I have been having trouble with what I thought was a short in my charging/electrical system. Well, I even had it at the harley shop for two days, with no avail. So I brought it home, and it goes dead again, but I noticed the last time before it went dead, the security system didn't come on. I had been turning the kill switch back on after I kill the motor, never occurred to me that it would run the battery down. I have had several bikes in my like and never had that problem. So I test it, I left it off and monitored the voltage daily and didn't ride or crank the bike. Turns out that is the problem. I went to the harley shop and told them about it, service manager scratches his head, said he never heard of it, but did say he had a few sportsters in that had charging/electrical draining that they were not able to diagnose. He said it was good to know this, saying it may be limited to the sportsters models.

 

I have a 2014 Forty Eight with keyless ignition. When you put the switch to on, the lights come on and a number of other things. In fact, it is the only way to turn off the bike (the "Kill" or in my case the Run/Off Switch") as there is no key.

 

I left my key on a few weeks ago, it drained my batt in about 1.5 hours. Had to get it jump started. No fun.

 

Holy Jeebus! The 2014 Sportsters have a keyless ignition? Did not know that. Do they still give you a key for the fork lock?
I pretty much never use my kill switch. It's always on.
It can be most amusing to reach out with your left hand, just before the light turns green, and hit your buddy's kill switch.

Wait a minute. You left your key on, and it's a 2014? What gives?

 

My '14 Iron doesn't have keyless ignition.

 

You're no dummy - it's the kill switch set to on that drains the battery, that's the dummy part. It doesn't make sense. Maybe it's hiding another problem?

 

You might want to replace that switch and/or follow the wires and see if theyre pinched,shorting,or grounding somewhere. I'm one who only uses the kill switch for emergencies. Like old dirt bikes. It should'nt be live with the ignition off.

Just realised that don't quite make sense maybe the Ignition 'keyed' switch is the fault

 

That's not being a dummy, about 3 months ago I got on my bike did the usual routine and she started right up. After I warmed it up I put it in gear and rode it about 20 feet and she quite. So I duck walked her back to my parking space and proceeded to try to get her to start. After I tried everything and almost ground by battery down I stopped.

Called for a ride to work and called the dealer. After explaining my problem they said someone would call me back. (Never did) When lunch time came I drove to my bike to see if it would start. Then it came to me! I turned the gas on and away she went. Now that's a dummy.

 

[QUOTE=Wait a minute. You left your key on, and it's a 2014? What gives?[/QUOTE]

When my key is on, the headlight and front turn signal 'running lights' are always on, even when the engine is off. It's no wonder my battery died.

 

I was referencing the keyless ignition that's available on the 2014 models. Maybe, Dude custom wired a transponder to his bike. FIIK. I thought a keyless ignition was weird. Jump starting, or bump-starting in gear, isn't weird in the slightest. Everybody leaves the ignition on at some time or another.
What really sucks is nobody said, "Hey, Man! You're ignition's on!"
I've heard it and said it, countless times.