Dead Sporty
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Joined: Jul 2016
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From: New Jersey
Dead Sporty
I'm looking for a bit of help here, I'm a bit of a newbie, and my bike is dead.
It's an 08 Sportster 1200 low. I had an issue a month or so ago after I put a load equalizer on the bike. I connected it to the front light assembly and to the RBT as I was instructed by custom dynamics. The issue at the time was that the RBT seemed to be heating up, it gave off a burning smell. It also seemed to be draining the battery.
This past weekend I was riding in pretty heavy traffic when it began to smell a gain, I pulled into a rest area and let the bike cool. I got back on the road little bit later after it cooled and the traffic let up a little. I had ridden about 100 miles when the speedo dropped to 0 and went back up to 60, the speedo light was also out. About 10 seconds later the speedo dropped to 0 and the bike started stuttering, then died. After getting it towed the last 8 miles home I tried to start it, no dice. The current state is this
When it is in the Ignition state there is no power - run switch does nothing, start switch does nothing, horn does nothing, brake lights do nothing.
When in the ACC setting break lights work, speedo light works, brake light works, horn works - but first try is muffled, second is good after that it gets anemic then the power drains and and the clock flashes 12:00. If I take it off the tender the battery drains over night.
I have checked all the fuses, removed the load equalizer and replaced the battery, still it's dead.
Any leads on what to check next?
It's an 08 Sportster 1200 low. I had an issue a month or so ago after I put a load equalizer on the bike. I connected it to the front light assembly and to the RBT as I was instructed by custom dynamics. The issue at the time was that the RBT seemed to be heating up, it gave off a burning smell. It also seemed to be draining the battery.
This past weekend I was riding in pretty heavy traffic when it began to smell a gain, I pulled into a rest area and let the bike cool. I got back on the road little bit later after it cooled and the traffic let up a little. I had ridden about 100 miles when the speedo dropped to 0 and went back up to 60, the speedo light was also out. About 10 seconds later the speedo dropped to 0 and the bike started stuttering, then died. After getting it towed the last 8 miles home I tried to start it, no dice. The current state is this
When it is in the Ignition state there is no power - run switch does nothing, start switch does nothing, horn does nothing, brake lights do nothing.
When in the ACC setting break lights work, speedo light works, brake light works, horn works - but first try is muffled, second is good after that it gets anemic then the power drains and and the clock flashes 12:00. If I take it off the tender the battery drains over night.
I have checked all the fuses, removed the load equalizer and replaced the battery, still it's dead.
Any leads on what to check next?
Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 3,492
Likes: 610
From: USA
Your speedometer dropped to "0" most likely because the battery voltage dropped too low. That's also why the bike stuttered and died.
In ACC position - no power is going to the head light so what little power there is in the battery will light the brake light, and speedometer light, and maybe work the horn a time or two before the battery goes dead. When the voltage drops too low it's almost like disconnecting the battery. When the battery is disconnected and then reconnected that would probably cause the clock to flash because it lost it's memory and needs to be reset.
You should remove the battery, have it fully charged, and have it load tested to make sure it's still good. Then put the battery back in the bike and check the charging system. It sounds as if you either have a bad charging system or a short which is causing a draw and not allowing the battery to charge. The bike probably ran off the battery for most of your 100 miles ride. If the charging system was only partially working or if there is a short or a draw, the bike would run until the voltage got too low (maybe even as low as 10 volts) before it died.
You said in a previous post that the rear brake light switch was not working. Did you ever fix that? Check all of the wires that you touched when you installed/removed the load equalizer. Good luck and post back what you find.
In ACC position - no power is going to the head light so what little power there is in the battery will light the brake light, and speedometer light, and maybe work the horn a time or two before the battery goes dead. When the voltage drops too low it's almost like disconnecting the battery. When the battery is disconnected and then reconnected that would probably cause the clock to flash because it lost it's memory and needs to be reset.
You should remove the battery, have it fully charged, and have it load tested to make sure it's still good. Then put the battery back in the bike and check the charging system. It sounds as if you either have a bad charging system or a short which is causing a draw and not allowing the battery to charge. The bike probably ran off the battery for most of your 100 miles ride. If the charging system was only partially working or if there is a short or a draw, the bike would run until the voltage got too low (maybe even as low as 10 volts) before it died.
You said in a previous post that the rear brake light switch was not working. Did you ever fix that? Check all of the wires that you touched when you installed/removed the load equalizer. Good luck and post back what you find.
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Joined: Jul 2016
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From: New Jersey
OK,
so I took the battery out and put in my back up one, fully charged, the head lights are on, it tries to turn over but can't. It cranks two or three times then just he ticking from the starter.
I am getting the following diagnostic errors
P0563
b0563
b1121
b1122
These are most likely from having the LED turn signals on the bike.
btw, the battery that was I was using was a new gel based, the heat from the bike started to melt it.
so I took the battery out and put in my back up one, fully charged, the head lights are on, it tries to turn over but can't. It cranks two or three times then just he ticking from the starter.
I am getting the following diagnostic errors
P0563
b0563
b1121
b1122
These are most likely from having the LED turn signals on the bike.
btw, the battery that was I was using was a new gel based, the heat from the bike started to melt it.
Thread Starter
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Novice
Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 23
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From: New Jersey
I had it load tested both, My old one sits at 13 volts, when tested it drops to 10. The motobatt that I bought about 3 weeks ago sits at 12 and drops to 0 on a load test. Looks like the motobatt got cooked, and I'll be getting another battery.
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Novice
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From: New Jersey
I put in a new battery and it started right up. I think I might not have gotten the negative terminal in correctly on the last battery change, having a loose connection might have caused the issue. I removed the negative cable from the ground on the bike, hooked it up the the battery, then reconnected the neg. battery cable and the neg. tender cable up to the ground and tightened it down. Bike started right up.
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