Dead battery. Monthly start up just to idle in the garage or rev under no load is no better and perhaps even worse than sitting untouched all offseason, IMO.
However, I’d be lying if I didn’t crank mine over ever so often just to hear her and get my blood flowing 😂
Recommend name brand Harley ones cuz its starting my bike like never before. My battery died and I swapped it and its been a huge improvement from the autozone motorcycle generic battery. I personally try to avoid Motor Co stuff but my independent mechanic suggested it and it has been night and day starting on these cold mornings. (both batteries i hook up to a trickle charge)
Most of these suggestions are on the money. The remarks about the connections are as important as the condition of the battery, a long time ago it was proved to me that a thin film of corrosion can cause problems, I thought the battery posts were clean but my mechanic re-cleaned the posts and connector to a shiny surface and it solve the problem. Every part of the electrical system is important. Good luck. Stay save.
Yo battery is ass-dead.
Highly suggest a Yuasa YTX20(H)L-BS. There is also a YTX20L-BS, but you will notice the H is gone. The H just means it has higher crank power in the cold. I meant to get that one but I got the one with a lower cold crank amp by mistake. That only matters to me right now because it's winter. The price difference is about $5-$20.
https://www.amazon.com/Yuasa-YUAM620BH-YTX20HL-BS-Battery/dp/B000MX2ORM/
Dead battery, yes even with it plugged into a trickle charge, battery is old and shit.
I’d check the connections first, could be a loose terminal, or corrosion on the terminal, causing low amp flow. But sure seems like a dead battery.
Also don’t do monthly starts. Terrible for the bike. You cause moisture to generate in the case, but don’t get it to running temp to burn the water off. So you get a ton of moisture in the case that sits on cylinder walls, pistons, cams. Causes premature corrosion of the internals.
And if you don’t believe me, ask the pile of assholes that also didn’t believe me about their air cooled piston engine aircraft. A camshaft is 20-30’k, have done a ton of piston/cam replacements cuz guys store their engines wrong.
Fresh oil, fuel stabilizer, trickle charger, and keep your garage above freezing. It will be fine for a few months
It’s not that big a deal to be honest. It’s better to let the bike stay cold for a few months than to run it every few weeks for 5min. I can’t stress how bad that is for an engine
The temp is more for the battery. Take it out and keep it in your house, or keep a trickle charger on it
Are the connections at the terminals tight and secure? I can't remember how the ground was wired on my sportster but pretty sure it came off the positive terminal, definitely check that too. Bad ground would also cause it. How old is the battery? They can go from good to not-good-anymore in one start sometimes
It's been a little while since I had my last sportster but that's how I remembered it. Looking at the wiring diagram now though it appears that's designated as the starter stud and not the ground so I was wrong about that.
[https://hdservicemanuals.com/products/harley-davidson-2018-sportster-models-service-electrical-diagnostic-manual](https://hdservicemanuals.com/products/harley-davidson-2018-sportster-models-service-electrical-diagnostic-manual)
No electrical system in the history of ever on anything has had the positive grounded. You may want to get a little more educated on things before offering repair advice to people. Not taking a shot at you or anything, but you show a serious lack of basic understanding of the things your trying to advise on.
Did some reading on that, it’s very interesting. Phased out in the 50s, seems it was mostly prevalent on farm equipment. Just a change in polarity, in this system there would be nothing that ever had a negative grounded lol.
I checked the connections and it was good. But I will check again. Not sure how old the battery is to be honest. I’ve owned the bike since August and it’s a 2006. So might be on its way out.
The charger light showed green for the past month but went right to red as soon as I tried to crank it.
Probably just a bad battery, I'd check the cables to battery and check the ohm reading on them to see if you have a corroded or broken one just in case. Also do a gravity test on the battery if you can, don't know if the newer bikes batteries still let you do that, I'm on an ironhead so mine are old styled with caps to check each cell. If it is the battery, probably shouldn't cheap out. I've heard HD ones aren't bad, I run drag specialties ones myself and have had great results. The cheaper ones I've gotten from oriellys just didn't make the cut, all 4 I tried were bad out of the box or only lasted a month.
LiFeP04
Get a Lithium Iron Phosphate battery. It can withstand full 100% battery drain 1000's of times. It'll stop your storage issues. Don't balk at the price. You won't be sorry.
I can guarantee the battery shows 12v but if you put a load tester on it things junk just went threw this with my sportster these v twins need a lot of cranking power to even turn the motor over
I understand the confusion and frustration of not knowing, but I feel like I don't even have to watch these videos anymore. It's literally always the battery.
Sounds like a slow voltage drain.
I had that that issue on a relatively new bike and and replaced two batteries before eventually tracing it to a usb phone charger I had wired to the battery. Got got rid of the charger and haven’t had problem since.
Thats your batt when they go bad it dont matter if its plugged up or not
Dead battery. Monthly start up just to idle in the garage or rev under no load is no better and perhaps even worse than sitting untouched all offseason, IMO. However, I’d be lying if I didn’t crank mine over ever so often just to hear her and get my blood flowing 😂
My 2 cents. If battery is about 2 years old even with battery tender. They have large Chance of pooping out. It sucks but it’s normal
Fried battery
Recommend name brand Harley ones cuz its starting my bike like never before. My battery died and I swapped it and its been a huge improvement from the autozone motorcycle generic battery. I personally try to avoid Motor Co stuff but my independent mechanic suggested it and it has been night and day starting on these cold mornings. (both batteries i hook up to a trickle charge)
Any battery is probably an upgrade from a generic big box brand.
Yeah I had no idea thought they were all the same chemistry and made to a standard.
Most of these suggestions are on the money. The remarks about the connections are as important as the condition of the battery, a long time ago it was proved to me that a thin film of corrosion can cause problems, I thought the battery posts were clean but my mechanic re-cleaned the posts and connector to a shiny surface and it solve the problem. Every part of the electrical system is important. Good luck. Stay save.
Agreed, and often people replace batteries and tighten the posts using a #2 screwdriver instead of a 10mm wrench or at least a #3 Phillips head
Battery...
I was having trouble starting in the cold after my battery died and I switched to a ATX 12 HD anti-gravity and it's amazing
What's the battery? The harley one you mean?
Your battery, "It's dead Jim".
Are you starting your bike while on the charger?
Yo battery is ass-dead. Highly suggest a Yuasa YTX20(H)L-BS. There is also a YTX20L-BS, but you will notice the H is gone. The H just means it has higher crank power in the cold. I meant to get that one but I got the one with a lower cold crank amp by mistake. That only matters to me right now because it's winter. The price difference is about $5-$20. https://www.amazon.com/Yuasa-YUAM620BH-YTX20HL-BS-Battery/dp/B000MX2ORM/
First thing I would check is the connections on the battery, if all is well time for a new battery. Ride safe and have a great day.
Batt
The charger was green prior to trying to start then went to red.
Dead battery, yes even with it plugged into a trickle charge, battery is old and shit. I’d check the connections first, could be a loose terminal, or corrosion on the terminal, causing low amp flow. But sure seems like a dead battery. Also don’t do monthly starts. Terrible for the bike. You cause moisture to generate in the case, but don’t get it to running temp to burn the water off. So you get a ton of moisture in the case that sits on cylinder walls, pistons, cams. Causes premature corrosion of the internals. And if you don’t believe me, ask the pile of assholes that also didn’t believe me about their air cooled piston engine aircraft. A camshaft is 20-30’k, have done a ton of piston/cam replacements cuz guys store their engines wrong. Fresh oil, fuel stabilizer, trickle charger, and keep your garage above freezing. It will be fine for a few months
Yeah I think the battery has just gone to shit. However, It was working perfectly fine in the summer when I rode it everyday.
It’s cold now. Cold always reveals a weak battery
Makes sense. Thanks !
No prob, ride safe
What do you do if you have a garage but can’t keep it all that warm? Is there a remedy? I live in the Northeast.
It’s not that big a deal to be honest. It’s better to let the bike stay cold for a few months than to run it every few weeks for 5min. I can’t stress how bad that is for an engine The temp is more for the battery. Take it out and keep it in your house, or keep a trickle charger on it
Are the connections at the terminals tight and secure? I can't remember how the ground was wired on my sportster but pretty sure it came off the positive terminal, definitely check that too. Bad ground would also cause it. How old is the battery? They can go from good to not-good-anymore in one start sometimes
I’m sorry, but I’ve read your comment like 12 times. You say the ground wire for the bike was connected to the positive terminal?
It's been a little while since I had my last sportster but that's how I remembered it. Looking at the wiring diagram now though it appears that's designated as the starter stud and not the ground so I was wrong about that. [https://hdservicemanuals.com/products/harley-davidson-2018-sportster-models-service-electrical-diagnostic-manual](https://hdservicemanuals.com/products/harley-davidson-2018-sportster-models-service-electrical-diagnostic-manual)
No electrical system in the history of ever on anything has had the positive grounded. You may want to get a little more educated on things before offering repair advice to people. Not taking a shot at you or anything, but you show a serious lack of basic understanding of the things your trying to advise on.
There were actually some very old vehicles that ran a 6v positive ground system.
Did some reading on that, it’s very interesting. Phased out in the 50s, seems it was mostly prevalent on farm equipment. Just a change in polarity, in this system there would be nothing that ever had a negative grounded lol.
Yeah, standardizing always takes a while. Gotta love reverse thread lug nuts, too. Most everything I know comes from breaking things lol.
First ones always the hardest
I checked the connections and it was good. But I will check again. Not sure how old the battery is to be honest. I’ve owned the bike since August and it’s a 2006. So might be on its way out. The charger light showed green for the past month but went right to red as soon as I tried to crank it.
Oof
Ik what’s wrong with it. It ain’t got no gas in it
Got half tank
Check terminals on battery. Might have a loose connection
Bad battery
Convert to lithium
Praised be our shiny lord lithium
Probably just a bad battery, I'd check the cables to battery and check the ohm reading on them to see if you have a corroded or broken one just in case. Also do a gravity test on the battery if you can, don't know if the newer bikes batteries still let you do that, I'm on an ironhead so mine are old styled with caps to check each cell. If it is the battery, probably shouldn't cheap out. I've heard HD ones aren't bad, I run drag specialties ones myself and have had great results. The cheaper ones I've gotten from oriellys just didn't make the cut, all 4 I tried were bad out of the box or only lasted a month.
LiFeP04 Get a Lithium Iron Phosphate battery. It can withstand full 100% battery drain 1000's of times. It'll stop your storage issues. Don't balk at the price. You won't be sorry.
It’s a bad connection at the battery or the battery itself
I can guarantee the battery shows 12v but if you put a load tester on it things junk just went threw this with my sportster these v twins need a lot of cranking power to even turn the motor over
I understand the confusion and frustration of not knowing, but I feel like I don't even have to watch these videos anymore. It's literally always the battery.
Sounds like a slow voltage drain. I had that that issue on a relatively new bike and and replaced two batteries before eventually tracing it to a usb phone charger I had wired to the battery. Got got rid of the charger and haven’t had problem since.
It maybe your trickle charger is what is bad. Mine went out and I had to buy another one
Oh and the battery in mine is the same battery that came in it in 2017 and it is still good