So I go to start after the bikes been on a battery tender for a few months. I turn the key on and all the dash lights are going nuts, I try the start button and it gets worse, so I immediately suspect battery, I check volts and I get 12.3v, so I try again, same result. So I clean all connections including the starter, which none are noticeable dirty. I try again same result, dash lights going off and on like a bad connection. I remove the battery to put on a real charger and I remove the battery top caps and notice battery is bone dry and one of the cells is a burn mark. I'm thinking the tender fried my battery for some reason, maybe cause it was on a 50ft extension cord. So I buy a new lithium battery, very light weight, and install it, I go to start and everything looks normal as far as dash lights and such, turn key on and fuel pump runs, hit start switch and head lights go dim, fuel pump stops and nothing, not even a solenoid click, release button and fuel pump runs for a few seconds and nothing, could I have fried a computer or starter solenoid trying to start with the bad battery or ??? What do ya'll think. new battery is Lithium and reads 13.2v

 

Did you put a charger on the lithium battery ? If so, what charger did you use ? Lithium batteries require a specific type of charger that's different from a regular battery charger.

 

I'm just finding that out, no the new battery shows full charge 13.2v.

 

Try jumping the solenoid from the positive on the starter to see if the starter will engage.

 

check the voltage at the starter lug. Also for voltage to the solenoid lug when attempting to start the bike. another thing to look at is the ground on the starter itself, if the case of the starter where it meets the primary is loose or corroded it could also cause issues. Since the lights are dimming when you attempt to start is sounds as if the solenoid is trying to engage the starter. It could be the plunger in the solenoid is corroded or pitted, or it could be the starter is not getting a good ground where it mounts to the primary case.
You cleaned both ends of the cables and the cables themselves are ok , correct. I understand the battery is new , but you might want to have it load tested also just to make sure you didn't get a bad one.

 

When you say jumping do you mean large pos wire to small wire or just small wire to ground?

 

Pull the small wire from the solenoid and take a jumper from the large positive wire to the pin you pulled the solenoid wire from. Starter should crank the engine.

 

Just jumped it and it works. Now which safety do I check first. Seems weird that everything worked great prior to the battery problem.

 

Unhook the solenoid wire again and hook a volt meter between the wire and ground and turn the bike on and hit the start switch and see if the wire shows 12V.

I like the paint job on the Tank

 

I did and get no volts.
thanks on the tank, they're stickers like the ones we use on the A10 Wart Hog aircraft just smaller.