I put a brand new battery in my 07 Softail last April. I have had it plugged into a Harley supersmart tender since riding season was over in late November. Last week I went out to the garage and noticed the light on tender was completely off. I unplugged it from the wall, plugged back in, still nothing. I checked the outlet- it was fine. I chalked it up to the tender failing after a few years. Just picked up a new tender at the dealer, plugged it in, and it lights up, but the lights would not change color when I plugged the bike into it. Turned the ignition on and absolutely nothing came on at all. No fuel pump, lights, anything. It's like there wasnt a battery even in the bike. I checked all fuses and connections, all looked fine. Just tested the battery with my multimeter, it's showing "0.0".... to make sure there wasn't an issue with the multimeter, I checked the battery on my other bike and it's working fine- not plugged into a tender for the same about of time, reading 11.9. 2 questions here- is it even possible for a battery less than a year old to have absolutely no juice in it at all? And has anyone ever heard of a tender failing and destroying a battery like this? It's all odd and really frustrating. The bike not plugged into a tender has a battery that's really low, but as expected. And the one plugged in, until it failed, is completely dead... bike ran fine all summer with no electrical issues, including sitting for 3 weeks un-tendered while I was on my honeymoon.

Any insight or anyone else have anything like this happen??

 

 

Take the batt to get a proper charge first, then see what the tender does. If the batt doesn't take a charge I would say that it was killed. AGM batts are more resiliant than the wet cell batts of yesteryear and you may be fine.

 

Batteries can be unpredictable and predictable. If you don't use it, you could lose it...maybe. Good practice is that you should ALWAYS crank your bike or deep cycle the battery at least once a month over the winter months. I know that some folks believe in putting the tender on and forgetting about it for 4-5 month without problems, but in truth, batteries and tenders are really not supposed to be connected a left unattended for months at a time without cold crank cycling the battery. That can very well kill the battery and tender, especially one stored in a cold garage or shed. There are a few likely scenarios, one being that your old tender went bad and presented resistance across the terminals and completely discharged your battery or the battery shorted and damaged the tender and now the battery will not take or hold a charge. I wonder how many amps it draws on an automotive charger...

Get a new battery and put it on the tender and crank it up and let it run for 15-30 minutes every few weeks.

 

 

That's what I have also heard over the years from numerous sources.

But...., somewhere not so long ago I read, and can't remember the source, that you need to "exercise" so to speak your battery some over the winter months while it is parked. It was suggested that every so often you simply unplug the tender for a day or two then plug it back up. Any of you guys ever hear or believe in this practice?

 

If it is less than a year old you may get it replaced warranty. If so I would check out one of the new lithium batteries Harley sells. Takes a different type of trickle charger

 

No - a tender wont kill your batt. It wont charge it cause the volts are too low. It doesnt even think its connected . A battery just sitting will chemically produce some sort of charge- so if it still reads 0.0 volts- you got a shorted battery. Its garbage now- it will never take a proper charge again. Sorry.

 

On my old bikes without security systems that drain batteries, I would plug in a battery tender once a month in the winter, and it would top up the battery in about 20 minutes. They aren't like that now.