Disappointing Birthday Present

[Pterodactyl_imp]

I guees, but cannot be sure, we are using the same OEM battery. Mine is over four years old, has been flattened twice and had it's share of very hot temperatures. I tested it recently and it's good. On the other hand the bike rarely sits without use for too long. If it is your battery then, be patient, it will fail again. Don't take a long solo ride out into the desert

Cheers

[White Dog_imp]

Will the starter turn over when the speedo and tac are doing the sweep? I've never tried, just curious to know.

[flynrider]

I swap back and forth pretty evenly between the CB750 and the CB11, so the bike doesn't sit for more that 2 days at a time. As for heat, from May to October, we get temps in excess of 100 degrees (37.8C) almost every day. Traditionally, batteries in this region have significantly shorter lives than more temperate climates, particularly small motorcycle batteries.

Quote:Will the starter turn over when the speedo and tac are doing the sweep? I've never tried, just curious to know.
I've done this by accident a couple of times. Yes, the starter will turn over and the bike will start and rev up to a couple thousand rpm. It goes back to normal once the sweep is done. I believe the gauge sweep indicates that the computers and sensors are booting up. Since making my few goofs, I now turn the key and wait patiently for the sweep to complete. Funny thing is, now when I'm riding the old CB750 I turn the key and sit there waiting for something to happen

Quote: Rboe said :Then there are new Lithium batteries that are very light, and um, expensive. Smile Seem to be much less affected by the heat though.
In anticipation of having to go battery shopping, I was looking at the Li replacement types. They seem to be getting great reviews all around the Internet and their weak point seems to be cold instead of heat. As a bonus, the Li replacements are 5.7 lbs. lighter than the stock AGM battery (2.3 lbs. vs. 8 lbs.).

[Elipten_imp]

Hard to pull against the 550lbs weight on the side stand. Clutch cable would fail first.


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[Guth_imp]

I hope you're able to find the answer without too much trouble.

Thanks for the reminder — today was the 2 year anniversary of [url=http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=21120805&postcount=2746]taking delivery of my CB1100 as well.

[Cormanus]

Many happy returns, both of you.

[flynrider]

It's definitely the battery. I went out to the garage late last night and checked the voltage on the battery. It was down to 12.4V, not a good sign. I turned the key and the light looked bright, so I hit the starter and it started right up. Being suspicious, I immediately killed the engine by cycling the kill switch and tried to start it a second time. No go. It behaved just like it had at the post office. Bottom line, this particular failure mode gives you absolutely no clue that it's about to die. The start previous to the failure seemed normal in every respect (i.e. no slow cranking or dim lights).

When I pulled out the battery, I was stunned by how small it is. It's only about half the size of the battery in my CB750.

In looking at replacements I saw prices ranging from $170 (Yuasa) to $70 (name i never heard of) delivered for the AGM battery.

The most popular lithium ion variant is $99 delivered. Pros are that it's 5.7 lbs. lighter, not as heat sensitive, more cranking amps (290 vs. 220) and has a built in capacity gauge and tester (a big plus). Cons are that I have zero experience with these types, so I'm relying on a few hundred Internet reviews going back about 7 years.

Given my experience with the small AGM stock battery (not good), I've decided to try out the lithium ion. Ordered it this morning and it should be here by Thursday. At the very least, with it's built in gauge, this battery will tell me if it's dying an early death.

[the Ferret]

These AGMs seem to be like that. They give up with no warning. Happened on my ST and on my son's FZ-1, however we usually get 3-5 years or more out of one here. My ST battery went from 06-13, so 7 years. My wife's 09 scooter is still running the original battery (5 years this month) but I am thinking about replacing it this year just because.

Will be interesting to see how the lithium battery works out for you. I have read they require special chargers, but can't verify that.

Funny, with that battery you will be saving a lot more weight than switching from a stock muffler to a Staintune.

[redbirds_imp]

Many of the fellows on the Triumph Tiger 1050 forum switched to the lithium batteries. Battery failure was rather common on the Tiger because Triumph chose a 12 amphr battery for stock where a 14 would have been better. I remember that those who switched to lithium were happy with their choice especially since the battery box on the Triumph was a bit tight and required the battery resting on it's side.

[flynrider]

These AGMs seem to be like that. They give up with no warning. Happened on my ST and on my son's FZ-1, however we usually get 3-5 years or more out of one here. My ST battery went from 06-13, so 7 years. My wife's 09 scooter is still running the original battery (5 years this month) but I am thinking about replacing it this year just because.

Will be interesting to see how the lithium battery works out for you. I have read they require special chargers, but can't verify that.

Funny, with that battery you will be saving a lot more weight than switching from a stock muffler to a Staintune.

A regular charger with auto shutoff will work fine, as long as it doesn't have a desulfating mode enabled. Plain chargers without auto shutoff will work too, but you need to monitor it closely to prevent overcharging.

I'm not too worried about chargers, since I'll be riding about every other day. The Li types are more sensitive to low charge and shouldn't be used if the charge falls below 50% of capacity. If in doubt the there's a little gadget on top that displays the charge remaining.