Bike Needs a Battery I Think

[serpentracer]

Originally Posted by USAFgsxr750again

GET A BATTERY TENDER!!! It'll solve most of your future problems. while i have owned/used one, never had a battery go bad. the longest i've had the stock battery in any of my bikes was the Busa... 5 years... then i sold the bike. grrr. i seem to have bike adhd

several reasons why a tender is bad
1. over charges
2. doesn't stop charging ever. (switches from full charge to trickle charge)
3. over charging or constant charging ruins batteries.
4. newer agm type batteries do not need trickle charged. charge it once a month is good enough for these. they can sit just over a year left alone because they have a very low self discharge rate.

even if you have a regular lead acid battery you shouldn't leave it charging all the time. it does ruin them.

I've been following that philosophy for all my bikes with agm batteries since 2000 and I've yet to replace one. my 03 r6 still has the original battery in it. built in sept 2002 stamped on it. it's never seen a charger nor has it been removed from the bike since the factory put it in there.

my brother's 06 fz6 is still the original battery.

these are both made by GS battery. I will buy another one even if it's $150. they're the toughest battery I've ever seen.
Welcome to GS Battery (USA) Inc. | GS Battery (USA), Inc.

[serpentracer]

Originally Posted by Wayne's Striple

Most bike manufacturers use the smallest and lightest battery they can get away with, but really the heavy lead-acid batteries are stone-age for sport-bikes these days. A strong battery is the foundation of your motorcycle; if it won't start you can't ride it so spending a few extra bucks is well worth it. I got the Shorai extra-strong 18Ah lithium battery (only weighs a couple of pounds) and their battery tender which plugs into a cable to the 5-pin port on the battery ($250 total). Lithium batteries are a bit sluggish in cold weather (until cranking perks up the ions) so I got the stronger model than standard. Shorai says their battery can last 10 yrs with proper care.

a quick warning about lithium batteries. they do actually require a special charger which your charging system in your bike does not have.

even lipo batteries for RC cars are very powerful for their size and weight but they have to be balanced charged with a charger designed for charging them. and must be monitored very closely during charging or they can explode or catch fire.

and you cannot discharge them past a certain point or they're useless and become dangerous and must be disposed of right away.

so be careful with those lithium batteries.

[uncalcetindelana]

Originally Posted by serpentracer

several reasons why a tender is bad
1. over charges
2. doesn't stop charging ever. (switches from full charge to trickle charge)
3. over charging or constant charging ruins batteries.
4. newer agm type batteries do not need trickle charged. charge it once a month is good enough for these. they can sit just over a year left alone because they have a very low self discharge rate.

I can't speak for others, as I've actually read what you say from users of other tenders, but mine doesn't charge it at all for several hours, then it puts a little juice, then stops completely. As I've said, I monitor the battery with the voltmeter constantly.

I've also read people say what you say, and honestly, if it wasn't so cold down here and my rides weren't short -in general-, I wouldn't keep it on a battery tender every night. But in this context and with my unit, I'm having good results

[Bird of Fire]

Originally Posted by Nero Diablo

I think you'll find its 2 amps 25-30 amps is a lot and usually the rating of the main fusible link on a bike if it has one.

Yeah I was way off 7.5A, I just checked.

[USAFgsxr750again]

Originally Posted by uncalcetindelana

I can't speak for others, as I've actually read what you say from users of other tenders, but mine doesn't charge it at all for several hours, then it puts a little juice, then stops completely. As I've said, I monitor the battery with the voltmeter constantly.

I've also read people say what you say, and honestly, if it wasn't so cold down here and my rides weren't short -in general-, I wouldn't keep it on a battery tender every night. But in this context and with my unit, I'm having good results

same here. the charger just monitors and then when the battery starts to drop off, trickles it.
it gets a might cold sometimes... especially up in SD where i'm going back to YEAH, ME!!!!!!!!!!!!
it's what works for me. haven't lost a battery yet. different strokes for different folks, i guess. i don't winterize my bikes cause i ride them year round. there have been 70 degree days in Jan and i'm not gonna miss the chance to ride in such beautiful weather because i "thought" i would never get to ride until the late spring. screw that. i want to ride at a moment's notice.

[PJFZ1]

Originally Posted by serpentracer

a quick warning about lithium batteries. they do actually require a special charger which your charging system in your bike does not have.

even lipo batteries for RC cars are very powerful for their size and weight but they have to be balanced charged with a charger designed for charging them. and must be monitored very closely during charging or they can explode or catch fire.

and you cannot discharge them past a certain point or they're useless and become dangerous and must be disposed of right away.

so be careful with those lithium batteries.

Partially true.. The Cheaper Lithiums need a specific charger to balance them, and then they don't balance themselves when in the bike.. there are higher quality ones with the Battery Management System circuitry built into them, and the battery takes care of itself. It costs a bit more for these, but they are warranteed better (generally) and much safer, not to mention they will outlast the cheaper ones significantly.

On the positive side of things, with a god lithium you don't need a tender, because they have a much lower discharge rate when stored - they are fine when your bikes parked for longish periods.

[Wayne's Striple]

As with any battery one should occasionally check the at rest and charging voltage to insure the R/R is at optimum (the reason for the scare stories about lithium batteries catching fire). Lead-acid batteries have plenty of disadvantages; they are heavy, lose charge at rest, lose power in cold weather, the plates sulphate during storage and boil dry if over-charged, sulphuric acid burns the skin, and I have seen one explode (blew the end right out of it) when boosted the wrong way.
-Problem with sport-bikes is that the lead-acid batteries are marginal to save weight. The only problem with lithium batteries is that they can be sluggish on start-up in cold weather, but the solution is to buy a stronger model than the standard recommended one; well worth a few extra bucks. The Shorai 18Ah model I have starts nicely below 10C and the battery tender (which connects to a cable to the 5 pin port) keeps the battery at 13.25 volts during storage and 14.8v max when set to charge. Proper care is keeping the battery above 13 v, avoiding very high temperatures, and checking that the R/R is working properly.

[NoobKid]

Checked the battery with a voltometer and the thing is toast. Fully charged it, hit it with a 10 second load, and it showed Weak. I'll be getting a new one. I am probably just going to go with YUASA