Went out his morning to go to work and found the battery wouldn't turn her over. I had noticed it getting a little slow the last few days. I think I replaced the original battery a couple of years ago, with another HD. I ride most days all year and never figured I would need a tender, but I guess I will pick one up when I get the battery. I guess HD is as good as anywhere, or should I look elsewhere?
I plan to charge the old onethis afternoon, and then get a load test done tomorrow just to see what condition its in. Electrical is not my strong point so is there anything else I might need to do?

 

How old is your current (dead) battery? I have had good luck with the HD batteries, with one exception which only lasted about 6 months. I have had a total of 5 HD batteries, all have lasted 4-5 years with that one exception. There are cheaper batteries out there, made by the same manufacturer - someone else may chime in with brands as I don't know any.

How's your charging system? I honestly don't know how to check it although I know there is a test. The shop manual probably shows how but I have not had to check mine so have never done that test.

 

Batterymart has great prices and if you sign up for their email you get another percentage savings (forgot what it was when I bought mine) WAY cheaper than the HD battery.

 

I think its only a couple of years old, and my other question is if riding almost daily, would the tender be much help. And if a tender does help, and I leave in the morning, I would guess the battery should stay up for the day. So what actually takes batteries to the graveyard, does the lead stop producing?

 

I would say if you ride every day a tender is not necessary. I have been riding every day for the past 6 years and have not used a tender once. Heat is bad for batteries and so is vibration. Not sure how the HD batteries are constructed other than I believe they use "absorbed glass mat" technology: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VRLA_battery

 

I find that battery tenders significantly extend battery life. When my bike goes in the garage, the tender gets plugged in. I have had batteries last 5-6 years so I swear by the tenders.

 

I use my tender, but I also get a new battery every 2 years. It's cheap insurance, and much better than getting stranded miles from home with a dead battery!

 

My last battery, an HD, only lasted 4mo. I replaced it, with a Deka EXL-30 I believe it was, they make the HD batteries and you can get them alot cheaper than the HD branded ones. Try the batterymart like someone else suggested. I use a battery tender but only if the bike has been or is going to be sitting more than a week.

 

ive had three since 07. went the HD route last time .it did no better than the after markets. its my understanding that bikes are just hard on batteries. bought a tender this time around. daily rider. 85k plus miles on my 07 FLHTC. two regulators also.

 

My battery went bad after 3 years, I ride often and I don't know if it's coincidence or not but 4 months later my Stator went bad. I think the Stator was going causing the battery to go bad or maybe it was vice-versa, something you might want to check since you say you ride often and your going on the third battery.