I have never laid out cash for a factory security system.
I figure if the crooks want my bike.....they already know how to disarm the Harley system.
I lock my front end with a Kryptonite New York Fahgettaboudit Lock.

 

I had my Fat Bob for over 2 years and never had a problem with the fob battery. I guess I was lucky.

 

Battery in my fob died in 2 weeks. In fact the Dealer had just pulled my Limited out of the the shop for the 1,000 mile service when it died.

Mechanic inidicated same as above posts - fobs search 24 hours a day looking for the bike and it's hard on the battery. He also said the fob(s) could be a couple of years old before they are matched up with the security system / bike.

Lesson learned - switch the batteries out once a year. Although you really don't expect to do this right out of the box.

 

My dealer told me the same thing. They said they sold a bike and two days later the guy called and said his bike would not start. It turned out to be a dead battery. Your bike may be new, but the FOB may have been at the dealership for a while.

 

Book says to change them every year. I put the old battery in the saddle bag thinking it would have enough juice left in it if the replaced one in the fob quits.

 

Just bought my 07 and the first week one went dead. Then 2 weeks later the other one went dead. Just wish Harley had used one of the cheaper watch batteries. Dang things are $5 a piece. But then most batteries are getting expensive.

 

I always keep a spare battery on the bike,but never have replaced it.My old bike,05 RKC,still had the original battery in the fob when I traded it.New bike is a year old so maybe I need to change it.

 

Batteries are like a lot of other electronic components. Some of them are no good from the factory. Others may just barely work when they are put into service or someone could have switch the battery or FOB.

I had to replace one of my FOB batteries after 3 months in service. I wish a bad FOB battery was the only thing I had problems with.

 

I bought a sleeve of 10 at a battery store for about 25 bucks. I carry them in a small tube inside my tool kit.

People think your amazing when you can flip them a spare battery and get them going again.

$2.50 or so for a battery has actually netted me more than a few $3.50 beers.

Plus I keep the spare fob without the battery hidden on the bike. I learned the hard way on a rental what happens when the key gets lost.

 

I had my battery go dead so I replaced and then went out to the bike and learned the steps to override the security system with the blinkers. So I now carry the security System owners card in my wallet which contains the steps and the code.