Battery question
Road Master
Joined: Sep 2015
Posts: 1,168
Likes: 79
From: so cal
Thanks for the replies folks. Lot of good information there.
I got to thinking about the tender like y'all said. I'll try to check and see how high of a voltage it floats at. I remember decades ago I worked in a battery charger manufacturing plant. That was before the phrase "battery tender" was coined. They used to call them float chargers. Anyhow the engineers always tested the daylights out of every design with the customer's battery packs because they said it was critical that the chargers not float at too high of a voltage. They said it would greatly shorten the life of the battery.
The funny thing is back when I bought the Harley battery I was having trouble with starting the bike hot. On another forum everyone swore that my battery was the problem even though I told them I could hear the compensator sprocket clunking in the primary and the starter clutch screech when the comp kicked back due to it's slop. I think I replaced the Interstate battery that was in there to see if the Harley battery would magically repair the worn out comp and starter clutch. Lo and behold it didn't. To solve my hot start issues I had to replace the comp AND the starter drive. Once I did that all starting problems went away.
Soooo.... Last night I put that Interstate battery back in which hadn't been on a charger for over a month and the bike fired right up. So now what I'll do is try to stay off the bike for a few days to make sure something isn't periodically draining the battery. I don't think that is the case though because after sitting for a while the at rest voltage of that Interstate battery was noticeably higher than the Harley one. I think what I may do is get one of those tender leads that has the LED on it that flashes when the battery gets low. That way I will only plug a tender up when the battery actually needs a charge.
Y'all let me know if I am going about this wrong.
With all that in the works (keeping in mind I am not going down the Lithium road) what are some of y'all favorite brands for AGM batteries?
Thanks again for the help.
I got to thinking about the tender like y'all said. I'll try to check and see how high of a voltage it floats at. I remember decades ago I worked in a battery charger manufacturing plant. That was before the phrase "battery tender" was coined. They used to call them float chargers. Anyhow the engineers always tested the daylights out of every design with the customer's battery packs because they said it was critical that the chargers not float at too high of a voltage. They said it would greatly shorten the life of the battery.
The funny thing is back when I bought the Harley battery I was having trouble with starting the bike hot. On another forum everyone swore that my battery was the problem even though I told them I could hear the compensator sprocket clunking in the primary and the starter clutch screech when the comp kicked back due to it's slop. I think I replaced the Interstate battery that was in there to see if the Harley battery would magically repair the worn out comp and starter clutch. Lo and behold it didn't. To solve my hot start issues I had to replace the comp AND the starter drive. Once I did that all starting problems went away.
Soooo.... Last night I put that Interstate battery back in which hadn't been on a charger for over a month and the bike fired right up. So now what I'll do is try to stay off the bike for a few days to make sure something isn't periodically draining the battery. I don't think that is the case though because after sitting for a while the at rest voltage of that Interstate battery was noticeably higher than the Harley one. I think what I may do is get one of those tender leads that has the LED on it that flashes when the battery gets low. That way I will only plug a tender up when the battery actually needs a charge.
Y'all let me know if I am going about this wrong.
With all that in the works (keeping in mind I am not going down the Lithium road) what are some of y'all favorite brands for AGM batteries?
Thanks again for the help.
Road Master
Joined: Sep 2015
Posts: 1,168
Likes: 79
From: so cal
i understand that. I know others dont want to spend the cash for the more expensive one and went with the cheaper Antigravity lithium. I havent heard of any reviews though.
Thread Starter
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Grand HDF Member
Joined: Sep 2017
Posts: 3,613
Likes: 867
From: Southern Virginia
In looking around at AGM batteries I seem to be seeing two CCA ratings. Around 385 to 400 and for a few dollars more lots of companies list 500 CCA units.
I looked at a Drag Specialties premium battery rated at 500 CCA and found out in the reviews that Yuasa makes it for them. I tracked down that part number through Battery Mart and found it there for $179.95 with free shipping.
USA-Made Motocross Platinum GYZ32HL AGM Maintenance Free Powersports Battery
That's the same cost as the Harley 400 CCA battery. Seems to have good reviews, if the Interstate unit I put back in there flakes out any time soon I might try one.
On a side note I checked the float voltages on the two battery tenders I use. On my old Wide Glide I have a Harley branded unit and it floats at 13.1 volts. The Shumacher that I always had plugged up to the Geezer Glide had a float voltage of only 12.5 volts. I wonder if the Shumacher just charged the battery and shut off without maintaining it? When I unplugged the Shumacher after it said the battery was charged and plugged up the Harley unit it went straight into charge mode. The funny thing is if the battery was low the Shumacher would charge it up real quick every time.
I looked at a Drag Specialties premium battery rated at 500 CCA and found out in the reviews that Yuasa makes it for them. I tracked down that part number through Battery Mart and found it there for $179.95 with free shipping.
USA-Made Motocross Platinum GYZ32HL AGM Maintenance Free Powersports Battery
That's the same cost as the Harley 400 CCA battery. Seems to have good reviews, if the Interstate unit I put back in there flakes out any time soon I might try one.
On a side note I checked the float voltages on the two battery tenders I use. On my old Wide Glide I have a Harley branded unit and it floats at 13.1 volts. The Shumacher that I always had plugged up to the Geezer Glide had a float voltage of only 12.5 volts. I wonder if the Shumacher just charged the battery and shut off without maintaining it? When I unplugged the Shumacher after it said the battery was charged and plugged up the Harley unit it went straight into charge mode. The funny thing is if the battery was low the Shumacher would charge it up real quick every time.
Road Warrior
Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 1,934
Likes: 721
From: Ontario, Canada
In looking around at AGM batteries I seem to be seeing two CCA ratings. Around 385 to 400 and for a few dollars more lots of companies list 500 CCA units.
I looked at a Drag Specialties premium battery rated at 500 CCA and found out in the reviews that Yuasa makes it for them.
I looked at a Drag Specialties premium battery rated at 500 CCA and found out in the reviews that Yuasa makes it for them.
https://www.denniskirk.com/drag-spec...prd/200849.sku
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 2,482
Likes: 239
From: Minnesota
In looking around at AGM batteries I seem to be seeing two CCA ratings. Around 385 to 400 and for a few dollars more lots of companies list 500 CCA units.
I looked at a Drag Specialties premium battery rated at 500 CCA and found out in the reviews that Yuasa makes it for them. I tracked down that part number through Battery Mart and found it there for $179.95 with free shipping.
USA-Made Motocross Platinum GYZ32HL AGM Maintenance Free Powersports Battery
That's the same cost as the Harley 400 CCA battery. Seems to have good reviews, if the Interstate unit I put back in there flakes out any time soon I might try one.
On a side note I checked the float voltages on the two battery tenders I use. On my old Wide Glide I have a Harley branded unit and it floats at 13.1 volts. The Shumacher that I always had plugged up to the Geezer Glide had a float voltage of only 12.5 volts. I wonder if the Shumacher just charged the battery and shut off without maintaining it? When I unplugged the Shumacher after it said the battery was charged and plugged up the Harley unit it went straight into charge mode. The funny thing is if the battery was low the Shumacher would charge it up real quick every time.
I looked at a Drag Specialties premium battery rated at 500 CCA and found out in the reviews that Yuasa makes it for them. I tracked down that part number through Battery Mart and found it there for $179.95 with free shipping.
USA-Made Motocross Platinum GYZ32HL AGM Maintenance Free Powersports Battery
That's the same cost as the Harley 400 CCA battery. Seems to have good reviews, if the Interstate unit I put back in there flakes out any time soon I might try one.
On a side note I checked the float voltages on the two battery tenders I use. On my old Wide Glide I have a Harley branded unit and it floats at 13.1 volts. The Shumacher that I always had plugged up to the Geezer Glide had a float voltage of only 12.5 volts. I wonder if the Shumacher just charged the battery and shut off without maintaining it? When I unplugged the Shumacher after it said the battery was charged and plugged up the Harley unit it went straight into charge mode. The funny thing is if the battery was low the Shumacher would charge it up real quick every time.
Thread Starter
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Grand HDF Member
Joined: Sep 2017
Posts: 3,613
Likes: 867
From: Southern Virginia
Thanks y'all that's a log of good options. I hadn't really heard of the Braille brand before. It seems like a slight compromise in that they recommend it be left on a tender, but seems to have above average cranking power. To those of you that have used that brand, have y'all noticed that you couldn't let the bike sit for long off of a tender?