles are heated grips, air horn, 5 function gauge, accent lights, headlight and taillight modulators. They're all connected through a blue sea fuse box (6 additional fuses).

When I got the bike back, it didn't seem to want to charge the battery. But it's been doing that. The battery was probably end of life by then or at least getting close. Within a few days, the bike refused to start or hold a charge so I got a new battery.

The bike started pretty well after the new battery however the voltage gauge showed mostly a low charge (less than 13 and at times just below 12). I figured a short was introduced when the bike was put back together. The wires for the accent lights had burned through (the right one). I pulled the fuse and the charging seemed to go up but seldom above 12.

When I got home yesterday, I smelled a little smoke. I couldn't find anything but pulled the accent light wires from the side panel in case it was the insulation burning.

This morning I was heading out to get breakfast for the folks coming to help us move in. For the heck of it, I pulled all the fuses from the Blue Sea fuse box before leaving.

On the way, the bike had a substantial drop in power for about a second but it immediately powered back up. Cautious, I slowed down. When I got to the light, I revved the bike a little and it seemed ok but as I pulled in the brake the bike died and the battery was stone cold dead. I called Rita and let her know what happened then pulled off to the sidewalk to check the bike out.

I pulled the seat off and checked the fuse box but nothing seemed out of place. I was moving wires to see if there was something touching and causing grounding and the power going to the fuse box came out of the crimped connector. Figuring the loose wire might have been causing the problem, I pulled both the wires that were going to the fuse box off the battery and screwed the terminal wires back down. The only wires were the two terminal wires and the wire from the Power Commander.

I put the seat and saddle bags back on the bike and jumpstarted the bike successfully. I left it idling on the sidewalk and walked back to get my helmet and gloves. I called Rita and let her know it seemed to be working and that I was heading back. On my way back, the bike died just before I reached it. I turned it around and pushed it back up the hill and tried to jumpstart it again (I put the helmet and gloves in the trunk ) but unfortunately it wouldn't start.

I called Rita and had her ask a friend to come down with jumper cables and the ramp in case I needed to get the bike home. We were able to jump the bike but after 15 seconds or so it'd just die. I had him holding the throttle at 2k and 3k and each time, 10 to 15 seconds after removing the jumper cables the bike would die again. At 3k, Todd pointed out that there was smoke coming from the back left side of the bike

So we pushed the bike onto the back of the truck and brought it home (Rita took a picture so I'll post it once I get it off the camera ).

I put the charger on the bike in the garage and after 30 minutes or so, started the bike. After a few minutes of running, smoke started coming from the back. I removed the rear plastic and tried again. Smoke was pouring from the wires at the top of the voltage regulator.

I shut down the bike.

From a previous history, I suspect the regulator has been going out but I don't know if that's the way it works. Does it slowly degenerate or does it just bail all at once? The farkles have been on the bike for some time, the newest one being a year old.

That of course assumes I'm talking about the regulator too. Everything's packed up so I can't look up the book.

Suggestions? Ideas? Could adding the Power Commander pushed the regulator over the edge?

I don't want to get a new regulator only to have it fail because of the farkles + PC.

Carl