Starting Procedure

[battlecry]

Sorry to hear that He Man.  It sounds you are at the technology bleeding edge.  From the cylindrical shape of the Ballistic batteries, it looks like they may use A123 cells.  Don't know what impact the A123 bankruptcy may have on suppliers like Ballistic.  Sorry situation all around.

_CY_ at Advrider is testing a new Li battery supplier that claims to have internal cell balancing circuitry.  That may be something of interest. 

[He Man]

I was never too intrested in in lithium batteries, but i picked the 12 cell up for $100. It wasnt much more than an AGM, and i figured if i wasnt happy with it, i could always sell it to someone whos wants the weight savings.

If the replacement is good, then ill keep it, otherwise im going back to AGMs.

And yea they dont advertise it, but it sure does look like A123 cells.

[He Man]

BAH HUMBUG!!!

Well that batt is going back to Ballistic, and im going back to AGM. My seat with the dual gel pads for passenger and rider is heavier than the AGM, so clearly weight is not an issue for me! Starting in any and all conditions reliably is.

I got a short little jaunt in today and its nice to have the motor start at the very least! There is still a bit of a hesitation to start, but nothing significant considering it is a nearly 2 year old battery that wasnt fully charged (pulled from a 1098). Will be ordering a generic AGM battery tonight.

I must say after riding my friends 1098, it leaves my monster umm...feeling underpowered especially in the braking department!!! That 1098 just has more GO!!!!!!!

[koko64]

 Oops. Forget that post.  I  meant to pm you.
I need glasses, specially with the smartphone.

[dlearl476]

I got a short little jaunt in today and its nice to have the motor start at the very least! There is still a bit of a hesitation to start, but nothing significant considering it is a nearly 2 year old battery that wasnt fully charged (pulled from a 1098). Will be ordering a generic AGM battery tonight.

I just went through some starting issues of my own detailed in my oil heater thread.  I ended up ordering a TruGel MG16aL-A2 and my bike starts the second I hit the starter. When I was looking though, I missed the "all of our OEM batteries are guaranteed to fit" bit on this page or I would have got the motobatt.
http://www.impactbattery.com/batteries/motorcycle-batteries/ducati/900cc/monster-1994-2000/

I passed on it because its a tiny bit larger than the yuasa and I didn't want to wait on a batt, lug it to storage only to have it not fit and have to send it back. I'm going to get one if I ever need another battery.

In the meantime, I got the TruGel from PwersportsSuperstore and the service was great, from order to at my door in 2.5 days.

Don't know if any of his applies to your bike but I thought I'd share.

Btw, got in about 135 miles yesterday myself before the fog started rolling in and my cold hands started complaining too much. The real test will be when I go out tos tart it today, sitting on the street instead of parked in my semi-warm storage.

I surely pisses me off though that I suffered two years of alleged cold start issues I blamed on the FCR's lack of a choke when it was my stupid underpowered battery all along.  

[He Man]

to the top!

Alright, so i ran my friends battery for one day and it did turn over, though there were times when it was having issues. I started it 5 times that day and twice it wouldnt turn over fully. I ended up buying a new AGM battery and the issue started again.

Heres whats going on

1) Without the sparkplugs in, the starter turns the motor all day
2) with the spark plugs in it will sometimes turn, other times it will die instantly.
3) THe spark plugs do work. I have spark at the right time on both coils
4)These are fully charged brand new AGM batteries registering 12.9 volts off the charger.

I am having mixed issues where it turns over for 10 seconds and refuses to start, or it turns over and i can get one or two detonations before it gives out, or it plain old gives out.

i dont jiggle the wires between hitting the starting, it can happen in any order. Sometimes i can get it to start, and it sounds like its firing on one cylinder (that distinct uneven exhaust note) but i check both exhaust headers and they are both warm.

I really dont know where to go from here. This thing is an electrical demon. Ive taken sand paper to the main ground to amke sure i have a good clean surfacae, ive done the same with the ecu ground.

ANy suggestions short of completely rebuilding the wiring harness from scratch?

[Speeddog]

What if you jump the solenoid, use an appropriately sized open end wrench or whatever.

Be careful about sparks..... Blah blah blah

[He Man]

since i killed the new AGM battery cranking her today (its on the charger now) ill  try again tomorrow.

Aside from it starting, what kind of problems would i see if its a bad ground?

[He Man]

i jumped it and she started up. she still hesitated like a semi old battery on a carbed bike, but eventually she stumbled anad i was able to catch the her on the throttle, she idled for about 10 mins without issue once i warmed up, and she started up easily after i shut it off.

Comments?

On this bike i click the starter and it  goes through an automatic cycling, not like an older bike wher ei have to hold the button down.

[He Man]

So i checkedwith the manufacturer of the battery i bought. Its not OEM yuasa, and its only 130cca. the yuasa genuine is 180cca. Which is probably what the problem is. The new motor is slightly higher compression and it is 13 degrees outside. so even if it is brand new it isnt powerful enough to turn the motor without droping the voltage too much.

Aside from that the terminals dont exactly fit very well, so im going to return the battery and get a refund on the ballistic and buy a trugel or an OEM yuasa.

Anyone have experience with the trugel?

[battlecry]

No data on trugel, but noticed that Yuasa has an aftermarket brand called Motocross.  Supposed to be the same batteries but rebranded and repriced for a wider market.  Kinda like Acura and Honda.  May save you a few bucks.

[Langanobob]

HeMan, I think it's a moot point since you already mentioned that it cranks all day with the plugs out, but I'm curious what oil you're running?

[He Man]

i am running 10W-30

Im not riding it this winter so im not using a winter oil.

battlecry, i looked it up, i dont understand how they rate their batteries.

how can 1 battery have both 135CCA, 180CCA and now motorcross (rebranded yuasa) claim 200CCA for the same YT12B-BS battery??? i understand its a quality of the cells thing, but how much can u improve the quality to generate more than 50% increase in performance.

Autozone makes a Duralast one that has 180 BCI CCA. i am questioning how accurate that value is though...

It also turns out that the 1098 for some models came with the bigger YTX14-BS (200CCA). Even the year old Yuasa YT12BBS in my budies 1098 is having issues cranking in this weather.

[battlecry]

Crazy, isn't it?  Amazon lists the -12 as 215CCA, Batterystuff's Motocross is 125CCA (dislexia?), Batterymart does a 160CCA look-alike, and Atbatt lists both the Yuasa genuine and Motocross as 215.   The 125 sounds more like a W-hr rating than CCA.  My YTZ7S is rated at 130CCA and has been serviceable (2 in 9 years) on my M800 but I start w/o the headlamp. 

[He Man]

I have a switch that shuts off the headlamp as well. Actually, my ballast isnt even connected and im having these issues!

Im really not sure if i should get the duralast one or the motocross 215cca one. I wonder if autozone has a test for CA?

i figure it this way, 180 from duralast should work. if it doenst i can return it. but if the motocross one is really 215, i want that for sure but theres no guarantee.


edit: i jsut made the most informative call ever.

So, this guy i called off of motorcross website

B & B Battery Group, Inc.
Bill Yates & Bob Giardina
9 Hurd Street
Cazenovia, New York 13035
Phone: (315)436-1423
bgiardina@twcny.rr.com


Said.... that the quality of a cell is a bIG player in the battery itself. THe quality of the lead, the acid, the mat in the fiberglass etc and it can indeed change the cca dramatically. He couldnt get any of hte Yuasa/motorcorss (same brand) in stock the last time he purchased them, so he bought a powersonic YT12B-BS equivalent. He bench tested it on the spot and it spit out 183 CCA at 83% charge ( rated at 180). Yuasas new stock, is rated at 215 and he said that from his experience, the 215 is pretty accurate.

So there you go. Im buying the motocross one.