After the smart tender charges battery fully, My bike will start with no problem. But ride it for a while & try & restart it will not start.
It acts like its battery is dead. I can compress. start it though.
The headlight gets dimmer
any thoughts

 

Very common. Mine does it, too. Just hold the button down, it'll kick over. The battery Harley uses doesn't have enough CCP to crank it when it's hot. I used to have a Chevy that did the same thing; put a little bigger battery in it, problem solved.

 

LOL wait a minute! Your stating that once your bike has been ridden for a while and the engine is warmed up, it wont start? the same thing happens to you too, sail??? Well something aint right. I have a 2 year old bike with the original battery and it fires up hot or cold, hell or high water. Give us some specifics on your bike, like year and model and any electrical mods.

 

By "will not start" do you mean it won't tun over or won't fire?

What the hell does "I can compress. start it though." mean?

Are you still running the original battery? If so, it's time for a new one.

Is the battery charging? Measure the voltage accross the battery at a fast idle. Should be 13.5-14.8 VDC.

 

Sorry didnt notice that you did state your year and model, my bad. Seriously your bike shouldnt act like that. +1 as to what cHarley recommends, check to see if your bike is getting a sufficent charge and putting out enough juice when at a high idle. Might wanna check your battery connections, check for loose fit and any corrosion.

 

Mine is an '05 XL1200R, and from what I can gather on this and other forums, the starter hesitation is very common. It always starts, I just have to hold it for a couple of seconds, then it turns over.

 

Huh? Don't know what you're talkin bout there dude, cause the AGM batt that they put in now are the bees knees. I had an AGM for 4 years on my '92with no batt tender/or charger and it fired the bike every time first time till the stator started taking a ****, and I live where it gets above 105 for two months and down to the 30's in the winter.

 

My 03 duece was doing the same thing. The battery was 4 years old and always on a battery tender. It would start up right away the first time and every time after that it would crank slow. I bought a new battery and no more issues. It's the battery.

 

Mine does the same thing. It will turn over once, pause for an embarassing second, and the fire up. Weird. Guess I need to change the ole battery.

 

+1 on the battery. I am on the second battery with my 05, and it is acting like it needs to be replaced. The first was replaced after 2 years.