Howdy Guys,

I just got my savage a couple of months ago,  I accidentally left it out uncovered in the rain a couple nights ago and have a newfound electrical problem.

So heres the deal.  It used to run fine.  A couple days ago in the morning, it bumped one time before starting.  Then I rode it to school and it was dead.  So I played around with it for a while but failed to get it to go.  So I went home and got my jumper cables and jumped it.  

IT ran fine.  I charged it, and then it started up fine the next morning(yesterday).  I took it off charger to see if it would hold charge but this morning it was dead.  So I charged it for a while, still dead
I just jumped it, but once I disconnected the jumper cables it died after idling for ~10 seconds.

Now I've been charging it now, but it is still dead.

My thoughts (possible garbage warning):  The battery is new, but is still a possible source for the problem.  Here's the interesting part and why I think it is not the battery.

With the key in the off position, my battery tender battery charger ( as well as my volt-meter) read the battery as present and fully charged.  When I turn the key to run or to park the bike immediately goes totally dead.  And!  the battery charger thinks there is no battery present.

It could be the battery, but I doubt it.  Unfortunately I am not sure how to load-test a battery without using the motorcycle as the load...

I imagine there is a slow voltage leak of some kind, but I am not sure if this is right.  Any ideas?

"Battery is new" ....  but what brand or where did you get it?

  I had a Wally mart (Chinese) battery that lasted about 10 months and developed a bad cell.   With no load it read fine.  Put a load on it and it went BLAH.

Check grounds, check terminal connections, hit th horn, if its weak ( well,, you know,, weaker than the anemic little horn IS even with a good battery), look at the headlight at nite. yellow or white lite?
Heck, put a charger on it & avoid some guesswork?? A charger w/o a  meter is useless for figuring things out. Dont get one that just has a lite.
You may want to pull the plug & make sure everything spins  nicely. Blow the dirt & crap out of the plug area first. Avoid letting it fall in the cylinder.

its always the small overlooked things that come back and bite you in the ass!