Fried battery
Tourer
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 428
Likes: 87
From: SoCal
They replace my battery and I took it back the next day as the thing would drop to ~11v after sitting for a few hours and drop into the 9's when starting- tech damn near burned his hands on the battery taking it out- the replacement battery was bad! new one seems to be working great. after sitting a week battery is still at 12.85v!
Banned
Joined: Sep 2015
Posts: 261
Likes: 186
They replace my battery and I took it back the next day as the thing would drop to ~11v after sitting for a few hours and drop into the 9's when starting- tech damn near burned his hands on the battery taking it out- the replacement battery was bad! new one seems to be working great. after sitting a week battery is still at 12.85v!
Advanced
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 90
Likes: 28
From: So Cal
For those with starting issues when cold, did you notice what you battery voltage showed when ignition first turned on? If mine shows 11.8 or higher, I'm good to go, starts perfectly. If it shows 11.7 or lower, it's pretty much a done deal - it will crank few times, then throw a code or two, and not start. Trickle charger does not help - if the bike sits for a week or so, even though my trickle charger shows green, it will drop to 11.7 and game's over. Once I get it started - if I ride it for 15-20 minutes, I'm good to go - park at work in the morning, leave in the late afternoon, and it shows 11.9-12.0...
Dealer checked the battery, no issues. Since I don't have any hard starting issues other than voltage dropping, I don't think it's the starter.
The only thing I can think of is - my bike sat at the dealer for 6 months due to a deer incident and waiting on parts. I'm sure they didn't keep the battery charged, so maybe despite their assurances the battery is just plain toast and I should get it replaced...
Dealer checked the battery, no issues. Since I don't have any hard starting issues other than voltage dropping, I don't think it's the starter.
The only thing I can think of is - my bike sat at the dealer for 6 months due to a deer incident and waiting on parts. I'm sure they didn't keep the battery charged, so maybe despite their assurances the battery is just plain toast and I should get it replaced...
Thread Starter
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Cruiser
Joined: Jun 2021
Posts: 151
Likes: 97
From: France
Make sure the battery in your key fob is good.
I found that as soon as the bike was having troubles starting, a new key fob battery was the solution. Sounds weird but...
I changed mine every 2 months or so. Always an extra under the set.
I found that as soon as the bike was having troubles starting, a new key fob battery was the solution. Sounds weird but...
I changed mine every 2 months or so. Always an extra under the set.
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2014
Posts: 5,815
Likes: 2,555
From: UK
My bike is in the dealer tomorrow morning to have the regular battery replaced with an Antigravity lithium at the dealer's cost. It's taken a while to get the new battery in, and even though the stator has been replaced (fixed 99% of the problems), the standard AGM battery just doesn't cut it even after a few days with the bike left alone and off the tender. It's just too small and discharges fairly quickly given the drain from the security system (and maybe other modules drawing power that I don't know about).
I had a new AGM battery replaced under warranty a couple of months ago, and recently left it for about about a week off the tender. Went to start it yesterday and it was dead as a doornail. When plugged into the Optimate tender, it showed "save" (de-sulphating?) for about 12 hours before switching to "charge". Works fine now though, but I hope the lithium battery in conjunction with the replaced stator will be the end of it.
I think the OEM battery is just not powerful enough for all the electronics on this bike - it's a Sportster battery. That coupled with the potential stator issue is (IMHO) the cause of a lot of problems people have been seeing.
I had a new AGM battery replaced under warranty a couple of months ago, and recently left it for about about a week off the tender. Went to start it yesterday and it was dead as a doornail. When plugged into the Optimate tender, it showed "save" (de-sulphating?) for about 12 hours before switching to "charge". Works fine now though, but I hope the lithium battery in conjunction with the replaced stator will be the end of it.
I think the OEM battery is just not powerful enough for all the electronics on this bike - it's a Sportster battery. That coupled with the potential stator issue is (IMHO) the cause of a lot of problems people have been seeing.
Thread Starter
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Cruiser
Joined: Jun 2021
Posts: 151
Likes: 97
From: France
Agree about the battery problem. Had mine replaced but always kept it on a tender. Stator replaced and starter motor upgraded. No more hard starts.
Hope the anti-g will work and glad the dealer's paying for it. It shouldn't be that complicated to get it right surely.
Hope the anti-g will work and glad the dealer's paying for it. It shouldn't be that complicated to get it right surely.
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Sep 2017
Posts: 12,254
Likes: 4,946
From: England
What Ah rate is the anti gravity battery you are getting?
It is quite normal for a lithium battery to be much less in capacity compared to AGM based on the depth of discharge available from both. In this case both will discharge to a similar state of discharge on a bike loaded with electronics.
What you will obviously get though is a higher cranking amp value which is probably the main problem.
It is quite normal for a lithium battery to be much less in capacity compared to AGM based on the depth of discharge available from both. In this case both will discharge to a similar state of discharge on a bike loaded with electronics.
What you will obviously get though is a higher cranking amp value which is probably the main problem.
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2014
Posts: 5,815
Likes: 2,555
From: UK
What Ah rate is the anti gravity battery you are getting?
It is quite normal for a lithium battery to be much less in capacity compared to AGM based on the depth of discharge available from both. In this case both will discharge to a similar state of discharge on a bike loaded with electronics.
What you will obviously get though is a higher cranking amp value which is probably the main problem.
It is quite normal for a lithium battery to be much less in capacity compared to AGM based on the depth of discharge available from both. In this case both will discharge to a similar state of discharge on a bike loaded with electronics.
What you will obviously get though is a higher cranking amp value which is probably the main problem.
"480 Cranking Amps", and boy does it spin the Pan Am. I never really had starting problems, but the bike would occasionally cycle a couple of times before firing up. Now it just starts immediately. It's a seriously noticeable difference.
The battery gauge now shows a consistent 13-13.2V when I turn the ignition on, and then a consistent 14-14.2V when the engine is running. The old AGM battery would struggle to show 12V after a night off the trickle charger and typically ran at about 12.8-13.2V when idling. (Much less when the stator was failing of course)
There's obviously going to be the same amount of parasitic draw though - and I think it's fairly high on these bikes. I should probably measure it at some point. But I do have a Lithium compatible trickle charger, so will continue to keep the bike on trickle if it's not going to be used for a while.
All that said, I think these bike are particularly susceptible to voltage going below 12V. All the electronic modules start to go **** up as soon as voltage drops, and if I am not mistaken, the default voltage of a Lithium bike battery is more like 13V so that can only really help.
Last edited by adm; Jun 8, 2023 at 04:34 PM.
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