Turn the ignition switch on my 2003 Low Rider and bike lights up but when I hit the starter switch there is a click coming from somewhere near the electrical panel and all my electrical power goes dead - no start, no lights, no nothing. Turn ignition switch off and on and there is still no power. Wait 5 minutes and I have power again but when I try to start it, the same problem occurs.

I park the bike and five minutes later the alarm siren goes off and the FOB does not kill the siren. It's midnight and my neighbours lights start coming on - gotta kill the siren quickly. Remove the seat to get at the siren and I drop a socket down into the wiring under the seat. Can't find it anywhere - will look for it tomorrow in the daylight. Remove the battery from the siren so that my neighbours can go back to sleep.

All my fuses look okay but the fuse for 'security' does not "click" into position like all the other fuses do. There is nothing to keep the fuse in place because it does not "lock" into positon.

I replaced my front brake pads, spark plugs, and my rear stoplamp switch today. The bike ran fine after my test run but these problems occured a couple hours later. Battery puts out 12.47 volts. All my battery connections and wires look good.

Any ideas?

Thanks, BigLow

 

a definite possibility is
you have either a loose batt lead, or a cracked one(remember there are 4 ends involved here) I assume the main power is piggybacked off the starter motor end, so if the lead is cracked under the rubber boot, this could go unnoticed, and the rubber boot could assist with the intermittent power supply issue
it is quite likely that the load from the starter motor causes the weakness to be exposed, which is why you hear the electrical click when you depress the starter button
after a few minutes the connection re-establishes(as often happens in such circumstances) starting the process over again
of course, it can also disconnect by itself, causing the siren issue
other dynamics like charging system operation can certainly appear normal even while this issue exists

 

Check your main ground lead too. Take that off and clean it then reinstall it. Sounds like something is loose or not grounded....like suggested above, look at the battery connections. Outside possibility is a shorted starter motor or some other dead-short. The main circuit breaker could be tripping and then resetting after it cools.

 

There is my idea , anything electronic that was messed with is the likely suspect in my book Retrace the steps you took to change the switch.

 

Sounds like a short somewhere. Did you do any mods lately involving moving wires? That clicking is the circuit breaker.

 

I agree... The siren going off just reinforces it.

 

Okay so I had a couple beers last night and started working on my electrical problem at the crack of noon today.

Start checking my battery connections and I notice that my battery negative post is pressing against the frame. I push the negative post away from the frame and she starts right up without problems.

Seems too easy. Would the negative post pressing against the frame cause my electrical problems? Isn't that negative post connected (by cable) to the frame at all times anyway?

As a side note, I had my battery tender connected all night but when I woke up (at noon) my battery was not fully charged (red light on battery tender). Would the battery not charge if the negative post was pressing against the frame?

BigLow

 

Drink a couple more beers and think about this some. The negative side of the battery is tied directly to ground...as in the frame. It SHOULD be connected to the frame. This sounds like a SM question, but you do have the battery cables connected properly don't you. If your positive cable was intermittently grounded, that would cause all these problems and would drain your battery and keep it from charging. It must be the + cable in contact with the frame or you have the battery polarity reversed.