battry life
Many factors, including cold, heat, vibration, storage, and if you use a battery tender. If you don't take care of it it could be 3 years to 5 years. If you take care of it and garage it you could get up to about 7. Batteries are being made better these days, as long as they have acid they should keep. But if it was poorly made, you get a short in the battery where the negative wire touches the positive plate which drains your battery. No way to correct the issue, it is in the manufactoring.
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Tourer
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 263
Likes: 1
Asking because I had a systems relay problem and when starting it would only give about five good cranks and that was it. Wondering if it should crank more or the motor is so big it drains battery quick.
Thanks for reply
Thanks for reply
Factory battery, factory engine, no major electric mods to suck it dry before the alternator can keep charging? Most likely just a battery dying before it's time. Disconnect the battery, hook up a volt meter, if it drops a few at a time at a steady pace, you have a short in the battery, it is toast.
Club Member
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 10,815
Likes: 16
From: Virginia
I have had to replace my battery in my 07 Street Bob twice now. The first one got ruined about a year after I bought it, the negative cable kept vibrating loose and burned up the HD battery post.
Just replaced the second HD battery one I bought a little over 3 years ago. That one would lose it's charge when it sat a week to where it wouldn't even start the bike.
I bought a charger/tender about a year ago but don't use it as much as I probably should since I have to run an extension chord out to the garage. I'll try and use it more on this new battery and see if it helps the longevity.
Just replaced the second HD battery one I bought a little over 3 years ago. That one would lose it's charge when it sat a week to where it wouldn't even start the bike.
I bought a charger/tender about a year ago but don't use it as much as I probably should since I have to run an extension chord out to the garage. I'll try and use it more on this new battery and see if it helps the longevity.
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I don't know if mine is the original or not, I'm thinking of replacing it this year just to be safe. I haven't had any issues and I leave it on the tender, but if the battery is now 12 years old, time for a new one!
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Novice
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 19
Likes: 0
From: Sioux Falls, SD
I've got an 06 Street Bob with the original battery in it, prior to this year it had always had a battery tender on it during the winter. During the last move, the tender turned up AWOL. Haven't had any issues with it.