2018 Indian Chieftain Battery Problem

Question

I have a new 2018 Indian Chieftain. I have had it for 2 weeks. I rode it for a week and did not have any issues. I went away for 1 week and the battery is now dead. I tried to attach a battery charger to the pigtail on the bike, on the advice of my Indian dealer, it just blinks a warning light telling me that the battery is bad. Has anyone else experienced anything like this on their new Indians?

Horn 6 years 26 Answers 5133 views 0

Answers ( 26 )

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    It’s been pretty common.

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      Did it happen to your bike? If so did you just get a new battery from the dealer?

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    Check your connections at tha battery for tightness. If I snug up then plug in your tender

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      Thanks for the reply. I removed the seat and tried connecting directly to the battery with the tender. The tender still read that the battery was bad.

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      Take the battery to the dealer they should test it ,if bad they replace it.

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    Mine 2017 Roadmaster has been back to the dealer more than its been on the road.. Its no back to the dealer again for 4 weeks… Bad wiring everywhere… Still have my 2014 Classic. Lots of issues on that also, but everything its fixed. Exept the rust.. No paint inside the fenders

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    A trickle charger will not charge a dead battery, use a regular charger to get it up then the trickle charger to maintain when not in use

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      Thanks for the rely. Do you have a suggestion about a model of a charger to buy?

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      If you have to put your batteri on a maintain-charger after only a week or to, then its something wrong with the bike.

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      Horn I just bought a big one from a farm store, will charge 6 or 12 volt from 2amp to 200amp will work on anything. I think it was around 150 bucks

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      Make sure you don’t leave your key fob in the saddlebag because it communicates constantly with the bike and can drain your battery

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      Indian battery tender is 5 amp and will charge from dead.

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      John Anderson The fob does not talk to bike untill power is turned on. That is a miss conception. Mine never leaves the trunk in winter and is just fine come spring.

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    Check the aux fuse in your fuse box. It’s a 15 amp pretty sure it’s the bottom left. If it’s blown it won’t charge through the pigtail. Depending on how dead the battery is and what kind of charger you have it may comeback up. Dealer may not have put a full charge on it intially

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    Take the battery out of the bike on a bench, connect another 12 volt battery via jumper cables etc. Then connect the maintainer charger. It can take several days to come back. I saved A very expensive Optima yellow top car battery that way. A damn bodyshop killed my 2 month old battery.

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    As another poster said battery maintainer chargers can’t charge a dead battery. Not enough voltage to tell the charger to turn on. So it thinks the battery is faulty or not connected right.

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    Check this out
    optimabatteries.com/en-us/support/charging/resuscitate-deeply-discharged-battery

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    Autozone has the black chargers in the store. In the menu there is a function for AGM batteries. Most of the window lickers won’t know that though.

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    No issues with my 2017 chieftain purchased in June. Presently have 13,000kms.

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    Dude …… you’ve had the bike for two weeks …… take it back to the dealer!

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      Agree…a phone call is all I would do…the dealer should be the only one touching your 2 week old bike.

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    When I bought my brand new Goldwing (2013 leftover model) in August 2016 it lasted about a month and a half before the Yuasa AGM 20 battery shorted internally. I think the dealer did a crap job keeping their batteries maintained. But Honda warranty replaced it no questions asked. I had never seen a dealer or brand do that for a battery before. Usually your out of luck at many places. My bike didn’t start like it should until I got the second battery. Been great ever since. If sits more than two weeks it gets plugged in though.

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    Take it to the dealer if the fob wasn’t in the bike.. We have a 17 Dark Horse we bought in May and it keeps stalling out. A few other issues have had us bring it in as well.. think the kinks weren’t all worked out on these but the dealer is always great about it .

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    Be sure to check your charger’s specs/instructions – when mine blinks it means it’s not connected properly to the battery, not that the battery itself is bad. This could be caused by any number of issues that have nothing to do with the actual battery. (YMMV of course – I’m sure all chargers are different to some extent.)

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    Yes I brought my brand-new Elite 10 weeks ago. Within the first two weeks the dealership had to replace the battery.

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    I just bought a 2018 Chieftain also. I brought the bike home and it sat for 4 days because of bad weather. On the 5th day, I went to ride it and it was DEAD as a door nail. I charged the battery and took it right back to the dealer. They gave me a new battery. 3 days later, I went on a 400 mile ride to finish up the break-in. It sat for two weeks in my garage. I went to turn it on to ride it in for the initial service and it was DEAD as a door nail – AGAIN. I recharged the (2 1/2-week old) battery and took it in today. Here is what the dealership is telling me, “POLARIS SAID THAT IF YOU LOCK OR UNLOCK THE SADDLEBAGS AFTER THE UNIT IS POWERED OFF IT WILL WAKE THE ECU BACK UP AND DRAIN THE BATTERY IN ABOUT THREE DAYS. TO GET THE UNIT FULLY POWERED BACK OFF YOU HAVE TO TURN THE UNIT ON AND OFF AGAIN.” That is written on my service statement. The service department also said the Polaris is aware of the problem, but they have no solution for it yet.

    Best answer

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