I just replaced the original battery on my '06 RK with a Deka.

 

I was thinking when the time came to replace mine, I was going to replace it with a Gel Battery, I saw one on e-bay (BIKE MASTER GEL BATTERY HARLEY FLHT FLHTC FLHTCU ULTRA ELECTRA GLIDE) for $166.50

 

I had to replace the 3-year old battery in my 2010 road king on the side of the road yesterday. Wouldn't hold the charge I gave it Friday. Advanced Auto Parts didn't list anything for 2009-up so I got one for a 2008 road king. Anyone know if it's the same? I found the part number - it's ETX30LA which is the same.
p.s. it's an AGM (gel) battery and it cost $128 (ouch); looks just like the Deka in the picture above.

 

we have a deka dealership here, you can pick one up for around 60.00 "walk in" with core

 

HD OEM batteries are made by Deka. I'm just sayin'.

 

this man speaketh the truth. my oem battery was 'just a little weak' and i figured i would run it for a while longer. well, i was still 'just a little longer' after 4 months. one day i went through the drive through at the bank. shut the bike down to listen to the teller. when transaction done, went to start up, and .............. nothing.

had to call someone to come get me, pushed my bike off to the side, and ran down to the battery warehouse and picked up a yuasa equivalent of the deka etx30l. came to just over $100. is an agm battery like the original, and has a better warranty than the original.

so in a quest to push it just a little further, i ended up wasting half a day. instead of just buying the battery when i knew i needed it.


i got mine at the local battery warehouse for $100. and didn't have to wait on shipping. deka, yuasa, and the oem are all agm batteries

 

I know this is an older thread but someone may be researching battery problems in the future and I want my experience added to their research. In June the bike will be 2 years old, no date stamp on battery. My bike would stop during occasional compression cranks. It would crank then stop momentarily and crank then start. You know after its warmed up, only did it once in awhile. Now it's doing it every time I start it up. Always been on a tender. I pulled the battery out and set it on my bench, hooked a 100 amp load tester to it until the load tester starts to smoke from the heat-up. Before the load test it was testing 13.6 volts. The meter on the load tester while testing would drift to the bad/used up zone. After releasing the load button the needle slowly drifts back over to the green. If I was to test someone else's battery I would say the battery is fine, but the 'Pause' during the compression stroke was becoming more prevalent and the 'Pause' seemed to last a few micro-seconds longer and I made the decision to replace. I've only read about the compression stroke 'Pause' once or twice before and told these beasts are high compression and a battery with a weak cell will have difficulty and get worse......that's all I've got to report. My new battery is here and I'm going to install it.

After new battery install notation: no more 'Pause' witnessed after new battery. Will monitor for future notations.

 

My 2010 FLHTK battery didn't last but 2 years. The stock battery is rated at 28AH and 370CCA. I stopped by the local Batteries Plus and picked up a X2-30LA X2PowerŪ AGM Battery. It specs out at 26AH and 400CCA like the Deka. It cost $138 less the core charge. I keep it on a battery tender. I just don't have a clue why the stock OEM battery went so quick.

 

Though it seems to be fine now, according to this thread/other experiences, apparently I will need to replace my 2009 Ultra battery soon so I am reading with much interest... My original battery still charges to almost 14V and under load test shows almost 13V... I have noticed a slight difference in starting and it MAY be an early indicator... I am watching it...

 

Swapped mine out in the middle of the 4th riding season, always on a tender during the winter. And it still worked just a slow start here and there. Went back to OEM, at 10% discount.