i agree with everything you have said, but i to have years of first hand exp. using deka batteries with long life. what i'm talking about is the newer battieries in bikes 13 and newer is what i'm reading about failing early. i hope this is not the case, but it's out there and i have read about it and in fact i have had several friends that have had batteries fail within a year on new bikes. has to make you wonder what's going on. that said i know people who have a 12 and 10 stock battery still installed. just asking questions here.

 

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Yeh i hear ya,i guess only time will tell if its true that even the better battery mfg's like Deka have in fact gone that route using sub par material to mfg their AGM bike batteries.

The last new deka agm bike batteries i installed were 11/2009 in a friends yami R* with lrg 1700cc v-twin to spin over thats still going strong being 6+ yrs old.

2nd Deka agm bike battery i installed 4/2014 in my kawi kz1000 i bought new in 1977 .

That bike does a lot of sitting around with little to no use & that battery was doing just fine @ just under 2 yrs old when i recently sold that bike in good cond still running great after owning it 37-38yrs .

BTW,battery that inj my kawi prior to the deka was a cheap std lead acid walmart that went 7.5 yrs before needing replacement.

Got 7.5yrs out of that cheap std lead acid walmart battery be ensuring fluid lvl was always above plates using distilled water and also threw a maint charger on 1x every 3-3.5 wks for only a day or 2 max (never left on battery 24/7 days or wks at a time) to ensure the battery was kept at or at least close to full charge too which obviously did the trick with the 7.5 srv'c life i got out of it.

And the 3rd deka agm bike battery was a BigCrank (mfg'd by deka) that was installed in my 09 HD on 10/23/2013 thats still doing just fine 2 approx 2.5 yrs old.

So 2 of the 3 deka batteries i installed at this time are in fact new enough to be in the category of batteries that you say could have possibly been mfg'd using poor lower quality sub standard materials which are all still doing just fine thus far with 1 being 2 yrs old, 2nd being 2.5yrs old and 3rd being 6+ yrs old that doesnt fall into group that may or may not have been mfg'd with sub par materials.

Thats my 1st hand experience with 3 deka type agm bike batteries over a 2 to 6+ yr timeframe thats not just opinion from whats been read or heard someplace,its facts & or 1st hand experience that i go by and post here in HDForums as to avoid giving out any poor and wrong information that could result in a negative situation for someone & or their bike.

BTW,since we are talking battery srvc life i wanted to comment on a trend i noticed over the past few yrs i have been tracking in 3 diff online websites i belong to (2 bike sites & 1 classic muscle car site) with respect to using maint chargers 24/7 or close to it on batteries vs the # of people posting they had premature battery failure using maint chargers 24/7 or close to it thats a real issue IMHO and here's why i say that.

I never leave any maint charger that when senses battery is at full charge cuts back to a supposedly safe low voltage maint charge rate because over the past few yrs tracking it i have seen too many posts/times where guys posted they had a premature battery failure stating they were so surprised it happened because they used a maint charger on the battery either 24/7 or often for days at a time and the battery still crapped out early.

I have seen the same exact trend where many guys were having issues with premature battery failures in another bike site and classic muscle car car site i also spend time too seeing/reading the same common theme time after time after time of when a battery maint charger was being used either 24/7 or close to that was associated with a large portion of premature battery failures that were being posted online in the 3 sites i am on daily.

And by premature battery failures i mean quality batteries that should last a minimum of 3-4yrs on avg that are actually crapping out at 1.5yrs , 2yrs or so.

So after tracking /keeping a close eye on tat situation for a few yrs on a daily basis seeing that common theme i think in some cases (not saying all cases!) that the maint charger has some kind of issue weather it be cutting off main/high charge rate too late /at too high of a battery voltage before cutting back to lower maint charge voltage that over time ends up trashing the battery in the process or maybe when at low maint voltage over time / 24/7 does cause damage to some batteries either of which could be leading to premature battery failures .

So after seeing that trend for over the past few yrs that confirms to me my concerns thats its not always best to to put a maint charger on any battery 24/7,i only leave it on the battery until it hits full charge going to green light and then remove it and do the same thing 3wks or so later ,but never 24/7 .

When the maint chargers 1st came out I never thought it was a good idea to leave them on batteries 24/7 well before i noticed online that there was a possible issue (in some cases,not all!) leaving maint chargers on batteries 24/7 .

And to back that thought up doing that had always resulted in me getting srv'c life well past whats considered industry std /avg srv'c life from all the batteries (no matter what brand or battery type std lead acid or agm) i have had in my bikes and classic 69 chevelle 396 (owned since 1978 ) over the past 37-38yrs of owning those vehicles over all those yrs.

Yes i could have been lucky on getting longer then normal srvc life on a few batteries in those vehicles over 37-38yrs of having mult batteries in thos vehicles ,but in my case every battery went well past normal avg srvc life which shows there has to be a reason why which was the way i maintained and charged all those batteries over the past 37-38yrs.

Like i said ,even the last cheap walmart lead acid battery in my kawi propr to installing the last battery it had (Deka agm) went 7.5 yrs & all the other std lead acid batteries i had in the bike before that went 5.5-6yrs on avg when industry std srv'c life for cheap std lead acid bike batteries was 2.5-3yrs on avg with some being in 3-3.5 yr range that's still well below the srvc life i was getting on every battery.

Also,i got 13 yrs & 12yrs out of the 1st 2 diehards i had in the chevelle,then i got 8+ yrs out of the 1st repop Delco R59 i got for the chevelle when industry std srvc life was approx 3-4yrs for that type std lead acid car battery.

Then when the 1st repop std lead acid r59 i bought went belly up i bought a 2nd repop r59 thats still going strong at approx 6+ yrs too when industry std srv'c life for a std lead acid car battery is roughly 3.5-4yrs or so am already significantly ahead curve (2yrs+ with more to go) when it comes to srv'c life on that battery too.

So with that in mind last 3 std lead acid batteries i installed & maintained in my chevelle had a true avg srv'c life of 11yrs not counting the r59 repop battery thats currently in my chevelle still in use with 6+ yrs on it still going strong that hasnt failed yet .

Yeh i could get lucky with a few batteries over the yrs going longer then normal but its not a statistical fluke when i in fact consistently get approt 2x longer then avg srvc life from all car & bike batteries i maintain like i do.

Those actual consistent results time after time after time yr after yr no matter what mfg is shows that what i am doing (not ever leaving a maint charger or manual charger on the battery 24/7) does in fact extend battery srv'c life in every battery i have had in those 2 vehicles over the past 37-38+ yrs never putting any of those batteries it in a position to possibly be overcharged and or dried out resulting in a premature battery failure which has never happaned to me ,yet that is!/LOL!!.

But i also feel be design today's newer gen AGM batteries are even more sensitive to damage if overcharged vs older gen lead acid batteries .

Thats because " by design " agm batteries use significantly less acid/electrolite so can dry out much easier leading to warped plates and internal shorting that looks to me is way may be happening quite often when todays maint chargers are left on newer gen agm bike batteries 24/7 or close to it.

Thats coming from my my 1st hand exp many batteries in mult bikes & my chevelle over the 37-38 yrs doing what i do to maintaining them in such a way extending srvc life on every battery to 2x-3x industry std along with mult yrs tracking premature battery failures i am seeing online in 3 different websites too that showed a common theme being most of the premature battery failures were associated with maint chargers being used on them either 24/7 or most of the time which says something to me.

And the last thing i want to say on the subject is that quite often it seem'd to be the lower priced fairly small 1-1.5 amp type/design mant type battery chargers that were associated with the premature battery failures i had seen posted in online sites where i was tracking premature battery failures & wasn't for example a more expensive Deltran type design maint charger that was associated with premature battery failures i was seeing online.

Happy motoring.

Scott

 

There may be more to this than just batteries. Look at how much more electrical devices there are on the newer touring bikes that need power. I've been on RG's since 08 and I generally change batteries every 2 yrs. I use tenders too. Here in Fl it gets hot for months on end and higher temps are hard on batteries. The newer bikes have radiator fans and electric water pumps. Radios, gps, electric seats and grips and on and on. I suspect the charging systems may be slightly less than adequate. Just adding food for thought.

 

In my owner manual for my 2013 touring there is a page addressing the use of a smart charger to maintain the battery. Yes, some never use a tender and have good luck, but a lot just run to the store and only get a "surface" charge on the battery.

 

I have a 2010 EG. I purchased a HD battery 1 1/2 yrs ago and have got 2 summer seasons of riding out of it so far (11K mi.) but I notice when out riding and making a stop or two, upon restarting I notice a hesitation or slow starter, an indication of a weak battery. I keep the battery on a tender 24/7 so my initial startup is always strong. When I pull it into the garage I immediately put the tender on and it shows red for a few seconds then goes green. I am using a 10 yr old HD Junior tender. I have all L.E.D. lighting so I should be drawing less amps than a stock bike.
I'm going to purchase a Big Crank from Battery Mart and am wondering if I should buy one of their tenders?

 

i can tell you this , i was using the same tender and i have went through a battery a year for the last two years.this last one is a big crank and was dead so i bought a " battery tender" brand tender and battery is fine bike fires right up. i know i have to have some sort of elec.issue but i do belive the tender was a issue also

 

We've witness a Battery Tender wired in reverse before.
Scott

 

I had a battery that wouldn't start after sitting 2 or 3 days last summer, and after putting it through 3 or 4 charges with this tender, a Noco 3500, it came back and has done fine this winter. My Battery Tender Plus only brought that battery up to 11.5 V (but on a good battery, that's a fine tender). Noco's are pricey, but cheaper than a new battery. The newest version (mine isn't) will do Li batteries, too. There are other brands of "smart" tenders that make the same claims for restoring sulfated batteries, and they're not cheap, either, but that's the only kind I'll get now.

 

wscott

holy smokes. It would have taken me a week to write that.

I am sold on what you say. Thank you for your input!

 

Sounds like somebody is an engineer.........Just sayin