battery help 4th one in 38 days

gulleygp

gulleygp

Member
having problem keeping a battery. in may in CA bettery went out, seperated or fried internally. put new battery in (walmart battery) holiday weekend didn't have choice if i wanted to ride, checked charging system, working. worked for 16 days, battery died. bought drag specialties battery, dynamited 3 days blew up so hard only the negative terminal was holding the top on. when it dynamited the bike started explosion noise bike quit. took bike to shop where i got drag battery, they tested the charging system, everything working correctly. 19 days battery quit last night. ran fine all day 8-9 starts no problem, get ready to head home, intially enough power to light everything, tried starter a couple times, dropped power enough it wouldn't even light the lights. all of them seem to be inside the battery
 
TVDR

TVDR

06 Ridgeback
I had battery issues when my EHC module was of the old version you should check...
Other than that I use the biggest Harley Battery that they makes. 3 years later still running..........
:2thumbs:
 
BadBrad

BadBrad

2005 Pitbull
Drag Specialties batteries suck! I went through 3 of them in less than a year. Kept getting a free replacement but they just don't hold up. Get a HD AGM or a Braille. Cheap batteries don't last in these dogs. You have to get something that is made for these bikes. Didn't have much luck with Interstate either, although some have. You may spend a little more up front, but it will far out last El Cheapos and won't leave you stranded.
 
PurpleDog

PurpleDog

Well-Known Member
Agree with spending the money on a quality piece. Might want to verify your voltage regulator is actually regulating voltage properly? Not sure if its even possible that that it could be applying too much DC volts/amps or otherwise over charging, but something to think about.
Stator provides A/C voltage to regulator which then feeds DC voltage to battery as I understand it. Can't think of a way that the EHC would contribute to it, but I'm sure there are folks on here that would know otherwise.
 
PurpleDog

PurpleDog

Well-Known Member
I went with Big Boar on both dogs, but I now believe Braille to be a better value...ie, more amps and less money...Thanks Don for the hook-up...:2thumbs:
 
gulleygp

gulleygp

Member
did a complete check of the charging system, unless its intermiten from bumps from riding. which would be hard to check. mechanic made a valid point if it was overcharging lights would brighten up or burn out, along with other electronics.
 
B

Big B Jeffers

Member
You should probably make sure how many cold cranking amps the batteries you've bought, have. These bigger motors need bigger cca's. I would be sure you are using at least around 290 - 300 area or larger. I personally don't think name brand makes much difference once you get in that range, simply because you will probably be looking at gell batteries at that strength, but I know alot of people may disagree with that, I can't say, but batteries like these will probably be $135 and up. When an electric motor strains, it pulls more amperage, which can weld the plates together inside a battery, and other things of that nature. If you have low ca's the battery can't spin the starter fast enough resulting in strain, causing in infinite circle. Strain-drain-strain-drain, till something dies first; smoking the motor/smoking the battery.
 
RRRUFF

RRRUFF

Well-Known Member
I think your problem could be in the voltage regulator. Bigdog had a recall on the 06 and some of the 05s. They replaced some with new regulators and then they went to the an inline fuse in the wire from the regulator to the battery. The fuse is suppose to protect the electrical system. From what I understand was happening is there is buss bar in the regulator that would warp when it go hot and cause the charging system to max out and fry the electrical. So I am thinking your problem may be intermittant. The best battery that I have found is the AGM battery from Harley. It is around $100 and has a one year warranty and suppose to be one of the highest CCAs. Any way that's what I think. Hope you get her worked out and let us know what the answer is.
 
bdmridgeback

bdmridgeback

Low Down Chop Shop
PurpleDog said:
I went with Big Boar on both dogs, but I now believe Braille to be a better value...ie, more amps and less money...Thanks Don for the hook-up...:2thumbs:
Click to expand...
Not to knock Mad Dog, but the Big Boar has more power than the braille. Braille over rates their batteries, you can see that by looking at their Cold weather ratings, they do not compare. The CCA is in warm weather, found that out through a few other sites. I have had 3 customers in the last 6 months that have had Braille batteries fail. I have NEVER heard of a Big Boar failure and tons of guys down here run them!

I have not touched my bike in 2 months with all the vacations, family visits, and work on other projects going on. My bike does not have a tender on it at all, and last weekend I went out jumped on it to go for a ride and it fired like it was just ridden yesterday! This Big Boar in my bike is over 2 years old!!! That is the life expectancy of a bike battery in 90 degree florida weather!

I will never buy anything other than a big Boar here out.
 
Chopper Dave

Chopper Dave

SIICK!!!
PurpleDog said:
I went with Big Boar on both dogs, but I now believe Braille to be a better value...ie, more amps and less money...Thanks Don for the hook-up...:2thumbs:
Click to expand...
I have had my Braille in my scoot since April of 09...have not had any problems in the heat...and in the cold with it!:2thumbs: took a ride when it was 28 degrees out last November...bike fired right up like it does in the summer!
I am just seeing how many years that I can get out of a battery:D
 
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