battery replacement question

[GPRIDER]

I bought a replacement battery for my 04 at Autozone several years ago and it never cranked the engine at start as good as the OEM battery. Even after a good charge it was a little sluggish when new. Sure wish the OEM Yuasa batteries weren't so high. I'll be trying the Wesco when it comes time to replace my current one.

GP

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

I bought a replacement battery for my 04 at Autozone several years ago and it never cranked the engine at start as good as the OEM battery. Even after a good charge it was a little sluggish when new. Sure wish the OEM Yuasa batteries weren't so high.

The originbal battery in my 03 lasted 6 years! :exhappysmiley:

Early (Gen I) OEM battery = 'GS'.

"GS Yuasa Corporation of Japan, which formed after the merger of Japan Storage Battery and Yuasa Battery in 2004. GS ... Japan Storage Battery, the oldest Japanese manufacturer of rechargeable batteries. ...1895" (from the website...)

So..., looks-like a 'pre-merger' GS is a really good battery? :blink:

 

[Fred W]

The original battery in my 03 lasted 6 years! :exhappysmiley:

just a hint from many years of being a cheap skate......you get what you paid for

...proven Westco is under $100 and ...the best

Well..., how long do they last?

They seem to be considerably 'cheaper' than the OEM battery?

They also have less cca, oem has 210 and westco has 135.

Huh? Where did you get that info? The OEM Yuasa YT14B-4 is a 135 CCA battery. Never heard of a 210 CCA battery for an FJR. Got a link?

And as to the question of how long do the WestCo batteries last, how long do the Yuasa OEM batteries last?

That question is kind of like asking how long a particular tire will last. The answer is exactly the same: It depends...

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

Huh? Where did you get that info? The OEM Yuasa YT14B-4 is a 135 CCA battery. Never heard of a 210 CCA battery for an FJR. Got a link?

https://www.gsbattery.com/MB/document/2009%20GS%20App.pdf

Motorcycle applications, page 6, Premium AGM Factory Activated ("factory activated" are the key words), line 4, GT14-B4

And as to the question of how long do the WestCo batteries last, how long do the Yuasa OEM batteries last? It depends...

The original battery in my 03 lasted 6 years! :exhappysmiley:

 

[Fred W]

Well I'll be damned. I was under the mis-impression that Yuasa was the stock brand battery, but I just went down and looked at my old stock battery (never got around to recycling it) and it is (was?) a GS brand GT14-B4! I'm going to have to do some more snooping around and see if these can be bought anywhere besides through Yamaha ($$$).

As far as battery life, I'm sure that for every example that lasted 6 years there will be another that only made it 3. Like I said... it depends.

[edit] OK, did a little quick snooping. It appears that there may be some specs-manship going on with these battery companies. Yuasa (who now own GS) says that the GS GT14-B4 is identical to their Yuasa model YT14B-4. But the spec sheets disagree. I wonder if the problem is in how they are quoting the specs. Anyone have a load tester they can slap on one of these "135CCA" WestCo batteries. I'm betting that they put out more than the quoted spec when new and the GS puts out less than theirs.

 

[dll]

Here's a dumb question ... when do you replace it? When it won't start the bike any more?

 

[Fred W]

In my case, I replaced it when the clock and trip-odometer would reset every time I started my bike.

clicky

 

[ionbeam]

When my FJR was new it had several trips back to the dealer for electrical problems, these problems lead to an early demise for my battery. When the parts guy looked up the FJR battery there were two part numbers shown, one for a 135 CCA and another for a 210 CCA. There was also about a $100 difference in price. Since it was warranty and the parts guy was willing I had them install the 210 CCA battery. I couldn't tell the difference in performance or life of the battery.

CCA is about the amount of guts that can be crammed into a battery. It is real hard to get more CCA without increasing battery size. I would suspect that a 210 CCA battery really isn't and it is a specs-manship claim. Battery CCA ratings are not meaningful unless they list the temperature at which the test was made. I'll bet a doughnut that the test temperatures are different for the rating results.

 

[Zorlac]

Fred,

High CCA's are gained through the use of thinner plates for more surface area to lower the internal resistance, but this is a trade-off on the ability to recover from a deep discharge.

That chart shows an 8lb battery with 230 CCAs, I'm dubious.

With lead acid batteries, heavier is better.