Battery tender charger hook up

I bought one of those battery tender/chargers just like the one from Dratv here: 6V BATTERY TENDER JR BATTERY CHARGER
because I believe my battery is probably dead from sitting for a few months, (and this may be dumb) but I can't figure out how to hook it up. I'm using the alligator clips it came with and I've tried out & in the bike connections and nothing happens when I plug it in (no light comes on, on the charger).

What am I doing wrong? I must not be clipping in the right place?

In the bike, I clip one end to the negative blue wire & the pos end the where it's grounded to the chassis.

Out of the bike, I just clip them to the pos/neg wires, although they don't stay clipped very well to the little metal ends from the battery wire. Am I missing a piece?
 

XSIVE

Member
The wire that goes to ground should be connected to the negative wire lead from the battery charger. Red wire is positive. You may be hooking it up backwards. The battery should be marked to show you neg and pos terminals. I always charge mine out of the bike. You need to make sure you remove the battery cell caps from the top of the battery and check the acid level. Add distilled water if it is low. If it is dry, the battery may be bad. As the battery charges, the acid can bubble out of the open battery and get on your paint if you charge it in your bike. Not a good thing. Once charged, make sure you replace the battery cell caps.
 
In the bike, the red wire goes to a fuse and a blue wire, which connects to the battery wire on the negative side, then goes down into other wiring....

I tried just clamping the neg alligator clip to the neg wire coming off the battery, and the pos wire clipped to pos wire from battery, still nothing.
 

XSIVE

Member
Check the fuse in the red wire and see if its good. If thats not it, and the battery looks questionable, for as little as $15 you can replace it.
 
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