Which battery?

[luvtoride]

I have an '04 that had well over 40,000 miles on in b4 it bit the big one. It never really TOTALLY died on me. I had quite a few instances of clock resetting. At the end, it was dragging... but would still kick the bike over. I decided that the majority of my riding is in the hills. I didn't want to chance getting stuck.

I bought a Westco as a replacement.

Edited to add: I never used a tender with the original, either. I normally ride all year & found it unnecessary as the bike would sit for maybe 2 weeks at a clip w/o being ridden at the longest.

 

[YooperDick]

It would seem the Odyssey 535 "might" be able to have about 3/8" cut off each end to reduce the length from 6.7"" to 6" (stock battery measurement) and another 3/8" off the Odyssey's bottom to reduce the height from 6.126" to 5-3/4". I can't see how the width can be reduced from 3.9" to 2-3/4". Its really too bad. I also have the Odyssey PC680 in the R 1150 RT and really like it.

 

[SkooterG]

I had just shy of five years and 150,000 miles on my orignal battery when I replaced it. I am not even sure it needed it. I was having the same starting issue I am having now way back then and assumed it was the old original battery. But when I put the new one in I still had the issue. I even had the Batteries Plus store test the old one and they said it was good, but replaced it anyway.

 

[mdisher]

I have had a couple hard starting episodes, followed by a quickly dying battery or one that I personally feel has discharged far to quickly.

Granted the batteries in our bikes aren't the biggest to start with, but I think a proper healthy battery should crank more than a minutes worth before you get to 'clickety-clickety'.

I've had two surprising dead/drained battery issues that hit me completely by surprise.

I've ordered a WestCo from Jeff. Just wasn't ready to 'experiment' shaving an Odyssey just yet. If my problems are the same, then I obviously have something that's draining my shit when it's parked.

-MD

 

[jack]

Original battery in my '05 with 17,000 miles and I keep it on a battery tender if I'm not riding for more than 3 days. By the way, I have an Odyssey in my V-max and it's extremely strong when cranking up that big old V-4.

Jack.

 

[FJR919]

I have the original battery in my '05, and it's still going strong, but I only have 33K miles on the bike (been taking lessons from BrunDog ). I do put it on a battery tender on occasion. Hearing that other riders are on their 2nd or 3rd or more battery has me wondering whether perhaps mine is living on borrowed time...
Any other '05 bikes out there still on the original battery?

I have the original in my '05 but it sits on a tender when not being ridden and has the benefit of a heated/air conditioned garage. I do test it from time to time by leaving it off the tender for 24 hours and seeing how strong it starts. So far, so good, but I have had generally good results and long life from GB batteries (Yamaha OEM). GB is owned or partners with YUASA now. I have some motorcycles almost 8 years old and they still act like new. A Yuasa engineer I was lucky enough to talk to told me batteries are generally good for three to four years in normal service. If maintained on a tender when not being ridden, he believes seven to eight years of service is not unusual. My own experience tends to confirm that.

 

[mdisher]

Ordered my WestCo from Jeff @ Bike Effects on Monday, received it yesterday...

Will install this weekend :dance:

 

[2006FJR]

I put in the Yuasa in yesterday and I activated it and it is on a charger now making sure it is at 100%. It sounds like WestCo is a great battery too but I wanted to try something a little different.

 

[Phugedaboudet]

Any recommendations for which battery handles cold weather better? As soon as it gets below 40 around here in the mornings, the battery is very weak. I don't have an enclosed parking space nor are there any outlets to connect a tender to.

It's just got to survive the cold month or two, because it works fine the rest of the year. I can't let it sit over the weekend or it won't start Monday morning.

This sort of weather used to kill the battery of my old Ninja 600. Every winter it had to be replaced.

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

I put in the Yuasa in yesterday and I activated it and it is on a charger now making sure it is at 100%. It sounds like WestCo is a great battery too but I wanted to try something a little different.

Any battery you need to "Activate" may not be the correct battery for the FJR? It may fit and all -- but, may not get to the proper 12.8 ~ 13.2 volts for proper operation of everything electronic?

The bikes come with a factory filled/sealed (ready to go) AGM battery -- and, IMO, that would be the proper replacement...?

 

[2006FJR]

I put in the Yuasa in yesterday and I activated it and it is on a charger now making sure it is at 100%. It sounds like WestCo is a great battery too but I wanted to try something a little different.

Any battery you need to "Activate" may not be the correct battery for the FJR? It may fit and all -- but, may not get to the proper 12.8 ~ 13.2 volts for proper operation of everything electronic?

The bikes come with a factory filled/sealed (ready to go) AGM battery -- and, IMO, that would be the proper replacement...?

It is the correct battery. On the Yuasa page you enter the bike, model and year and it gives you the correct battery model. This battery retails for $189 and it should do more than fine installed in the FJR.

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

Well, maybe so? But, if you had to "Activate" it -- it's not the same as what come with a new FJR.

(Yuasa may not be the last word in battery info?)

 

[SkooterG]

-- but, may not get to the proper 12.8 ~ 13.2 volts for proper operation of everything electronic?

Try 13.4-13.6 volts. I am still trying to do some net research, but my 5 month old replacement battery is currently reading about 13.4 volts. And my old original one, which sat for the last 5 months (on a bad charger? I think) was reading 4 volts last week. After a week messing with it on various chargers, it reads 13.6 volts right after coming off the charger, and about an hour later steadies out at 13.0 volts.

One article I read somewhere said something about our type of maintenance free battery being a higher voltage than typical, but I am still trying to figure out what the proper voltage of a good battery should be.

So for any of you with brand new batteries, what does the voltage read?

 

[2006FJR]

-- but, may not get to the proper 12.8 ~ 13.2 volts for proper operation of everything electronic?

Try 13.4-13.6 volts. I am still trying to do some net research, but my 5 month old replacement battery is currently reading about 13.4 volts. And my old original one, which sat for the last 5 months (on a bad charger? I think) was reading 4 volts last week. After a week messing with it on various chargers, it reads 13.6 volts right after coming off the charger, and about an hour later steadies out at 13.0 volts.

One article I read somewhere said something about our type of maintenance free battery being a higher voltage than typical, but I am still trying to figure out what the proper voltage of a good battery should be.

So for any of you with brand new batteries, what does the voltage read?

If I had a way to read the voltage on my battery I would tell you...

 

[mdisher]

-- but, may not get to the proper 12.8 ~ 13.2 volts for proper operation of everything electronic?

Try 13.4-13.6 volts. I am still trying to do some net research, but my 5 month old replacement battery is currently reading about 13.4 volts. And my old original one, which sat for the last 5 months (on a bad charger? I think) was reading 4 volts last week. After a week messing with it on various chargers, it reads 13.6 volts right after coming off the charger, and about an hour later steadies out at 13.0 volts.

One article I read somewhere said something about our type of maintenance free battery being a higher voltage than typical, but I am still trying to figure out what the proper voltage of a good battery should be.

So for any of you with brand new batteries, what does the voltage read?

I don't claim to remember much from high school electronics but I do know this. What a battery reads voltage wise, has absolutely no bearing what-so-ever on how it will perform current wise under a load.

Watch/logging the voltage while we're underway under a load is one thing, at rest doesn't mean diddly.

A good and bad battery can both show x votage at rest.

I'm sure ion or someone who does this every day will chime in at some point.

 

[SkooterG]

No doubt a load test is a better test of the battery's condition. However the reading of the at rest voltage is an excellent indicator of whether the battery is good or not. Almost all procedures have you check that before doing a load test.

I think.

Where's Ionbeam?

 

[YooperDick]

The Scorpion appears to be a size match and claim 210 C.C.A. at a substantially lower price than the Yuasa. I can't give testimony about the quality.

 

[Skully]

my 05s battery just died. no surprise. 5 years old and its been a struggle to keep it over 12.5 volts for the last year or so.

so i left it for a month.

6.8 volts.

:dead:

 

[2006FJR]

The Scorpion appears to be a size match and claim 210 C.C.A. at a substantially lower price than the Yuasa. I can't give testimony about the quality.

The YT14B-4 was replaced by the YT14B-BS meaning that was the older model according to Yuasa. I am pretty sure I remember being told that Yuasa makes the Scorpion batteries and many others that share the model numbers. I considered getting one of their other brands for cheaper but in the end pulled the trigger after I found it on the internet for $113 and a local company price matched it for me.

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

Try 13.4-13.6 volts. One article I read somewhere said something about our type of maintenance free battery being a higher voltage than typical, but I am still trying to figure out what the proper voltage of a good battery should be.So for any of you with brand new batteries, what does the voltage read?

I don't claim to remember much from high school electronics but I do know this. What a battery reads voltage wise, has absolutely no bearing what-so-ever on how it will perform current wise under a load.

Watch/logging the voltage while we're underway under a load is one thing, at rest doesn't mean diddly.

A good and bad battery can both show x votage at rest.

I'm sure ion or someone who does this every day will chime in at some point.

It's about all we have -- a good, accurate, digital voltmeter. (We can't get into the battery anymore to check the specific gravity of the electrolyte.)

My info says:

• 13.0 V. = 100%
• 12.8 V. = 75%
• 12.5 V. = 50%
• 12.2 V. = 25%
• 12.0 V. (or less) = 0%

Of course, it's dependent on temp., too -- but, I think, those numbers should work pretty well.Voltage while cranking (the drop in voltage) is a good indicator of a battery's condition/capacity.

Charging may take up to 14 hours and 1~2 hours should elapse before checking voltage.

Voltage reading should be a minimum of 12.8 ~ 13 Volts.

The above is not, necessarily, for the FJR battery -- just some maintenance-free info I had. I think some of the newest, better quality, latest technology, etc. seem to have the highest quiescent voltage.