Not charging with Battery Tender

[wavery]

I'm new to the Girly world and I don't know if this is related.  The short story: when I hook up a Battery Tender to my 2005 Girly, it indicates that it is NOT charging (blinking red light).

The background: bought the bike last September and charging problems were evident on the ride home.  The battery died and I barely made it back to the shop on the return trip before the whole system went.  They spent a half day 'fixing' the charging system and I haven't had a problem since. Now with the cold weather, I'm trying to keep a Battery Tender connected to the battery but it just gives me the blinking red light.   I've tried connecting with the adapter and directly to the terminals with the same result.

Is this a common problem or related to the Section topic? 

Thanks for any insight!

[Bixxer Bob]

Not heard of this before, but the first thing I would check is polarity.  The tenders won't allow reverse connections.  I'm not accusing you of being an idiot, just that there way be something amiss with the tender wiring or hook-up leads. 

If it's not that, take the battery off the bike and try on the bench.  If it still won't charge, either the battery or the tender is toast.

If your battery is in any way suspect, and especially if its more than three years old, stretching it out is false economy, you risk damage to the charging circuitry, in some cases the starter clutch, and corrupting the fuel map in the ECU - which is fixable but needs some computer skills.  If there's any doubt bite the bullet and buy a new one.  Batteries are not expensive these days so it's simply not worth the risk to the other systems.

[wavery]

Not heard of this before, but the first thing I would check is polarity.  The tenders won't allow reverse connections.  I'm not accusing you of being an idiot, just that there way be something amiss with the tender wiring or hook-up leads. 

If it's not that, take the battery off the bike and try on the bench.  If it still won't charge, either the battery or the tender is toast.

If your battery is in any way suspect, and especially if its more than three years old, stretching it out is false economy, you risk damage to the charging circuitry, in some cases the starter clutch, and corrupting the fuel map in the ECU - which is fixable but needs some computer skills.  If there's any doubt bite the bullet and buy a new one.  Batteries are not expensive these days so it's simply not worth the risk to the other systems.

Thanks for the input.  I should have added that both the battery and the Tender are relatively new.  And I've tried it with the another Tender I own with the same results.  Already checked the polarity.  To the bench we go.  Thanks again!

[KuzzinKenny]

Hey wavery !! are you connectin the tender directly to the battery posts or the cable ends ? you might have a bad connection to the battery and thats why its not chargin in the first place 

also try chargin a different battery to rule out a duff tender 

good luck

KK

[benebob]

What is the voltage of the battery.  If it is too low it won't charge as it doesn't sense a battery there.