Weird electrical problem, '96 R1100RT

Guys,

I fit a new HID kit to the bike, it was working fine, rode it several times to/from work, then one day I went to ride home and it wouldn't turn over. It was like it had a flat battery.

Disconnected the HID stuff, ended up getting a jump and was able to start it, but it would stall easily, had to leave the choke on to stop it from stalling. Rode it home.

Since that day, I've not been able to get it to start. Symptoms are that the battery is fully charged (checked with meter) the clock works, then when I turn the key, the lamps come on really really dim and then fade out and the clock gets reset.

Tried a new battery, it didn't fix it.

I unplugged the ABS relay and the dash lights are bright, but the load dump relay clicks in increasingly rapid succession until it starts buzzing. Bike will not start regardless. I've unplugged all of the HID wiring that I added.

I will trailer it to my new place so I can pull it apart, but was hoping some of you had seen this before and might give me something simple I can check.

Feeling like I bit off more than I can chew with this bike :-( It's such a bitch to work on. Why do I need to take off all the plastics and lift the tank just to get to the damn battery terminals?! Ugh, horrible design.

Afternoon matjam

Your problem points to a low or failed battery OR a poor (high resistance) connection in one of the cables.

If you are sure that the new battery was fully charged & not defective then possibly a battery cable connection issue or ???

First thing to try is jumping it from your car battery (if it then starts OK then you know where to look)

Just because your meter shows good voltage doesn't tell you much as that is open circuit voltage & most (even a bad battery or low battery will show good at no load)-- What is the battery voltage while trying to crank engine. That will tell the story.

The symptoms also sound like starter magnets or starter gear cover have jammed the starter.

Thanks guys;

I did fully charge the new battery on a known good charger, and the old battery was good I thought, it showed no problems before then. it was very sudden. Usually when the battery is on the way out I'd expect it would have trouble starting a few times, but no forewarning.

I just got the bike moved to the new house, so I'll take off all the crap and see if I can't nail it down. Thanks for the suggestions.

Will post back once I've got better access to everything.

Keep us posted. We have some good folks in the area that might be able to help.