Bargin Battery

[FROG MAN]

It's time to replace the battery in the 89. I do a battery replacement every three years buying one a year. The 84 got one last year and the 99 gets one next year. Battery life is usually over three years but this is part of my maint schedule.

 

My choice has been to find a bargin battery. I have tried various offerings from Walmarts powermax, Tractor supplies champions, Kmart sells the sears die hard reasonable. I really have no complaints with any of them. $55 for a battery is not a bad price and no shipping charges or driving out of my way $$$ to find one.

 

I know the Oddysey 680mj is probably the number one choice among riders and I understand the extra CCA it has.Also no Oddysey dealers anywhere in WV. Is it really worth with shipping three times the price? Can I expect 9 years of service instead of 3. Most of my riding is above 50 degrees so cold weather starting is not an issue. My next question is has anybody tried one of the maint free AGM batteries?

[GeorgeS]

I got mine for about $85 each plus shipping on E-Bay. This was about 2 years ago.

 

At the time, there were severl folks selling them on E-Bay. I got mine from a supplier somplace in FLa. as I recall.

 

They are legal to ship United Parcel, cause they are " Dry "

 

I have them in 2 bikes, and have had Zero Problems since installing them.

 

On my 99 Busa, the only battery that fit, stock, is a Yuasa, Sealed Unit battery.

 

They cost, about $120.00. I went thru 2 New ones, in 2 years, they both Crapped out in about 12 months, ( they simply died, and would NOT take a charge)

 

I had to Modify the Bike, to take an Odyessy, PC-545 Size. Since then, Zero Problems on that bike. ( except one day I left the radio in my tank bag, ON, and about 2 weeks later the battery was down to about 60 precent )

 

Also, Check with --- " Condor " --- I think he has a good price supplier, or knows the best place to get the Odyessy batteries.

[PBJ]

Put a Gel battery in the ex's bike 5 years ago and it was still going strong last year before the son locked it up. We bought it on lake George at Americade for the price of a yusa. THAT was a bargain!

[Guest Ken8143]

I need a battery also for my 1987. Do you have to buy terminal adaptors? and what about that probe thingy that sticks in the battery -

 

And is the gel battery the way to go over the lead-acid?

[Double D]

OK, now for a dumb question--Do I need to buy a new battery every 3 years? I have an '06 with 24K on her and I have no problems at all battery wise. Would it be smart to replace the battery this year before I get out on a trip and it craps out on me??

[FROG MAN]

I could probably extend my battery life to 4 or maybe 5 years by regular charging. Maybe I should buy a battery tender.More riding time would be good for battery life to. Just no time and when I do have time that creek doesn't cooperate.I'm lucky to get 6-8K of riding a year between 3 scoots.

[ToRide1]

Battery tender Jr. would be good and The sealed batteries I'm stuck with buying for the 05 second gen. I own kind of sucks as they are pricey compared to the dry charge we use to get and what I liked about them is I could store one on the shelf for 5 years and its still good! Just add acid and then the clock stats ticking.

[greg_in_london]

I switched to an odyssey three years ago. I had been using lead acid batteries and found they struggled with starting - when warm or when they'd been in a wet field at a festival.

 

Withe the Odyssey it has been much, much better. Mine was lent to me by a friend who was not using it. I expected to have to return it, but his Laverda is still off the road. He's coming for dinner in a couple of weeks and I hope he's not going to ask for it back !

[lonestarmedic]

The probe is a sensor that works the low battery light in the computer display. Either get a battery that you can put the probe into or do a search and find the bypass with the resistors

 

JB

[skydoc_17]

Having several bikes myself (no Second Gens., thank you very much) :sign just kidding:I have found Bohannon Battery Distributers to be one of the cheapest. They give excellent service, and ALL of their Battries SHIP FREE!

 

YTX18L-BS Battery -Free Shipping- Have a question? Call us (386)328-9024 KOYO may be substituted with Yuasa, Powersonic, or Superlex label
Battery Picture	Dimensions(LxWxH in.)	Description	Battery Price
http://www.bohannonbattery.com/images/bat/18lbs.jpg YTX18L-BS Battery	8 1/8 x 3 9/16 x 6 7/16	YTX18L-BS Sealed Maintenance Free 12V Battery Charged & Ready Upon Arrival	$89.00
http://www.bohannonbattery.com/images/odyssey/pc680mj.jpg PC680 Battery	7.3 x 3.2 x 6.7	Odyssey PC680 Sealed Maintenance Free 12V Battery Odyssey Charged & Ready Upon Arrival	$123.95

 

They also sell many other items related to battries such as battery tenders, etc. Here is the link to their site. (I am in no way connected with this company other than I purchased some items from them and got good service and price was excellent)

 

http://www.bohannonbattery.com/html/motbat/18lbs.html

 

Hope this helps,

Earl

[Guest Ken8143]

Thanks for the information Earl. So the Koyo or Odessy battery is an exact match, right? don't need to adapt the terminals in any way? The Koyo battery looked like the terminal screw goes in horizontal rather than vertical?

 

I understand I likely will have to get rid of the probe and make the fix so the warning light does not show up.

[bobcat]

I guess batteries have as many variables and opinions as do tires and oil....There's a battery shop here in Reno that sell all sorts of batteries and its where I get all my batteries for all my vehicles...The current lead acid battery in my 86 Venture cost $42, is 5 yrs old and still starting the bike fine...Soon I'll replace the battery as a precaution and I'll go back to that same shop...I'm sure there are better batteries then the ones I buy but you can't expect much more than 5 yrs even out of the most expensive ones...

[FROG MAN]

$42 for a venture battery is an excellent price. Maybe I should shop around. 5 years is probably max life for any of them.I would rather replace it early then get stuck waiting for a jump somewhere.

[skydoc_17]

Hey Ken,

Both the Koyo and the Odyssey Batteries are a direct replacement for your present Lead-Acid battery, BUT are somewhat smaller in physical size. They both have top mount battery terminals that DO NOT need adapters for the battery cables to connect to them. If you go to the Bohannon web site you will see the biggest advantage to the sealed batteries is the much higher cold cranking amps and they last much longer. Another advantage is they are not as messy, and do not vent off those acidic vapors that corrode everything under the false tank cover. As I have found with all motorcycles, batteries need maintenance like everything else, the most important maintenance to preform on any battery but especially on a battery you spend a buck and a quarter for is a battery tender! Wally mart sells one for $19.99 and it has extended the life of my motorcycle batteries tremendously! I actually have the one tender with a hook-up on several bikes and I just un-plug the tender and plug it into the other bike in rotation. Best 20 bucks I ever spent! I have the plug mounted on each bike ( I made an extension for each plug) and the plug tucks under the false tank cover on the 86'VR and 87'VR and behind the side cover on the 86' V65 Magna and you don't have to remove any of the plastic to plug any of the bikes into the charger. The local auto parts store here in Pa. (Advance Auto Parts) sells a decent replacement Lead-Acid battery for $45.00 and that is what is in the 86'VR as we speak. The tender worked just fine on the maint. free batteries and the Lead-Acid battery as well. Any questions about the battery tender hook-up, please feel free to PM me.

Hope this helps,

Earl

[Gearhead]

In short, IMHO, it is worth the extra dough for an AGM battery. They cost close to double the price of a wet cell, but should last close to twice as long and you can never kill them by forgetting to check the water.

 

In 20 years of biking and ATVing, I've found the average life of a wet cell MC batt to be 3 years. It's not that you have to replace them every 3 years per se, and they usually don't just crap out suddenly. You'll notice it gradually getting more sluggish to start, etc. You'll check the water, put it on the charger, maybe it will be better for a few days then deteriorate again, that kind of thing.

 

Oddysey seems to be hands-down the quality winner for AGM batteries, but I've never sprung for one. Honda quads come stock with a Yuasa AGM battery. I have two friends that bought their quads new and their orig. batteries lasted ~6+ years, trouble free up until they finally died. I bought a 98 Honda in around 05 and it has a stock battery. That one must have been replaced once, I don't know when, but I've not had a lick of trouble with the batt.

 

I've started buying bargain AGM batteries from sources like motorcyclebatteriesusa.com and others. Use a Google search. One brand was West Power or something like that. Bought one for another quad, oh, maybe 3 or 4 years ago. It's been trouble-free, we'll see how long it lasts. My Virago takes the same battery as the Venture, and about 1.5 years ago I bought an AGM for around 70-80 bucks. It's not old enough to really judge it, but here's what I can say at this point:

 

- It's factory sized (not undersized like some).

- It has 300- 350 CCA, more than the wet cells.

- It cranks that engine like a banshee.

- When winter came I stopped riding the Virago in favor of the faired Venture. It sat untouched and uncharged from November to early Feb, and when I started it, it again cranked like a banshee. No big deal, it should do that, but they don't always...

 

Jeremy

[Venturous Randy]

The biggest thing for me is not worring about hot start problems, even with #4 cables. After I put the #4 cables on, which was an improvement, I would still get in a situation where I encountered a hot start problem, even with a good battery and it always was at a very inopertune time, like a hot summer day in heavy traffic in Cherokee, NC. Not a good time to kill the engine. The Oddesy so far has done a great job of starting the bike, whether at 22º or 102º.

RandyA

[bobcat]

$42 for a venture battery is an excellent price. Maybe I should shop around. 5 years is probably max life for any of them.I would rather replace it early then get stuck waiting for a jump somewhere.

 

You're absolutely right....Many years ago I had a battery that I thought was immortal..It was 7 years old and still starting the bike strong, or so I thought..

One morning I started the bike for a trip, no problem..I stopped for gas about 100 miles later, started fine...when I stopped for gas the second time and went to restart the bike it was dead...Luckily there was a guy with jumper cable, I got my bike started and managed to make it home......Lesson learned..

[Cutty]

 

On my 99 Busa, the only battery that fit, stock, is a Yuasa, Sealed Unit battery.

The battery that fits a Honda ST 1300, will fit your BUSA. It's a YTZ14S more cca, little taller and Parts Unlimited carries 3 different verizons all sealed.

[GeorgeS]

 

On my 99 Busa, the only battery that fit, stock, is a Yuasa, Sealed Unit battery.

The battery that fits a Honda ST 1300, will fit your BUSA. It's a YTZ14S more cca, little taller and Parts Unlimited carries 3 different verizons all sealed.

 

thanks for that info; But I got a PC-545 installed. However I can quickly put the stock size back in, if I have to.

[BuddyRich]

Well, You could push it downhill, Jump on and start it the old fashion way ....:rotf:.

I was 20 in the USAF and my 1968 442 died. You have any idea how hard it is to push a 442, on level ground ,jump in, put it in gear, and kick start it. :rotf: Wore my butt out in about 20 minutes but got it started. When straight and got a new battery. I'm like you, I don't let them go till they leave me sittin.

[bobcat]

Buddy.....Like you, I pushed many a car to get them started when I was a teenager and in my early 20s....Due to money issues I always tried to get the last bit of use out of everything I owned, it didn't always work out for the best.....I'm in my mid 60s now and I haven't push started anything in the last 40 years and I don't intend to start now...After 4-5 yrs, good bye battery..If I miscalculate hello cell phone..