Good afternoon:

I have 09 1200 Roadster and recently my battery lost its charge due to the cold weather. I took it back to the where I bought it and they charged it up for me again, the battery was only 3 months old.

Now, when I connect the battery the lights come on but it makes a clicking sound and does not start. I figured it was the battery since this is what happened when my last battery died. I took it back to the battery store and they told me the battery is fine and that it could be the ground cable. Now, on this model getting to the ground cable is easier said than done, anyone have any advice how I can check to see if this is indeed the issue?

Thanks,

Floyd

 

the same thing you're going through happened to me at the end of last season. i actually went to the harley shop and bought a new battery put it in and problem solved. went to get on my bike the next day and it was dead... AGAIN! at that point i was really frustrated. batteries aren't cheap. so i called the dealer and they told me to bring it up, so i loaded it up in my truck and away i went. turns out all it was were the fuses. they had some corrosion on them. i didn't even think to look at the fuses! could've save gas money and 25 bucks at the stealers. they cleaned them up and i haven't had the problem since. so maybe try that? they are located by the battery. take em out and clean em up even if they look fine. ya never know. as for the ground cable. mine was tight, it's jsut one of those things.

 

I'd just hooked up a second ground cable somewhere closeby and verify it's actually your ground cable ???

 

You have enough juice for the lights but not enough to crank the engine. Check that your cables are tight, charge the battery and if that don't work buy a new battery.

 

I will check the cables tomorrow and see if I can find the fuses. The one negative thing about this model is that there is very little room to work in. And if I can avoid it, I want to stay away from the dealership.

The battery is fully charged so there must be something I touched when I took the battery out.

Thank you all for your advice.

Floyd

 

If you shorted the positive post to ground, you probably blew a fuse.

 

Any time you have a problem, always check the simple things first. The fuse, both ends of both the pos and neg cables.

Spend the $21 dollars at Walmart for the Schumacker 1.5 amp battery maintainer and use it 24/7. You can get 8 years or more out of your battery that way.

 

Not sure about an 09 but my 06 Sporty had a grounding strap underneath the frame runined a battery before realized it was the problem ..

 

What's your warrty. I just purchased a 2010 and the warrty is 2yrs. Sounds like the battery you purchased (if it was needed may have been a warrty repair) i'd check the warrty coverage before doing anything to your bike. And i just have to asked based on this question. Do you know what you are doing? Do you have a manual? Multi-meter may help......how about another shop dealer or independent....may be the best thing.

 

The clicking sound is the sound of your battery not having enough charge to turn over the engine. It has enough to turn on some electrics but that's it. Charge up the battery and see if it holds a charge. If it doesn't, you need to test the alternator output, as that might be the issue. If it isn't, the battery is toast.