Bike Battery

**wildbillers** · 09-11-2011, 11:19 PM

So luck has it that I decided to go for a ride tonight as i haven't had time for about a month to do so!
Pull out the bike and wash it down, go in to have a quick bite of dinner, and then go to start the bike, but no juice left in my battery!!!!

So i throw the battery charger on it for approx 15-20 minutes. Still No Go. (Thought i might get lucky) So i jump start it with a car battery i had in the shop and it finally starts.
Now I'm thinking if i go for a quick ride without turning the bike off it will charge it!
Ya Right!!!!!

This is not the case. I guess a bikes charging system is not like our cars. In fact the bike runs terrible without having a charged battery! (fuel injection)
It would idle fine but trying to rev it up would cause it to miss and the RPM would be very erratic and you could see the headlight flickering bright to dim with the roughness of the engine.
The computer must have been cursing me something fierce!!

I must of had my bike running for approx 20 minutes or more but once i shut it off i was right back at square one with no juice

To make a long story short. I think it's now time to replace my battery. It is still the OEM battery from 2005.

I have the Yuasa YTZ10S battery in my bike.
I put it on my battery tender for tonight to see what it might do tomorrow!

Anyone here able to recover/recharge a motorcycle battery of this age after it has been "deep cycled" or know of a good deal on a new motorcycle battery?

**Dudette** · 09-12-2011, 10:16 AM

Originally Posted by wildbillers

So luck has it that I decided to go for a ride tonight as i haven't had time for about a month to do so!
Pull out the bike and wash it down, go in to have a quick bite of dinner, and then go to start the bike, but no juice left in my battery!!!!

So i throw the battery charger on it for approx 15-20 minutes. Still No Go. (Thought i might get lucky) So i jump start it with a car battery i had in the shop and it finally starts.
Now I'm thinking if i go for a quick ride without turning the bike off it will charge it!
Ya Right!!!!!

This is not the case. I guess a bikes charging system is not like our cars. In fact the bike runs terrible without having a charged battery! (fuel injection)
It would idle fine but trying to rev it up would cause it to miss and the RPM would be very erratic and you could see the headlight flickering bright to dim with the roughness of the engine.
The computer must have been cursing me something fierce!!

I must of had my bike running for approx 20 minutes or more but once i shut it off i was right back at square one with no juice

To make a long story short. I think it's now time to replace my battery. It is still the OEM battery from 2005.

I have the Yuasa YTZ10S battery in my bike.
I put it on my battery tender for tonight to see what it might do tomorrow!

Anyone here able to recover/recharge a motorcycle battery of this age after it has been "deep cycled" or know of a good deal on a new motorcycle battery?

Actually.......the exact same thing happened to me. To the difference that the whole panel board was acting up MAJOR time.

But turned off the bike. Put the battery on the charger overnight and it NEVER EVER did this again. Starts fine...runs fine.......so everything is fine!!!

**fysty-1** · 09-12-2011, 12:46 PM

I have an Oddysee Gel in mine & I have had the same thing. I tried leaving on the Tender for a week but it still wouldn't start. So I went to CTC and bought a 4 amp charger that is designed for bikes & Atvs. It will charge the battery from dead flat to full charge (about 2 hrs) & then switch over to 2amps for a trickle to maintain. I still have the box if you want to know the model #.

**LegalAlien** · 09-12-2011, 01:56 PM

Originally Posted by wildbillers

Anyone here able to recover/recharge a motorcycle battery of this age after it has been "deep cycled" or know of a good deal on a new motorcycle battery?

Same happened to me, battery dead, jump started it (run with clutch in and in 2nd gear, jump on it and let clutch come up at the same time) rode it for 100 kms turned the bike off had a drink tried to start the bike and the battery is still dead. In this case I had to buy a new battery. Mine was only two years old, so your six year old battery has done its duty.
In other scenarios I use this:

OptiMate1.jpg

**wildbillers** · 09-12-2011, 09:39 PM

Well took it off the tender approx 5pm and put the battery back in the bike.
Fired up and ran like new. Went for a quick trip down the road and back and parked it!
As of 9:30pm tonight the battery still shows full on my tester and the bike still fires up no problem.
I think i may have gotten lucky on this one!!!

But i think i should be ready to buy a new Battery at any time now!
My buddy at my local auto parts store tells me he can get me the exact Yuasa battery for $110.00. Is this a good price for these batteries?
Thanks

**wildbillers** · 09-12-2011, 09:51 PM

Originally Posted by LegalAlien

Same happened to me, battery dead, jump started it (run with clutch in and in 2nd gear, jump on it and let clutch come up at the same time)

Is your bike fuel injected???

My bike would turn over but wouldn't fire with a weak battery. Saying that I don't think I could Bump start mine unless I had a ski slope to go down!!!!!!

Once i did get it running (after the jumper cables came out) it wouldn't run very well at all! The computer seemed very confused, Me Too!

**wildbillers** · 09-12-2011, 10:09 PM

Originally Posted by fysty-1

I tried leaving on the Tender for a week but it still wouldn't start. So I went to CTC and bought a 4 amp charger that is designed for bikes & Atvs.

Don't quote me on this but,
I don't think a battery tender is designed to charge a battery from stone cold dead as it has a voltage monitor circuit to "watch" the battery so it knows when to shut down and so it can tell if it is a 6 volt or 12 volt battery. At least with mine, if the battery has no voltage to start then it can't sense a battery at the end of the leads to charge! (Do i make sense?????)
This could be why the 4amp charger was able to bring the battery back up but not the tender.
If you take a voltmeter to the leads of the Tender when it is turned on and not connected to a battery, you will not see a charging voltage until you connect it to the battery.
This is the experience i have had with mine anyway!!!
Like i said, don't quote me on this, I'm just making a somewhat of an edumacated guess!!!!!!!!!

Please correct me if I'm wrong!

**LegalAlien** · 09-13-2011, 09:03 AM

Originally Posted by wildbillers

My buddy at my local auto parts store tells me he can get me the exact Yuasa battery for $110.00. Is this a good price for these batteries?

I think a new Yuasa does + $160.

Originally Posted by wildbillers

Don't quote me on this but,
I don't think a battery tender is designed to charge a battery from stone cold dead

The one I showed in my earlier post does it all in one shot, it revives from dead, charges and then continues keeping it alive for ever without changing settings flicking switches or pushing buttons. The little gadget costs about $100.

**wildbillers** · 09-13-2011, 09:27 AM

Originally Posted by LegalAlien

The one I showed in my earlier post does it all in one shot, it revives from dead, charges and then continues keeping it alive for ever without changing settings flicking switches or pushing buttons. The little gadget costs about $100.

Do you remember where you bought it? I am considering!

For over winter, currently, I put together a timer circuit which turns on a Canadian tire 1 Amp trickle charger for approx 6 hours every Sunday and seems to work well. I leave the battery in the bike and just plug this into a spot i have on the handle bars (for accessories) to charge the battery. This way i don't need to reset the clock!!!