Batteries
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Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 11,217
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From: St.Louis Mo.
Batteries
has anyone done a comparsion between the different batteries out there ? deka. yuasa, east penn ? keep hearing dekas are not what they used to be and harley told them to make their battery not last as long. hearing about many short lived dekas now days.
Road Warrior
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 1,962
Likes: 140
From: NY
No comprarison ,but for your awareness Deka,& Yuasa are both mfg'd by " Eastern Penn Battery Mfg " located in PA.
Deka sells a ton of mant free fact act agm bike batteries so statistically there will be more failures along the way too which is likely why you heard of a few more failures of that type battery on the street.
But Dekas maint free fact activated AGM battery for the HD has proven to be a high quality battery thats $80+ less bucks then HD's agm repl battery.
And rumor say's Deka/Eastern Penn mfgs for HD which makes sense with HD & Eastern Penn battery mfg both located in PA.
You cant go wrong with a Deka ETX30L battery for a touring HD and keep in mind BigCrank & Autozone bike batteries are also mfg's by EasternPenn / Deka too.
I have used deka/BigCrank batteries in my bikes for yrs (also in other peoples bikes i maintain too) with great results,never had a dud & get min of 4.5-5yrs out of them with 5.5-6yr's+ out of all of them with light to moderate use of battery maintainer in times of non use in winter storage.
Some people say Deka also mfg's " Advanced Autos 30L " agm bike battery for HD's ,but from looking at it 1st hand in the store it doent look like it appearance wise or from whats printed on battery & box too ,but i have not found anything concrete to back that up either way for sure so keep tat in mind.
If you need a battery heres a link to the best price i have found thus far on Deka's 30L 400CCA maint free fact act AGM battery inc S&H to your door for only $97.99 vs HD's repl AGM battery for $170 + tax so pushing $185+.
Same type Bigcrank 30L battery from batterymart is still priced decent at approx $11 more @ $109 to you door for basically the same battery so why not save $11 thats buys a tank of fuel for bike at todays lower gas prices or lunch!/LOL!!!.
http://www.techbatterysolutions.com/...FUKQHwodZAwDxw
Scott
Last edited by wscott; Feb 15, 2016 at 11:59 AM.
Thread Starter
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Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 11,217
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From: St.Louis Mo.
just because a battery is made by the same company doesn't mean it's made to the same specs. i've been reading on many differant forums about the newer batteries not lasting as long. a suppose tech at a dealer is the one who said HD has changed their specs. on their batteries and they are not lasting as long in the newer bikes. after researching this it seems to be very true. i was wondering how many people here have had shortened life. just think how much money HD can generate selling battieres every 2 years instead of every 4 or 5 years. i don't put anything past these large companies.
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From: Prior Lake, MN
The flip side of that is a bunch of PO'd Harley Customers. I doubt very much that HD intentionally makes their batteries last less long so they can sell more of them. That'd be outrageously short sighted but it does make a good conspiracy theory I suppose.
Since the aftermarket is loaded with batteries, most of which are a fraction of the price of the HD branded ones, HD would be taking a huge gamble that a pis*ed off customer who got a crappy factory battery would buy another. I know I wouldn't.
Batteries are subject to all sorts of varying conditions (cold climate, hot climate, lack of maintenance by the owner, over the top maintenance by the owner) that it's difficult to know if a battery failed due to intentionally cheapening them. No way am I going to believe that HD told it's battery supplier to 'make them last less long', thus subjecting the MOCO to many many angry customers. Right now, with the sales headwinds they are fighting the last thing they'd want to do is push potential sales to a competing brand because they are trying to cheapen things.
Since the aftermarket is loaded with batteries, most of which are a fraction of the price of the HD branded ones, HD would be taking a huge gamble that a pis*ed off customer who got a crappy factory battery would buy another. I know I wouldn't.
Batteries are subject to all sorts of varying conditions (cold climate, hot climate, lack of maintenance by the owner, over the top maintenance by the owner) that it's difficult to know if a battery failed due to intentionally cheapening them. No way am I going to believe that HD told it's battery supplier to 'make them last less long', thus subjecting the MOCO to many many angry customers. Right now, with the sales headwinds they are fighting the last thing they'd want to do is push potential sales to a competing brand because they are trying to cheapen things.
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Road Warrior
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 1,962
Likes: 140
From: NY
Not really,battery marts not about the cheapest for the same battery from same mfg.
See below for details to save you an additional $11 (gets you a tank of fuel or lunch!) vs battery mart for same exact battery .
Scott
http://www.techbatterysolutions.com/...FUKQHwodZAwDxw
Last edited by wscott; Feb 15, 2016 at 11:55 AM.
Road Warrior
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 1,962
Likes: 140
From: NY
The flip side of that is a bunch of PO'd Harley Customers. I doubt very much that HD intentionally makes their batteries last less long so they can sell more of them. That'd be outrageously short sighted but it does make a good conspiracy theory I suppose.
Since the aftermarket is loaded with batteries, most of which are a fraction of the price of the HD branded ones, HD would be taking a huge gamble that a pis*ed off customer who got a crappy factory battery would buy another. I know I wouldn't.
Batteries are subject to all sorts of varying conditions (cold climate, hot climate, lack of maintenance by the owner, over the top maintenance by the owner) that it's difficult to know if a battery failed due to intentionally cheapening them. No way am I going to believe that HD told it's battery supplier to 'make them last less long', thus subjecting the MOCO to many many angry customers. Right now, with the sales headwinds they are fighting the last thing they'd want to do is push potential sales to a competing brand because they are trying to cheapen things.
Since the aftermarket is loaded with batteries, most of which are a fraction of the price of the HD branded ones, HD would be taking a huge gamble that a pis*ed off customer who got a crappy factory battery would buy another. I know I wouldn't.
Batteries are subject to all sorts of varying conditions (cold climate, hot climate, lack of maintenance by the owner, over the top maintenance by the owner) that it's difficult to know if a battery failed due to intentionally cheapening them. No way am I going to believe that HD told it's battery supplier to 'make them last less long', thus subjecting the MOCO to many many angry customers. Right now, with the sales headwinds they are fighting the last thing they'd want to do is push potential sales to a competing brand because they are trying to cheapen things.
Very good points & info.
Scott