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" Harley did not tell anyone to not make their batteries last "

Agree!

That's just not true at all for obvious reasons and who ever told the OP poster that doesnt know what they are talking about inc when he was also told by the same person Deka supposedly having more then normal issues with motorcycle battery failure ..

From what i see here in hdforums & over on the R* forum i belonged to for many yrs too that are both heavy users of Dekas AGM bike batteries that most of time the Deka/BigCrank agm bike batteries get very good feedback with good srvc life of 4-5yrs on avg with longer srv'c life in cooler climate and less srv'c in hotter climate which is normally the case for any battery of = quality lvl & same design .

Sure there will be premature failure & or dud here & there esp when your one of the larger suppliers ,but there is no doubt in my mind that a certain percentage of those premature battery failures were due to poor battery maint on owners end like periods of non use with no charging .

Now thats an issue especially with modern HD's that have elec systems/elec accessories that draw pwr with bike off
that do in fact run the battery down/dead causing sulfation & premature battery failure if you dont ensure battery stays fully charged or close to it in times of non use which again with todays HD's drawing elec pwr with bike off is matter of days to a wk tops before a battery maintainer should be hooked up which is a problem with the owner of the bike / battery thats not normally addressed that in fact not an issue with the battery mfg.

My 09 FLHTCU draws enough pwr from the battery when sitting with ign off that after 2-3 days tops will show lower battery (Deka AGM) voltage of approx 12.4-12.5 causing the battery maint charger to go directly to full charge mode as soon as i hook it up,again after sitting only 2-3 days tops.

And other issues like a bad stator or v-reg that they later find was the problem causing there supposed premature battery failure is generally not posted back online because thats on the battery owner too.

So point there is more premature battery failures (regardless of battery mfg) then people would like think are actually bought on by the battery/bike /car/vehicle owner themselves .

I say that because i have found that to often be case with 4+ decades i have of 1st hand exp wrenching classic cars and bikes for other people i maintain them for that often have times of non use with their vehicles & dont want to be bothered with putting a maint charger on the battery or they simply dont believe its needed when i rec it to them because someone else told them its not required .

Then they complain the battery only lasted 1.5-2yrs or so blaming it on the battery mfg when thier premature battery failure is in fact their fault & continue to do the same thing meaning doing nothing /not charging the NEW Battery from a diff mfg i just installed in times of non use so get same result every 1.5-2yrs or so.

My buddy call's them " Cement Heads " because they dont learn from making the same mistakes over & over again even when they see the result of what " they are doing " & or what they " are not doing " that's right in front of their face thats also prematurely emptying their wallet too.

Scott

 

Before Internet most people would seek very little information beyond what was advertised; now we have Internet and rumor is spread to serve those who still hold information. Whose greed profits from rumor?

Quality assurance of a manufacturing process is not always available to customers because this would naturally impose a price for a certain mode of construction.

- I read that by design a healthy AGM battery will produce 8.4 Volts under it's rated load, as it will under an accidental short circuit. This is a feature provided by the battery which is not really temperature dependent and this minimal peak voltage is fairly easy to measure.
- I also read the 1.6KW starter motor was designed to build-up it's torque before spinning and does not need a larger battery than the 380 CCA to reach it's maximum magnetic field.

The combination of our 380A AGM battery with the 1.6KW starter motor is supposed to not suffer from excessive compression.

 

You can see good and bad reviews about almost any battery on this forum. Best advice for any of them, my opinion, is to carry one of those tiny Lithium Ion jumper batteries you can slip in a tail bag or about anything big enough to hold a camera; even the best brand new battery can leave you stranded for a number of reasons. I'll get Deka, Yuasa, even Walmart batteries if they're a lot cheaper. Riders have reported batteries that lasted 6-7 years; really, would you start a long trip on a battery over 5 years old? I wouldn't do it with a 3 year old battery. So I don't worry about cheap. With the tiny backup, of course.

 

Just saying here.

I spent 25 years at an OEM and I wish I had a dollar every time we did a cost saving project across the product line. If Eastern Penn Battery Mfg is making HD batteries it is not beyond the possibility the MOCO told them to reduce the cost of manufacturing / supplying their batteries. This could come through multiple arenas in the mfg process from less lead (shorter plates), thinner glass mats, thinner cases, lower acid solutions, less inspections/testing blah blah blah. All the specs on batteries have acceptable range variances that would not show minute cost saving changes on the cover even if you did test for them when buying new product.
A nickle a battery x 700,000 batteries is a savings of $35K per year. This would have been a great addition on my plate to any boss I had. And that is if I only got a nickle. The quality loss would be minimal but $$ count would still be there when my raise was evaluated. You never know what goes on behind corporate doors.

 

this was exactly my point. i've seen it done many times over the years in the oil refineing business. bottom line is what they look at.

 

if harley was worried about PO'ed customers they would start welding the flywheels and start putting some good wheel bearings and crank bearings and transmission bearings in these bikes. they are not worried about what anyone thinks anymore. it's all about the dollar.

 

We have had Interstate Batteries here for over 2 decades now.
Good product.
Scott

 

After almost 5 years, I replaced my original battery with a Duracell Battery from Batteries Plus. 2 Year warranty and being local sealed the deal. I asked who made the Duracell battery - "East Penn, of course" He said...

 

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Bottom line is what you guys are implying IS ALL SPECULATION AT THIS POINT WITH NOTHING TO BACK IT UP.

But what is more factual here is that from what i see thus far there is nothing concrete or data wise to back up the Op's concern that Deka's AGM battery for HD's may have a reliability issue none of which i see reflected here by an increase in Deka agm battery failures here in HDForums and or in the other motorcycle site i belong too collectively having thousands of members with both those sites having many members using Deka's maint free fact activated replacement AGM motorcycle batteries in their bikes with good results.

Guys in both those sites are very quick to post when batteries fail exp when they feel the battery had failed prematurely which i dont ,and i am on both these sites daily too so i would see/notice an increase battery failure if it was the case too which isnt the case.

I have many yrs 1st hand exp using the same type Deka AGM battery in my bikes and bikes i srv'c & or maintain for other people for many yrs without having any reliability or premature failure issues with any of the Deka maint free fact act AGM motorcycle batteries i have installed.

But again,getting long srv'c life from a motorcycle battery assumes proper battery maint (charging in times of non use) & that the bike also has a properly operating charging systems too which are both key elements for max battery perf & getting longer srv'c life that arent always the case leading to some of the premature battery failures we see reported/posted here on line or hear about locally.

Scott

 

A large volume of production reduces tooling amortization and the "suggestions box" on the shop floor is a well of ideas to reduce waste of time and materials. These variables also affect the bottom line.
Those who produce military quality live in a different world.