When I plug mine in, it goes straight to the yellow light (charging), then shortly goes to the blinking green light (over 80% charged), then to solid green (monitoring charged battery). It does all this in under an hour. My battery is 3.5 years old. My bike does sit for long periods because I travel several months a year for work and have two kiddos 2 or younger.

 

I agree I have an 2007 and I have over 15K on mine. Live in Minnesota short riding season and had a fall right after I got the bike in 2007 , broke wrist and was out of commision for 4 months.

We only put the tender on during the winter month while it is waiting for Spring.
Ride that thing. !!!!

 

My .02 cents

Putting the battery on a tender is not required unless not being used for along period of time, such as the winter months, but could help in the long run if you do. I just started doing it all the time between every ride. And I ride everyday to work.

My brother, works (foreman) at a battery shop that sells and repairs small batters such as 12volts/7AH to the large industrial forklift batteries, and he is the one that maintains and repairs them all, gave me some advice. Keep on tender when possible will extend the life. And that Harley probably doesnt keep batteries on the shelf, on a tender until they sell it. Meaning it was charged at least once from factory, then never put on a tender until they were inspecting the bike upon sale.

Also, they sell Dekka (who makes the HD battery) branded batteries for motorcycles, along with others. It is recommended by the battery shop, along with the brand of batteries, to put on tender/charger when you can, as it should prolong the battery's life.

That being said. I only kept mine on for the winter months, my HD battery died less than 2 years, just two weeks ago. I went HD, said "it was typical" and they "have ones that are three months old that die" which is just horrible news. Do a search on here, and shows people have bought 2009 models and have batteries die. HD pro-rates them and gives them a discount for new battery. They wouldn't do anything for me since it was over the year mark, even with 7 year warranty (doesnt cover battery anyways).

I just had bad luck with battery, but I'll take the professional's word and keep it on tender whenever possible, but if its only for a few days, shouldnt matter.

Bottom Line
Putting on a tender, will never hurt your battery, so if you want to for piece of mind, do it, its not that hard. If not, dont have to, my buddy has an 05 and puts it on just during the winter months and has stock. Luck of the draw i guess.

 

06 deluxe here from chicago...didnt have a tender or charger on my bike all winter(we had one hell of a winter) and i went out to the garage everyweek and it fired right up even on the coldest of days....that bike of yours seems a little to new to be having a stator problem or something like that...i'd invest in an agm definitely though...well worth the dough as a previous post stated

 

An AGM is only a lead acid battery just like the Wet Cell. AGM stands for Absorbed Glass Mat technology. Nothing really different, only that you can't add water to the battery. The water (electrolyte) is absorbed between the plates in a fiberglass mat, thus Absorbed Glass Mat.

Do you want a battery that will go dry on you and you can't add water to it???? They call them maintenance free. The only maintenance free item is that you can't add water to them. You still have to keep the corrosion under control and keep them clean.

The only advantage to the AGM has is that it will not overflow and push acid out of the cell.

Some of the motorcycle stators will put out too much voltage and slightly overcharge a battery. This will cause it to dry out. If you can put water into your battery when it needs it, it should last longer. Are the AGMs convenient, hell yes but they will not last any longer or be any better than a wet cell.

If you use a car battery that has the green eye on it. They say when it goes dark the battery is going bad. Well, the only reason it goes dark is because the battery has dried out and the water level is too low.

How do I know this, I worked in the industry for several years. Sorry to go on so long but I thought some of the "mystery of AGM" needed to be brought out.

 

same with my 06 deluxe

 

I checked yesterday because your question made me curious. I took the bike out for a ride for about 30 miles. The next day I hooked up my tender and it went from charging (yellow light) to monitoring (green light) in under twenty minutes.