What battery to buy?

[dpep]

I'll put in my two cents for gel batteries. I have bought my last liquid motorcycle battery.

I ride a motorcycle because it's fun, not because I have to. I maintain a motorcycle because I have to, not because it's fun. I'm always looking to optimize that ratio.

[KEITH KRAUSE]

I've always used the standard Yuasa's. You do have to keep track of the cell water levels. They can drop sooner than you think. Mine is easy to check with no air box in the way. Use only distilled water to top off. Put in l-i-t-t-l-e amounts at a time or it's easy to over-fill.

[DimitriT]

Question on liquid batteries: does each cell have its own independent resevoir or are they connected to share them? I noticed on my battery that all but two cells are full (at the top fill line) but the other two are in the middle. They don't seem to change.

[crc1214]

The cells do not share electrolyte - each one has to be filled seperately, and each one will tend to have it's own rate of evaporation when the water portion of the electrolyte solution evaporates.

Chad

[bexabarr]

Should I bite the bullet???

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1,1&item=4627053646&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT

and buy some acid locally?? can you buy acid locally?? how much would that cost?

[Boondocks]

Should I bite the bullet???

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1,1&item=4627053646&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT

and buy some acid locally?? can you buy acid locally?? how much would that cost?

I wouldn't buy this battery. It's not a Yuasa, it's not an expensive battery, and by the time your add the freight it's not that good a deal for an "As Is, No Warranty" battery. You can probably find one with a warranty for about the same price with acid at a Walmart or local discount store.

"Can Be Stored For 10 Years" or Was Stored For 10 Years. Dry charged batteries have a long shelf life, but 10 years is pushing the envelope.

[bexabarr]

lol... I knew the response... just wanted to throw it out there.

[Joe Nardy]

The battery I got at Sam's Club for my bike was an Interstate Brand. It was $28 plus tax and included acid. Be sure to bring an old battery or there is a $7 core charge. I actually brought two which saved me the hassle of trying to properly dispose of them. Sam's Club or Wal-Mart will take returns on almost anything for almost any reason.

Thanks,
Joe

[JayH]

One word....Gel

[Flyin' Low]

Does anyone know if you need to treat sealed (maint. free) batteries differently when charging? I have a "dumb" 1A charger and have heard thirdhand that using it may be damaging my battery - right now basically I just plug it in overnight if it's not turning the bike over... which it isn't for the 3rd time.

Not sure if the issue right now is my battery (it was new this spring) or my charging sys on the bike, but it started great and after 1/2 hour riding won't start at all... down to 10.1 V

So I need to know if I need to buy a new batt, charger, or both.

Thanks
Nick

[qslim]

Does anyone know if you need to treat sealed (maint. free) batteries differently when charging? I have a "dumb" 1A charger and have heard thirdhand that using it may be damaging my battery - right now basically I just plug it in overnight if it's not turning the bike over... which it isn't for the 3rd time.

Not sure if the issue right now is my battery (it was new this spring) or my charging sys on the bike, but it started great and after 1/2 hour riding won't start at all... down to 10.1 V

So I need to know if I need to buy a new batt, charger, or both.

Thanks
Nick

Yeah Nick, the battery chargers are not a good idea for extended periods of time. I'm assuming when you said 'dumb' you meant one that does not monitor charge and shut off accordingly. A decent battery tender will set you back sixty bucks or so, but can be plugged up to the battery indefinitely. I use it on my Deka dry cell, and haven't ever had a problem.
Sounds like you may have charging issues, same thing I went through last spring. Have you done any rudimentary checks to see if the system is putting out any voltage?

[omaharj]

I'll put in my two cents for gel batteries. I have bought my last liquid motorcycle battery.

I ride a motorcycle because it's fun, not because I have to. I maintain a motorcycle because I have to, not because it's fun. I'm always looking to optimize that ratio.

Brilliantly put,succinct,emotive,and logical. Did you used to write for Barry Goldwater?:-D

[JayH]

I take it that you really didn't care for the book Zen and the art of motorcycle maintainence?

I'll put in my two cents for gel batteries. I have bought my last liquid motorcycle battery.

I ride a motorcycle because it's fun, not because I have to. I maintain a motorcycle because I have to, not because it's fun. I'm always looking to optimize that ratio.

[omaharj]

Did Phaedrus just wake up? MMMMM...quality cheese!:-D

[Boondocks]

I'll put in my two cents for gel batteries. I have bought my last liquid motorcycle battery.

I ride a motorcycle because it's fun, not because I have to. I maintain a motorcycle because I have to, not because it's fun. I'm always looking to optimize that ratio.

To quote from the contrasts of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance":

Not only did these mechanics not find that sheared pin, but it was clearly a mechanic who had sheared it in the first place, by assembling the side cover plate improperly. I remembered the previous owner had said a mechanic had told him the plate was hard to get on. That was why. The shop manual had warned about this, but like the others he was probably in too much of a hurry or he didn't care.

While at work I was thinking about this same lack of care in the digital computer manuals I was editing. Writing and editing technical manuals is what I do for a living the other eleven months of the year and I knew they were full of errors, ambiguities, omissions and information so completely screwed up you had to read them six times to make any sense out of them. But what struck me for the first time was the agreement of these manuals with the spectator attitude I had seen in the shop. These were spectator manuals. It was built into the format of them. Implicit in every line is the idea that "Here is the machine, isolated in time and in space from everything else in the universe. It has no relationship to you, you have no relationship to it, other than to turn certain switches, maintain voltage levels, check for error conditions -- '' and so on. That's it. The mechanics in their attitude toward the machine were really taking no different attitude from the manual's toward the machine, or from the attitude I had when I brought it in there. We were all spectators. And it occurred to me there is no manual that deals with the real business of motorcycle maintenance, the most important aspect of all. Caring about what you are doing is considered either unimportant or taken for granted.