Hope you all had a great father's day! I got in a real nice all day ride on Saturday, and figured I'd jump on the bike for a quick one hour ride this morning before guests arrived for the father's day bbq.

Anyhow, roll it out of the garage, only to hear the dreaded click, click, click (real fast clicks like a woodpecker) when pushing the starter button. My brother and I feel it's probably the starter or solenoid. Sound right?

Also, could it be the battery? Headlights come on strong, but it's 3 years old and even though the tender shows"green", past experience has taught me not to believe the tender.

Thanks.

 

Any of those could be the problem. Id check the battery first, the easiest thing to change.

 

You were right. Battery was just shy of 3 years and took a dump.

Now for a little rant:

I know most everyone recommends a tender, but I'm starting to question whether there is any benefit to using one.

This battery was hooked up religiously to the battery tender. It always showed "green" indicating that the battery was fully charged.

This is the second time (2 different battery's on 2 seperate tenders) that a healthy charged battery was indicated, but in reality it wasn't. I'm thinking seriously of tossing the tender in the garbage.

Anyone else have similar experiences?

 

i have a tender but only use it when the battery is low. some say that batteries wont develop a memory, but ever battery i have ever delt with the more you charge it the weaker it gets.

 

Back in olden times, there was no such thing as a tender, just a charger. Every spring I had to replace my battery on my Iron Head. Fast foward to 08 and my purchase of a new SB. With a tender I got 2.5 years out of my battery, would have gotten longer if it were not for the dreaded left turning SUV. My current ride has a new battery as the original owner did not use a tender and had to replace it. IMO The tender is definitely worth the money. Never had an issues starting the bike in the cold months at all. Bike batteries do not last as long as a car battery as they take much more abuse due to the vibes. Also if your charging system is not up to speed the battery will not being properly charged as you ride, and might actually become discharged or it could be damaged due to over charging if the voltage regulator is bad. Your problem is most likely isolated to the battery but there could be some underlining issues causing the battery to fail prematurely. If you feel that the battery should have lasted longer you might want to check out your charging system to ensure it is working as it should.

 

Agree 100%

Never tendered mine. At 15,500 miles and almost 3 years.

 

Hey bigdaddy I've got a suggestion for you. Kuryakyn has a little LED voltage monitor that indicates what voltage your charging /electrical system is delivering. If you still have the stock stator/charging system it's pretty anemic below 2200 rpms (13.2-13.4v). If you haven't already done so clean all the connections to the battery, stator plug and the connections at the main relay. This should help getting all the juice to the battery. For good reading google Deltran battery chargers. The wrong charger on a AGM battery does more harm than good. Good luck. By the way, we had some rain on Dad's day.

 

Say what you want but I have 5 years on my battery and it's been on a tender, whenever it's in the garage, for 4 years now.