Does anyone have any thoughts as to what is causing this problem?

When I went to start my Vision this evening to come home from work the lights came on and all seemed to be normal when I turned on the key but when I hit the starter button I could hear a small pop sound like sparks. The lights when dead and the power windshield automatically went all the way up.

I checked all the connections to the battery and they were tight but everything acted like the battery was dead. I got a battery charger from the security guard and connected it to the battery. When I turned the key on everything lit up like it should and the bike started effortlessly. I disconnected the positive charger clap from the battery and the bike was running fine but when I disconnected the negative charger clap from the battery the bike died and all the lights went dead and the windshield automatically goes all the way up.

So I connected only the negative battery charger clap to the negative battery terminal and turned the battery charger on but did not connect the positive charger clap to the battery. I turned the key on and the lights came on like they should but when I hit the starter button there was a pop sound and the security guard said there where sparks that came out somewhere by the battery area. The lights went dead and the windshield automatically went all the way up.

I called my dealer after 6:00 PM after all the techs had left for the day but they said they would pick up the bike first thing in the morning and fix it right away. Have I ever said how much I appreciated Strokers of Dallas my dealer? I am sure it will be a warranty issue but it is puzzling to me what is causing this. Thanks in advance for your ideas.

varyder - 2008-10-16 9:03 PM One idea is did you check that little tender wire that is hooked to the battery? It could have worn through and is shorting out. Other than that, I have no ideer. Hope you get it fixed soon.

That is an excellent idea Varyder. I did wiggle these wires and pulled them up out of the tray area by the battery but I will check them out more closely in the morning. Thanks,

Thanks for all the ideas team.

Here is an update. The first thing I checked on when I got to the bike this morning was the pigtail connected to the battery terminals to connect a charger too that Varyder suggested might be a source of the problem. I pulled all the wiring for the connector out of the cowling and everything looked fine but I noticed the rubber cap was almost ready to fall off at the end and the metal ground connector was partly exposed. I put the rubber cap all the way on and tucked it back in the cowling.

I turned the key on and all the lights came on as normal so I tried to start the bike and she fired right up. So it seems the problem was the ground port of the pigtail was exposed enough to cause a ground problem when you turned the key on and arced with the cowling when you tried to start the bike.

So after 22,600 miles I thought I finally had an issue with the Vision but I was wrong. My Vision proved to be rock solid again. It also appears the Vision engineers designed the windshield to automatically rise all the way up in the event of an electrical problem so you will have easy access to the fuse boxes.

pollolittle - 2008-10-18 4:35 PM I will immediately go out and check my "connections" they feel a little loose and I'm not even near my bike.

Me think it is the connections between the ears you're feeling loose there hickchickpoco.

divesharc - 2008-10-16 9:25 PM That sounds exactly like there is a ground problem. Most likely, a shorted wire, or two wires touching and grounding out. The reason that it may have worked while the tender was on was that the tender was acting as the ground, and taking your bad ground out of the loop, as electricity follows the path of least resistance. I think once you, or the dealer, look at it, they are going to find a frayed wire, or a wire that the shield has been stripped off. At least, that's what it sounds like to me. Especially with the sparks and the windshield. I had a Pontiac Bonneville that had a bad ground and every time you turned the car off or on the driver's side window would roll down on it's own and not want to go up. Never traced it down, but took the door apart and unhooked everything and it never did it again. Hopefully the dealer will have someone who is good with electronics and testing continuity. Good luck. Please post what they find in case this happens to someone else, I'd be curious to know and hopefully I can do a little preventitive care to avoid it.

+1!