New SORAI battery

[scaylabs]

Main advantage of this kind of batteries is reduced weight and size. If you don't have any need for that, of course many other batteries will be a lot cheaper.

You can charge them with a regular charger, but I think they recommend one of their own chargers if you are going to be doing it regularly.

I had a shorted relay completely discharge a Shorai and like Posplayr mentioned, there is no recovering from that. The replacement battery (which Shorai sent under warranty btw, great customer service) was also discharged by the same relay (was an intermitent problem, couldn't find it) but that time I caught it with the battery around 8 V and was able to charge it back up.

[earlfor]

I spent a lot of time researching AGM batteries, but never could find one that had the right mix of CCA/Ah, reduced size, and decent cost. Relocating the battery with an AGM is doable, since you can turn them on their side, but once I found any that fit the bill, they were not a whole lot cheaper than the pricey Shorai.

Especially maddening are the many AGM batteries that I suspect could be smaller but are made to fit into the stock battery box as a straight replacement.

I've bought all my bike batteries from wesco battery http://www.westcobattery.com/
the last ten years and have been absolutely pleased with the quality, longevity and prompt service. There is a battery locator box on the page, so you can find your battery by bike model and year or use the battery designation. It also gives dimensions of the replacement battery.

[earlfor]

The AGM Josh (TCK) just took out of his ZRX was 10 years old. Mine's about 6, and has seen some abuse (dead flat few couple times, overcharged once). I think you could go a lot longer than 3 years on one.

I expect you're right about that. heh More than once, I have bought a new battery for the B12 because I needed a battery for a 2nd bike and figured, the old Bandit battery would be good enough for the "standby bike" and that would give me a new one in the Bandit.

[MisterCinders]

I've bought all my bike batteries from wesco battery http://www.westcobattery.com/
the last ten years and have been absolutely pleased with the quality, longevity and prompt service. There is a battery locator box on the page, so you can find your battery by bike model and year or use the battery designation. It also gives dimensions of the replacement battery.

I scoured several sites for batteries with the plan to use an AGM. When you search by the YUASA designation from the stock specs, you get batteries that match the power needs but also fit the battery box, and many of these end up being larger than they need to be.

When I searched for other batteries using just the CCA and Ah specs, I found some that were a bit smaller than stock, even some that would likely work for relocation to the seat, but most of those compromised on power ratings to some extent. By the time I found some AGM batteries that were smaller and still offered comparable power output, the prices were getting closer to $100.

At that point I could spend about $100 for a battery that was a bit lighter and smaller than stock offering about the same power, or go all in at $140 for a Shorai that was much smaller, much lighter and provided more power than stock.

These spendy batteries aren't the end-all and be-all, but the flexibility for install locations without having to give up any cranking power sure is . . . luxurious.