Batteries!

[mxboy96]

Hey guys. I'm needing some input on batteries. I'm having crappy luck with mine. Just put in a new Yuasa last year and it crapped out on me today. I'm guessing it was just a bad battery from the get go and now showed up, but.....The bikes charging fine at 14.1V and no excessive parasitic draw. Just curious your input on the subject and what battery you've found works best for you. And also at what temp does it have to get down to before you start noticing it cranks slower? Thanks guys!!

 

[Dutch]

The Yausa in my FZ is 8 years old and working fine.

 

[garyahouse]

MX-

Yer kinda new around here. Welcome aboard.

You made the right choice. Yuasa is highly respected for a reason. ANY manufacturer can and will produce a bad apple once in a while.

Gary

darksider #44

 

[SoCalFJR1300]

https://www.batterystuff.com/powersports-batteries/sYT14B-4.html The Yausa in my FZ is 8 years old and working fine.

That's because it's the OEM battery isn't it?

Aftermarkets won't last that long.

The YAUSA you buy for a replacement isn't the same as the OEM YAUSA.

I bought a battery from the link in the above quote in February of 13......still ok so far but most aftermarket batteries only last a couple years, maybe 3 if you're lucky.

That quote says the battery is out of stock but that's the one I bought.

 

[Fred W]

@ SoCal - You keep saying that stuff but that is not my experience with Yuasa (yes, made in the USA) batteries or other aftermarket batteries. I find that, of the batteries that are available to us in the US, the Yuasas are probably the best. That said, I do have a WestCo in my FJR that is going strong after 6 years use now.

More importantly, back to the OP, what makes you believe that the your new-ish battery is bad? When you say that it "crapped out" what does that mean? You mention that it is charging at 14.1V, which is good, but is an indication of the charging system health, not the battery condition. What is the battery voltage at rest after being charged?

 

[lnewlf]

I've had 2 Yuasa batts that "crapped out"-**** the bed after only 2 years...one of which was the oem in the FJR. standing voltage of 12.1 and they would not take a charge..Haven't spent the bucks for one since..A friend has a Westco in his Blackbird for over 6 years and it's not even on a Tender..

 

[Fred W]

FYI... the OE battery was not the same Yuasa battery that you can buy here in the US, unless the dealer replaced it after un-crating the bike, which would be unusual. The stock battery that comes in an FJR is the Asian brand GS Yuasa (stands for Genzou Shimadzu) In the US that would be called GS brand.

The US Yuasa batteries are not much more expensive than a WestCo, unless you are foolish enough to buy it from a bike dealership.

YMMV

PS - if you killed two batteries in just 2 years each, and were using the same battery tender to "maintain" them, you might want to look at your battery tender a little closer.

 

[Mihalis fjr]

For me the oem GS works great!

I have never had a problem..!

 

[SoCalFJR1300]

@ SoCal - You keep saying that stuff but that is not my experience with Yuasa (yes, made in the USA) batteries or other aftermarket batteries. I find that, of the batteries that are available to us in the US, the Yuasas are probably the best. That said, I do have a WestCo in my FJR that is going strong after 6 years use now.

That's rare according to all the riders I've talked to about batteries, they all say the same thing I said.

I'm sure "some" aftermarket batteries run longer but that doesn't seem to be the norm.

Was just talking to a rider yesterday who was complaining that his aftermarket battery only lasted 2 years.

 

[Bustanut joker]

Did you keep it on a proper tender over the winter? I know I didn't one year and my new Yuasa took a poop on me the following spring.

 

[ionbeam]

https://www.batterystuff.com/powersports-batteries/sYT14B-4.html The Yausa in my FZ is 8 years old and working fine.

That's because it's the OEM battery isn't it?

Aftermarkets won't last that long....

OEM batteries go in new motorcycles, aftermarket batteries go in old motorcycles. Buy an aftermarket battery and put it in a brand new motorcycle, how long will it last now?

 

[Bustanut joker]

Chuckle..

 

[FJRay]

Oh what the hell.

The original in my 03 lasted less than 2 years. The Yuasa replacement was in the bike for a little over 8 years and now starts the mower just fine after sitting the winter. I expect the current Yuasa to give as good as the previous one although I don't think the mower will last that long.

 

[mxboy96]

What I mean by 'crapped out' is it slowly degraded in cranking rpm over the past two weeks and the last couple days was ify. Then Friday night after I got home from work, I shut it off and tried starting it up again right away and it wouldn't crank fast enough to start. But the dumb thing is the battery tests fine on our Yuasa tester and a load test. I questioned the starter next but I just rebuilt it this winter when I had the engine apart. There's no excessive voltage drop across the starter relay, the starters getting full battery voltage, just doesn't have the poop to crank. No, I didn't have a trickle charger on it this winter though, but made sure it was fully charged before being pulled from the bike for storage. It's either between just my ****** luck this battery didn't last for crap or like 'bustanut joker' said it could be because I didn't stick a tender on it. But none the less it was unhooked and stored full charge. So I'm leaning towards I got one of Yuasa's bad ones. For those of you who mentioned it I did want to go with the factory GS, but the Yuasa was cheaper and more readily available at our dealership, so chose that.

 

[Dutch]

I questioned the starter next but I just rebuilt it this winter

The rest of the story . . .

 

[Fred W]

What do you mean? He just rebuilt it. That can't be the problem...

 

[RadioHowie]

 

[SoCalFJR1300]

https://www.batterystuff.com/powersports-batteries/sYT14B-4.html The Yausa in my FZ is 8 years old and working fine.

That's because it's the OEM battery isn't it?

Aftermarkets won't last that long....

OEM batteries go in new motorcycles, aftermarket batteries go in old motorcycles. Buy an aftermarket battery and put it in a brand new motorcycle, how long will it last now?

Not as long as the OEM.

Oh what the hell.The original in my 03 lasted less than 2 years. The Yuasa replacement was in the bike for a little over 8 years and now starts the mower just fine after sitting the winter. I expect the current Yuasa to give as good as the previous one although I don't think the mower will last that long.

You had a bad battery in your 03.

 

[ionbeam]

https://www.batterystuff.com/powersports-batteries/sYT14B-4.html The Yausa in my FZ is 8 years old and working fine.

That's because it's the OEM battery isn't it?

Aftermarkets won't last that long....

OEM batteries go in new motorcycles, aftermarket batteries go in old motorcycles. Buy an aftermarket battery and put it in a brand new motorcycle, how long will it last now?

Not as long as the OEM.

OK, I'll bite, show your work. What is the difference between an OEM battery and an aftermarket battery, what makes OEM last longer? All good batteries get sold to OEMs and all batteries with defects are sold to the public?

Battery manufactures have product manufacturing lines and they are not setup for one line to be OEM and another to be aftermarket. There is a lot of tooling, fixtures and highly refined processes that go into making batteries and to have a 'special recipe' for one customer and another variant for the aftermarket isn't practical. FWIW, the P/N of the OEM battery is the same as the aftermarket, if the batteries are different how do they keep the OEM inventory and aftermarket inventory sorted? FWIW II, OEMs try to manage cost and typically will not put top of the line components like tires, seats and suspensions on their products unless these components let the motorcycle compete in a niche performance area. Why would a battery be an exception to cost control over other items?