Thanks. I will definitely give that a try.

 

nine11c2.....I would say you are probably pushing it...may get another year out of it, but do you really want to take the chance? I routinely get 6-8 years out of a good quality car battery, but motorcycles are a different beast. I could have saved myself several hundred dollars and a lot of grief (finding someone with a trailer to come get me) last summer when the battery went out on my Dyna. There was no sign that it was going out, started like normal in the morning....got about 20 miles out of town and she was as dead as can be. I had insult added to injury because while I was waiting along the side of the highway there was a freak gust of wind that blew the bike over....right side mirror and handgrip broken, windshield and saddlebags all scratched up. According the the mechanic the battery was the cause of the stator going out too. My $100 battery replacement ended up costing me over $900 by the time I got the bike back on the road. I won't go over 3 years on a battery again.

 

EBF is right next to BFE, just a bit east of it.

 

I just got an interesting PM from a member who has a brand new one with only a 5 year warranty. Here's his question and my reply:

Hi MNPGRider....I saw your post concerning Battery tender...I see that they replaced your's...that's great....I received one for Christmasand I saw that there's also a5 year warranty, so I went to their web site and sent them a note asking if I had to register it...they replied back that I didn't have to.....sowhat I'm wonderning is how do they know how old it is...any ideas?

Hi, there might be difference in models. The one Harley sells is a "Battery Tender Jr."

The one I sent back was a "Battery Tender," that had the 5 year warranty. I sent it back with the original receipt that I had in my YamahaVenture file. The new one I received back is a "Battery Tender Plus," and has the 10 year warranty right on the package in the upper left corner. The number on the package in the lower right corner is P/N 021-0128 It looks the same, but it says "Battery Tender Plus" rather than just Battery Tender, and the package says it will work on the new AGM (absorbed glass mat), sealed calcium, or gel batteries.

According to the parts manual, the Harley batteries are AGM's From what I've read, some of thegel batteries need a more intense initial charge when new or when discharged, and a low amp charger like a BatteryTender won't do it, so maybe they have addressed that issue.

 

Is is okay toleave aBattery Tender connected 24/7?

 

I used to have to change batteries every 1-2 years in my shovel when using the old, wet acid batteries. When I bought my '00 FLHT in '04, it still had the original battery (it lived on a Tender whenever it wasn't being ridden). I used it for another year then replaced it for peace of mind. It was still ok. I don't tax my electrical system as much as you, by the sounds of it. Heated grips, a couple of vests, and a gps is about the biggest load mine sees.
I put a HD AGM battery in my shovel and it's still going strong after 4 years. I'm really impressed with the HD AGM batteries, they're a giant improvement over the old ones.

 

I use a battery tender all the time.

 

Yeah, Geoff, that's what they actually recommend, especially if you have a bike with lots of electronics running in the background, with the ignition off (clock, gps, etc.) In the past, you had to watch out for water level depletion (which very seldom happened, unlike using a trickle charger that didn't shut off), but with the new maintainance free batteries that's no longer an issue either.

I run Battery Tenders 24/7 on my boat, riding lawn mower, and tractor,and rotate one among my three cycles.

 

I put a gel cell in that I got cheap at a buddies parts store (Advance) and I like it pretty much. Just enough cold amps to do the job, quick recharge from leaving the gear on all night, and tough enough to leave on the parking lights for a while and still start ya.

 

Mine is three years old now and so far no problems, maybe I should think about changing the battery soon.....