Test your battery

[KiwiCol]

I reckon the boss has rolled it back a few hours then.  Hasn't said & dunno why, but that'd do it.

[grog]

I guess were off topic but looks a great place to live Col, cold? Coast road looks interesting, good bike road?

[KiwiCol]

Great riding roads mate. . Nah not cold here, well, not like Chch, it's much more mild, wetter yes, but not -4 or -5 cold

[Nic]

My Motobatt battery after about 14 months appeared to have taken a shit yesterday. Great time of the year to be needing a new batt. The bike turned over a coupla times and then did the old grind to a halt. I put the wall wart trickler onto it, waited only about 10 minutes, had no expectations but FFS it started. So I rode the 75K to Duckberg and bought a new SSB.
Actually had a decent ride, most of the potholes have been temp fixed. The rain around this ere parts has left us alone for a coupla weeks. Summer is still to show itself.
So this morning I decided to put the old batt through a test or two before swapping it out. I charged it up and waited for it to settle down. Read 12.75 V, I put the high beam on for 3 minutes, went down to 11.99 V. Let it recover for 2 minutes, went back up to 12.57V.
Cranked it over, went to 10.5V during crank. Recovered back up to 12.5 ish.
So am I to assume it's good?? I'll leave it in there n see if it drains back down.

[Eric GSX1400K3]

Would seem to be healthy according to those checks

[Nic]

I forgot to mention, I last rode the bike 2 weeks ago and the battery was fine.
While I'll leave it in for the moment, I won't be surprised if it drains down again. I've always tossed them once they do that, if this one is a goer it would be a first for me. It's good to have a newy in stock now though.

[KiwiCol]

Have a think about investing in a digital battery tester, they don't have to cost the earth & even the budget ones do more than just a battery test.  I've got 2 testers, a digital one & a carbon pile one (analogue if ya like) Digital is quick n easy & can test other things, carbon pile is very accurate but dearer & can do a couple of other things.  Digital is accurate too, but the carbon pile leaves no doubt, you see it as it happens.

[Nic]

Thanks Col, doubt is my middle name though 

[grog]

Nic, my Motobatt lasted 13 months. SSB was fitted, lasted 13 months. They gave me a freebie, lasted 3 yrs, just installed same. I sell Motobatt, suposed to, havent for nearly 4 yrs since mine stuffed up. Yuasa the choice on lots on this site, Japanese batts, made USA, China, India, Thailand etc etc, not all the same. Original Yuasa lasted 9 yrs. Japanese made. 3 yrs is accepted life of a petrol engine batt, 2 for a diesel, rest is just luck. Ive sold/fitted over 600 batts this year, i know what i talk about. Just how it is. Col digital tester the best way, load tester old skool works, multimeter using starter motor as load exact same. 9.5 is min crank voltage, 12.6 is charged batt. Hope this helps.

[Nic]

Thanks Grog, I think it's a crap shoot, 2 years is the best I got out of a bike battery.

[Speedy1959]

Just before I sold Sophie I replaced her ORIGINAL battery.. It was a 12 year old Yuasa
Had the date stamp on the battery case.

[Hooli]

I replaced the original Yuasa on my 14 once with another Yuasa, that was about 10 years ago & it was still fine when the scum stole the bike. It'd probably seen a charger about five times in all that time & one of them was when I'd used it for starting the Sprint I had while sorting that from a burnt out stator.

[Andre]

Have a think about investing in a digital battery tester, they don't have to cost the earth & even the budget ones do more than just a battery test.  I've got 2 testers, a digital one & a carbon pile one (analogue if ya like) Digital is quick n easy & can test other things, carbon pile is very accurate but dearer & can do a couple of other things.  Digital is accurate too, but the carbon pile leaves no doubt, you see it as it happens.

Despite having sufficient testing equipment I bought a continuous monitoring thing. It continuously monitors Voltage, State of Charge, and Temperature. Keeps that data for 72 days. With one tap on the smartphone Cranking Test or Charging Test are ready to go. Results for Cranking Test are Cranking Time in ms and Cranking Voltage and these Data Points are graphed. Results for the Charging Test are Idle Charging Voltage, High Speed Charging Voltage, and Diode Ripple Voltage. For each of these a Bar Graph is displayed.

Since it uses bluetooth, I may put in an on/off-switch as I don't see the need for 24/7 monitoring. Currently the battery is out as season is over for me. There is a slight hope that there will be a day that meets my personal riding criteria (15°C, dry roads, no WE, and no holiday). If that's the case, I'll do the Cranking and Charging tests.

Not much of an investment... costs me a whooping 16.23 € shipping included). German manufacturer.

[GSXKING]

I've used this CTEK charger for many years it has quick connector and is smart charger it'll trickle up and discharge if left on full time so cycling slowly for extended lack of use helps battery health and longevity 👍
My first battery was a Japanese manufactured Yuasa it lasted 10+ years. I don't remember buying any other brand battery. Stick with what you know works over 23 years 🙏

[grog]

Agree about CTek Chris.