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I bought a new battery last Nov. and finally decided to change it out yesterday due to winter and I always have the bike on a tender, so starting was not an issue..... The past few days it had been really draggin' to start. I was fueling up the other day and it acted like it did not want to and took 5 tries but finally did.
That was the straw that broke the proverbial camels back.
Charged up the new one(Battery Mart Big Crank) that was 8 months old which by the looks of it on the charger did not look like it needed charged but I did anyway which seemed to boost it up a bit more.
Disconnected the negative first and reconnected it last and all was good except lost all of the presets on the Sony Head unit.
We have the Sturgis rally on right now and I was waiting for a friend at BH HD and while waiting lots of folks come and go and you could hear the batteries that were bad as they were starting their bikes.
My friend put a new battery in his SG in May. Got a replacement from Batteries Plus and about a week later he parked it again for about 10 days. He went out to start it and again it wouldn't start. To make a long story even longer he decided, at my insistence, to put it on a trickle charge until the charger shut down saying it was fully charged. The batteries that we get are supposed to be fully charged when you (we) pick it up but the last two he got weren't. Once we fully charged it, problem solved. I will from this day forward charge it myself. Seems if it's not fully charged before use, it never will be and will die prematurely. Just our experience.
I think I saw that it's recommended to do so. The Big Crank did not look like it needed it as it was about at the far end of the green as you can get in the charger gauge but none the less I put it on right before I went to bed and then got up and went out to the garage and changed it.
The one that I replaced the other day was 7 going on 8 years so I got more than money from it.lolol
Can't say enough good about Battery Mart's https://www.batterymart.com/p-Big-Cr...L-Battery.html
Big Crank ETX 30L
Just like cages...lots of riders fail to check the obvious and/or service their rides. Pretty much "saddle-up & off to party" w/o even thinking if bike's road-worthy for a long trek. Sure you'll see more at the rally...even some on trailers that won't start b/c they sat since last year's rally.
It's kind of a PIA to check your battery.
If you decide to load test it, which is really the only way to test it.
This means that you are doubting it's reliability and if that's the case then you should probably just change it out.
I was wondering about mine for some time, several years but it kept starting albeit weak as **** even though I keep it on a "smart tender" 24/7 all year round unless I am out riding, but as soon as I get home in the garage on the tender it goes.
Probably be wise to change it out every 2-3 years so you have nothing to worry about
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Changed out Battery Yesterday
