I bought the Schumacher battery tender at Walmart for $21 everyone has been talking about. Made sense - I saved $19 vs buying from HD - duh!

My battery is original (2006) and was pretty much dead and I jumped the bike off my truck on Saturday to go for a ride. Once it's being used, it starts fine. I'm not sure if I was too late on buying the tender or not - to save this battery. There are 4 lights on the tender. Top light is AC POWER (RED), next one down is CONNECTED (RED), next one down is CHARGING (YELLOW), and bottom is CHARGED (GREEN).

I have the aligator clips hooked up. Red to battery, black to a footpeg bare metal ground. When I first hooked it up it was 'charging' and then it should switch to 'maintain' after a little and juice it as needed. But for some reason after it's charged, the CONNECTED (RED) light flashes. The manual says it's in 'maintain' mode when the green light is lit. I'm confused. Anyone have this model tender that can help?

 

I know some chargers/tenders will have a flashing light to indicate that the battery is bad. Does the manual say anything about that? Or it could indicate a faulty connection.

 

I'm pretty sure it flashes when there's a problem with your connection or your battery. Mine flashes if I start the bike up before I unplug it. On my actual battery charger, that would be a sign that your battery is shot...dead cell or something. You can still use the tender to maintain a dying battery, but it's just a matter of time. Go to HD and have them test it. They run it through to check CCA, output and other cycles to check the internal cells.

 

Check your ground; the foot peg may not be a good enough ground. The bikes negative cable connects just forward of the battery on the frame.

 

+1 on negative connection you, have to go to battery. Your not jump starting it, your trickle charging it.
Not sure on flashing red light though.

 

I'm totally shocked that a bare metal ground would not be adequate. Interesting....

 

Off topic, but if it is not too late to return it, you can get the BT from Pep Boys for $25... the actual BT Deltron brand. Don't ever buy from the stealership, they have a HUGE markup!

 

Personally I would use the pigtail that attaches directly to the the battery terminals over the alligator clips. Much better connection. And also, once attached, you don't have to take the battery cover off to hook it up.

Sounds like the connection isn't as good as it needs.

 

A bare metal ground is fine, but unless the footpeg is bolted on, instead of pinned then the ground could be intermittent.

In general, any ground is a good ground.