Hey thanks for ur help, I have a 2007 street bob, never any problems, today bike won't start turns out pos battery connection melted. I bought a new battery and bike started great, now I went for a ryde for an hour, and my bike won't start again, battery looks good, lights turn on, when I try to start, it's dead ?. Could there be a short somewhere? Bad starter? I didn't think a short would melt my old battery terminal unless it was inside the battery itself. Any help would be awesome.

 

Yes it is a short. That's why the cable melted. I would not attach my new battery until solved. Get the new battery charged ASAP so it does not fail too. My guess is the positive battery cable has worn a short to the frame. Look closely. If you have a multimeter, I would use the resistance function without a battery in the bike and look for low resistance or a short from the positive battery cable to frame.

 

thanks, I looked for a short , pos to frame all over, nothing found. Could a bad relay or starter cause the problem, with charged battery bike starts fine no blown fuses but will die in 10 in.

 

If the pos battery cable wasn't shorted, then the melted cable was the result of a bad connection. Happens all the time, loose cable causes local heating due to the resistance in the loose cable (I squared X R losses in electronics, where I=current and R-resistance, so a couple of ohms resistance at the connection can cause a lot of heat).

I assume you replaced the cable. Check the connections on both ends to verify they are good.

It's time to check the charging system. Sounds like the it's not charging the new battery.

There are stickys in the Electrical/Lighting/Alarm section to help you diagnose a fault in the charging system. Most likely a bad voltage regulator, but you need to check the stator too.