Sooooo, I've got an S4. In the past 3 years, I've gone through 2 new batteries. I'll admit I use the cheapo Batteries Plus replacement batteries. But, since I bought the bike, it's always been a little slow to crank. And when the battery gets approximately 1 year old, sometimes it will draw down and not start. The local dealer and a few other people have recommended (the people doing the recommending are usually the ones selling the Lithium-Ion batteries) that I put a Lithium-Ion battery in it. They have between 300 and 425 cold cranking amps, vs 120 CCA for the cheese battery that I have. In your guys's esteemed opinion, of which you guys aren't shy about stating (HA), would this help my situation? The price difference is about $70 for the cheap one vs. $180 or so for the Lithium-Ion. Any personal experience with these?
Thanks, Robert
http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=45644.0 (http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=45644.0)
Either you are buying really bad batteries or something is wrong with your bike.
You need to check the following;
charging rate, including amp output
voltage drop, both charging circuit and starting circuit on every connection, including grounds
starter current draw
A cable upgrade is a good idea after all else checks out.
I know what you are thinking. Was it five or six bikes that caught on fire. Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I lost track of it myself. But being as that Lithium battery is next to your gas tank and would blow your balls clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?
Listen to Howie. He speaks with the wisdom of the ages.
I'm guessing there's something wrong. I've had the stock battery in my 05 for over 5 years, no tender or nothing, it just kept going. I just replaced it for a Shorai because it was lighter, and all the other cool kids were doing it.
The 03 had a battery in it for about 4 years, this is where the 05s battery is now. Only died because I fried it myself on accident (mostly why I got the Shorai mentioned above). :P
Neither of these bikes get ridden that often either...now a days. :-\
IMO I also believe there is something wrong with your bike. I also have a 2005 S2R 800. I changed out my battery this summer to get a shorai just because I was getting freaked out that one of these days I would be stuck in a parking lot somewhere. Until July of this year, I was still using the same battery the bike initially came with. I've never used a battery tender, I've repeatedly let the bike sit for entire winters without running it. Every time I went to turn it on, the bike would crank fine.
There are some bikes that suck up a lot of juice. Your bike has the same electronics as mine so I dont think our models do that. The only time I've had a battery drain is when i've chosen to go with a smaller cell to lighten the bike. For example On my old 2003 M800 I installed a YTZ7S Style battery. The storage capacity on those was a lot weaker.
BTW. you need to be specific about what type of batteries you are talking about. Most motorcycle batteries are either lead acid (or similar variant) or Lithium NANO Phosphate. If you're trying to get a lithium ION, you're going to get in trouble.
Quote from: howie on December 12, 2011, 01:54:23 PM
Either you are buying really bad batteries or something is wrong with your bike.
There are some spectacularly crap batteries coming out of China these days.
Preisker - can I suggest forking out for a good quality brand-name battery next time? I've never had a bad Yuasa battery, they cost me twice what the "best of the cheapo brands" I can get here ("Deka Powersports" are OK), but they last close to twice as long on average, and when you factor in the reduced hassle/maintanance I clearly come out ahead on the Yuasa batteries.
I'm hearing great thing about Li-Ion, and particularly the A123 LiFePO4 batteries, but these days my approach is to fit the biggest Yuasa battery I can fit in the space I've got. I'll switch when there's 10 or 15 years worth of data showing LiIon batteries are reliable and long lasting in motorcycle starting scenarios... Someone _else_ can do all the walking home while gathering that data :-)
big
Bigiain has it right. A123 li-on cells are the best. And did you know the only motor battery that is legally providing these cells is Full Spectrum Power in VA. Full spectrum has more wins under their belt then any other manufacture. Their gear kicks ass and the guys over there are great to deal with. I know a few people carry those batteries including duc pond. I highly recommend you check them out.
Will do. Thanks Add.
I was having problems starting my 2010 1100S Monster. Sometimes the voltage would drop so low as to lose the clock and tripmeter memory. A couple of months ago I bought a Full Spectrum Pulse P3 and cables from Motolectric hicap. It might of been overkill but now it starts about 1/10 of a second before I thumb the starter! [thumbsup]