When I got my Pan Am last year and I plugged it into my Battery Tender brand tender, I got puzzling results. It would blink green that it was charging, go solid green at times, and then occasionally I'd walk out and see it red, even though it'd been sitting for days. I had battery issues even after replacing the battery (my PAS had sat for a year in a dealer's warehouse un-tendered and unstarted) and so on a call with the tech we dug into it. Now, I could get the battery to charge if I applied a clamp directly to the positive terminal and a ground (I used a crash guard bolt) but through the pigtail was a no go and nothing but issues.



So, the tech and I went over everything on the phone, looking for loose wires, blown fuses, etc. I found nothing. Then, the tech is reading through something and says "Hey, how many amps is your tender?". I reply 1 amp, and it's certainly not the problem as it charged my Road King's battery (with 2x the cranking amps mind you) just fine. He then reads me a bulletin where H-D states that a 4 amp tender is required for the Pan Am. We're both puzzled, but OK. He then recommended a tender he uses from Harbor Freight of all places. I tried it for $40, and I haven't had an issue since. I hope this helps everyone like it helped me.

 

My bike has NEVER been on a tender. 50 weeks since delivered and 7,500 miles. No issues, zero. Just ride it at least once a month.

 

I've ridden mine (a 21 PAS) every month since I got it in June of last year save January (nothing but snow & ice around here then) and I've had no issues since changing the battery out. I see your PA is a 23 which started out with a majority of the updates too, I'm sure that helps.

That being said, the electrical systems on the Pan Am seem to be, well, let's just call them temperamental. Especially if the battery is somewhat discharged due to sitting for an extended period of time. Anyway, I got to ride more than usual but plenty of folks further North don't have it as nice as you (KS) or I do (Southeastern OH). Or maybe those folks just don't get a chance to ride as much due to other reasons like work, family, etc. The tender requirement info will hopefully help them out.

 

silverbulletking - did the tech give you the a number on the service bulletin. Haven't heard or seen this before.

 

Nah, he was just reading something to me over the phone while I searched for the issue as to why my tender or the pigtail was having a problem.

 

I had issues like you with my tender plugged in to the charger port so I installed a direct connect to the battery and haven't had any more issues. 4A is more than necessary to keep the battery at full charge - mine is 1.5A.

 

Yep, that's what I figured out with using a clamp straight to the positive terminal and a clamp on a ground, a crash guard bolt. But if you want to use the pigtail, the tech told me 4amps. I could've continued on with the clamps and I even considered installing a 2nd pigtail on the terminals themselves but I'm stubborn, if I already have a pigtail on the bike, I want it to work. Plus, adding another wire to flop around and get hit with gravel & dirt seemed less than ideal and like something that could (who am I kidding, I know my luck, so would) turn into a future issue.

H-D does have something to say that I've found in the 2021 online manual- "Because of the sealed, nonspillable battery design, an automatic, constant monitoring battery charger/tender with a charging rate of 5 amps or less at less than 14.6 volts is recommended"
So, nothing over 5amps and no constant current trickle chargers, but it doesn't have a minimum.
I just went with what the tech told me, bought a 4amp tender, and I haven't had a single problem since.