OEM only.

 

That's a good thing, as it's 11°F here at work today. Below 20° I switch back to leather gauntlets as the heated gloves are colder due to having more air permeability.

 

When I only had the Shovelhead and twin cam Wide Glide, I'd ride the Wide Glide a few times a week and the Shovel a few times a month. Before 2013 my Shovel was my only bike. I rode it a few times a week and never had to plug a charger into it. Once the Geezer Glide got thrown in the mix less for the lightweight bikes and more for the touring bike. I do put a tender on the Wide Glide about once a month or so now in the colder months.

I wonder if the temperature swings could have something to do with your battery lifespan? It really does seem to be an odd situation. When charging all three of my bikes seem to be around or a little above 14V when checking with a volt meter. I think the shortest lifespan I have ever gotten out of a battery was an OEM Harley battery I put in my 2010 Ultra Classic. Crapped out at just under two years. I put the five year old (when I removed it) Interstate AGM battery back in (which made it seven at that time) to limp along for a while until I ordered a Big Crank from Battery Mart and it was still in the bike when I traded it in on my 23 Ultra Limited. That dang 23 has terrible parasitic drain. If it sits for more than a week I'll plug the tender into it. I'll definitely do some research when I replace that OEM battery.

If I were in your shoes I'd get a VOM and set the leads up for Amperage measurement, then with the switch off on the bike attach the leads inline with one of the battery cables. I'm wondering if the battery is constantly being discharged while sitting and then charged when running if that could be costing you some battery life? Also looking at your sig I'm wondering is the FP3 plugged into your bike all the time? I had one on my old bike and left it plugged in with no problem, but I wonder if it could be malfunctioning if it's still plugged in. Also maybe the security system could be causing a drain if it wasn't working right? Definitely something an amp drain check might clue you in on.

 

@kojack
This won’t help you but may explain the problem a little.
In 2014 I installed 2 new deep cycle batteries in my Lance camper. Well after 10 years they still worked very well, but I got two new ones anyway. Talking to the Tech rep he said today’s batteries are made from recycled old batteries and they will never last like batteries made with new insides.
Frustrating to say the least, and they sell them as new which they are not.
Good luck, Mike

 

Actually, batteries are made from recycled lead, a mixture of recycled and virgin lead, or virgin lead... They are still new batteries, just that some have a percentage of recycled lead.

Batteries made with virgin lead are much better and more expensive, than batteries made with recycled lead. It's just one of the many specifications that are called for in a battery design, like plate thickness, plate suspension, case thickness, post type, post composition, etc, etc, etc.

A battery can look very similar to an OEM battery, but there are so many different unseen specs that can make it superior or inferior.

That's why saying, "XXX is the same as the Harley OEM battery, because both are made by East Penn", is kind of a silly statement to make.

All battery manufacturers can make a bargain basement battery, or a very well made (costly) battery. Not all batteries coming out of the same battery manufacturer are the same quality...

While different vendors have different profit margins, I would not believe a $100 battery, the same size, same output, from the same manufacturer, will be the exact same as a $190 version of that battery from another vendor. That is a really big mark-up difference. I suspect there will some technical differences between them too.

Cheaper batteries may perform well for many people, but eventually the better ones will cost more. The percentage of virgin lead being just one of the possible differences....

 

Used lead is not new to me!

 

What lead you to that conclusion?

 

In see what you did there.........

 

When they recycle any metal they process it back into.......the metal. It is exactly the same as "new" metal. I did a search on "is recycled lead as good as new lead". Here is the google result:

"Yes, recycled lead is just as good as new lead, and often identical in quality, because lead can be recycled infinitely without any loss in performance, making it a perfect material for a circular economy, with new batteries often containing 80% recycled content. The recycling process effectively purifies the lead, allowing it to be reused in new products indefinitely, saving resources and reducing pollution from mining"

 

Google isn’t an authority in recycling, or anything! Recycling is a good idea, but recycled lead does not lead to the best batteries.
Pun intended
Just like Electric Vehicles, , there’s a whole lot of BS 💩 out there that just isn’t true.
We can always agree to disagree!
Ride safe,
Mike