that's so stupid.

now i have to rip the whole seat & stuff off again to put a battery pigtail on.

my 08 won't hardly crank back in the heat down where, i shut it off in traffic the other morning on way to work, and thought i was going to have to walk.

so i reckon i will run a battery tender on it now, too keep it fully charged.


but, it's SO IGNORANT they did not make the cigarette lighter constant HOT so you could just plug the battery tender in there.

sears sells a battery tender with 3 connections:
terminal rings,
battery clamps.
cigarette lighter.

if i leave the cigarette lighter on, i can just swap it from the car to the bike.


anyone got PDF's of the 08 wiring? and i will dig it apart, and change the power wire on the fuse box to a HOT lead.

i have found it's easy enough to fix what the factory did wrong, but thats only because they do SO MUCH wrong on these bikes.

 

Sounds like you may have a bigger problem than hooking up a battery tender. Call me stupid, but coming off shovels to my new '08, don't they come prewired for the tender with a plug back by the trans? Mine did, I assumed it came from the factory that way because every one on the dealer's showroom floor had it. Maybe just the dealer?

04ctd, if you've been ridin' that thing regularly and the charging system is working and the battery good, you shouldn't have to put it on a charger to keep that battery up. Sounds like you may have a bigger issue. I have been in Chicago with real high temps, parade mode kicked in and I pretty much idled for the better part of two hours, listening to that thing thump on one cylinder. The couple times I did shut it off, it fired right back up, only to drop back to one cylinder, so she was plenty hot. I don't think the tender is going to solve this problem, but hey, maybe, what do I know?

 

One dealer I went to told me they wired the bikes for a battery tender. I'm not sure if mine is or not as I've never looked. If it came from the dealer I doubt mine is as you don't get anything you don't pay for from them.

 

The dealer adds the leads, they don't come from the factory wired for the tender.

 

I wired my battery tender jr harness directly across the battery pos & neg terminals. Also wired my cig plug on fairing hot. So the stock HD fairings cig plug isn't wired hot?

 

My RK had the wire, my Heritage didn't. I bought it, installed it, and hid the connector between the seat and the saddlebag. I do agree the wire should be standard or work thru the lighter. Also how about no air pump for the touring bikes with adjustible shocks? I had to buy that also. They're not very adjustible without an air pump. Just seems really chintzy, 20 grand for a bike and you have to add that which should be standard.

 

I agree with Frog13. I am up to my 3rd Harley and never once, had to use the battery tender to charge my battery. And, I live in the Phoenix area! Since yours is an '08, you can still have the dealer double check your charging system and the battery for any issues.

I know that on the older models, you have to use the handlebar kill switch when you shut down your bike (in addition to the ignition switch.) This prevents the battery from leaking through the (handlebar) switch. Not sure if the new ones still doing that.

 

Kahuna and Frog, I am with you, this is my 5th bike, and i always thought battery tenders for rubs.

i figured the extreme heat of the 08 made the starter drag.
reckon my charging system is up to snuff? it mostly sits in traffic around here, i rode it 2 hours straight home from Rock hill. has ~800 miles on it now, but it's spent more time in the dealership (broken fuel gauge - 4 trips) than it has on the road.


i ran the wire on my Road King down the seat hole for the driver backrest, and then the wife could plug in her heated vest (yes, in SC)

and i made a cigarette lighter plug, so that I could plug in the cell phone charger, and drop the cell phone and charger in the side bag.

 

Wow.......20k for a bike, and it doesn't come with a NON-REQUIRED Item. Whoda thunk it.

I would suspect that the reason for the lighter NOT being constantly hot, is there is some tard out there that would try to do a direct jump start thru it, causing a wiring meltdown.

THEN we would be able to read "20K for a bike, and you can't jump it thru the cigarette lighter"

I am thinkin the original poster is having more problems than having to spend 20 minutes of his time wiring in a pigtail. Maybe a bad battery.......

 

Have to second that with Kahuna and Frog. The only time I use my tender is in the winter when I don't ride alot. Believe you have other issues, get it checked out you're still under warranty.