New Battery

After 4+ years of ownership, the battery in the Venture decided to crap out. I don't know how old the battery is as it was in there when I bought the bike used, but Ive owned the bike for 4 years. I pulled out an Interstate, which is made by Yuasa. Phone calls to the local Yammie and Honda dealers confirmed that a replacement Yuasa was in the $100-110 range, plus tax, title, license, dealer prep fees, hazard pay, environmental fee, disposal fee, walk in the door fee. I thought about ordering one online, but I'd hate to have to deal with any warranty issues through the interwebs so I checked around some more locally. It appeared to me that the "house branded" batteries at Advance Auto and Oreilly's were actually the highly rated Deka batteries with fancy stickers on them.

http://www.advanceautoparts.com/1/1/591589-12-volt-sealed-agm-premium-batteries-power-sports-applications-by-magnapower-part-etx20l.html#fragment-1

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail/SSB0/ETX20L.oap?keyword=etx20l

Advance list is 109 and Oreilly's was 89.99. I stopped in at Oreilly's and they had it in stock and they allowed me to fondle it. I then inquired about the price. Of course it came up as 89.99 as I expected so I yelled and screamed and rolled around on the floor and they offered to knock $10 off to make me stop. Total out the door was $84 and some change with my old battery as a core.

Got home, checked the voltage, 12.5 volts right out of the box, tossed it in the bike and thumbed the starter switch and it fired right off.

Peeled the sticker off the box and guess what...

Ya Dun gooood!!!

Wow!!

That's and extremely good thing to know!!

Thanks for sharing, glad you are back on the rode with a reliable battery!

Word of advice, do not leave it in the bike over winter, and do not use a computerized charger even if it has an AGM setting! Mine went dead over the winter, 1 volt, and tried charging it with the AGM setting. The best I got it to charge up to was around 5 volts before the charger said bad battery. Sent it back under warranty and they said they were able to recharge it, and that my charger was no good for the battery and I need to use a simple non electronic controlled charger!!

Wish we had an O'Reily's in the area, all we have is Auto Zone and Advanced for chain stores...

Word of advice, do not leave it in the bike over winter, and do not use a computerized charger even if it has an AGM setting! Mine went dead over the winter, 1 volt, and tried charging it with the AGM setting. The best I got it to charge up to was around 5 volts before the charger said bad battery. Sent it back under warranty and they said they were able to recharge it, and that my charger was no good for the battery and I need to use a simple non electronic controlled charger!!

 

Wish we had an O'Reily's in the area, all we have is Auto Zone and Advanced for chain stores...

I use a computorized charger on all my AGM's and haven't had a problem. If they're really low it may take longer to charge, but so far... knock on wood... so good. MOF Odyssey sells a computor charger for big bucks. I have one in Cast-Aways inventory on consignment. Tested it once and I don't see any difference between it and the one I picked up from West Marine years ago...

.....so I yelled and screamed and rolled around on the floor....

If you can get the store's security cam video footage of that....lets put it on youtube!

Hey thats good to know...my battery is about 3.5 years old so... it could die any day now.

I do keep it on a GOOD quality battery maintainer year round when I'm not riding it daily.

I think I'm going to need a new battery soon for even tho it charges good but the voltages seems to drop pretty quickly when testing lights.

Are there any chemicals one can add while the battery is heathy to revitialize the battery. I though something could be added to clean the lead in the battery.

Also I have several trickle 1 amp chargers for 2 jet skis, 1 riding mower. 1 Sears 1amp/2amp charger for my VR. And I have three good sears 2amp/10amp/50amp chargers for my RV and Boat and additional cars.

I though a battery charger is a battery charger. Can some one suggest to me what I might be doing that might be bad for my batteries?

Can you post the SKU, or item number that Oreilly's used if we wanted to walk in and get the same model.

I think I'm going to need a new battery soon for even tho it charges good but the voltages seems to drop pretty quickly when testing lights.

 

Are there any chemicals one can add while the battery is heathy to revitialize the battery. I though something could be added to clean the lead in the battery.

 

Also I have several trickle 1 amp chargers for 2 jet skis, 1 riding mower. 1 Sears 1amp/2amp charger for my VR. And I have three good sears 2amp/10amp/50amp chargers for my RV and Boat and additional cars.

 

I though a battery charger is a battery charger. Can some one suggest to me what I might be doing that might be bad for my batteries?

I'm using a battery maintainer. Not quite the same thing. And NO...you cant add anything to an AGM or gel type battery.

I'm using a battery maintainer. Not quite the same thing. And NO...you cant add anything to an AGM or gel type battery.

So I'm sure all my batteries are the acid type.

1)Then are the regular battery chargers the correct ones to use?

2)And so can something be added to prolong the life of an acid type battery?

Can you post the SKU, or item number that Oreilly's used if we wanted to walk in and get the same model.

The part number on the battery is ETX20L.

The bar code number is 83996 01086.

That is a good find. With its 310 CCA, it looks to be the same as Yuasa's YTX20HL. The stock Yuasa YTX20L has 270 CCA.

I also replaced the 4-year old battery in our 06 this weekend. My wife asked me why I replaced it since it still started the bike. (Apparently forgetting that her husband makes his living designing, analyzing, and testing battery systems...) So I answered her question with a question. I asked her, "Do you remember push starting our bike in Montana after the battery died back in 06? Her response; "I'm really glad you changed that old battery!"

So I'm sure all my batteries are the acid type.

1)Then are the regular battery chargers the correct ones to use?

 

2)And so can something be added to prolong the life of an acid type battery?

Most automotive batteries, including those on our bikes, whether flooded, AGM, or gel cell, are ALL using acid. Its just the way the acid is used, either suspended in water, as in a flooded battery, or absorbed into a glass mat, (AGM) or suspended in a gel-type electrolyte.

Use a battery CHARGER if you want to CHARGE batteries. Use a battery MAINTAINER if you want to MAINTAIN batteries. This applies no matter WHAT type of batteries you have. Some units do both jobs, and switch automatically from one mode to the other.

You can fry a battery if its left unattended on a battery charger, even if its a trickle charger.

Likewise, a battery maintainer might not be any good for recharging a discharged battery.

As far as adding anything to your batteries...I have seen some various products...I doubt they do any good. I remember being so broke as a teenager that I could not afford a new battery at around $30, so I added some 'magic battery rejuvenator potion' to a car battery. It still had to be replaced a few days later. I have never wanted to be embarrassed like that again...so I just go buy a new battery.

If you keep all your batteries on maintainers, whether plug-in or solar, you will never have batteries go dead from just sitting around un-used. Problem solved.

Most automotive batteries, including those on our bikes, whether flooded, AGM, or gel cell, are ALL using acid. Its just the way the acid is used, either suspended in water, as in a flooded battery, or absorbed into a glass mat, (AGM) or suspended in a gel-type electrolyte.

 

Use a battery CHARGER if you want to CHARGE batteries. Use a battery MAINTAINER if you want to MAINTAIN batteries. This applies no matter WHAT type of batteries you have. Some units do both jobs, and switch automatically from one mode to the other.

 

You can fry a battery if its left unattended on a battery charger, even if its a trickle charger.

 

Likewise, a battery maintainer might not be any good for recharging a discharged battery.

 

 

As far as adding anything to your batteries...I have seen some various products...I doubt they do any good. I remember being so broke as a teenager that I could not afford a new battery at around $30, so I added some 'magic battery rejuvenator potion' to a car battery. It still had to be replaced a few days later. I have never wanted to be embarrassed like that again...so I just go buy a new battery.

 

If you keep all your batteries on maintainers, whether plug-in or solar, you will never have batteries go dead from just sitting around un-used. Problem solved.

All this may be true, but due to problem I just had http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=58270

I really believe the AGM, and maybe other types of new technology batteries, are REALLY sensitive to discharge below spec. My best suggestion is to avoid discharge, especially during testing-use a charger to keep battery up during testing.

I have my battery back from battries plus in above post, and been running on new tender/desulphite mode for better than 1 week. When I picked it up it was operating at 270cca, may take back and get load tested again to see if desulphate has helped any.

Got home, checked the voltage, 12.5 volts right out of the box, tossed it in the bike and thumbed the starter switch and it fired right off.

 

Peeled the sticker off the box and guess what...

What did you end up paying for the Rielley's AGM?? We can order DEKA's from Bohannon, shipped free to your door for $85.00 bucks.... Curious what O'Rielly charges for the private label???

What did you end up paying for the Rielley's AGM?? We can order DEKA's from Bohannon, shipped free to your door for $85.00 bucks.... Curious what O'Rielly charges for the private label???

I ended up paying $84 and some change out the door, plus if there's a warranty issue, I can walk up to the counter and exchange it.

I ended up paying $84 and some change out the door, plus if there's a warranty issue, I can walk up to the counter and exchange it.

Good thought. As long as the price is about the same, and there's an O'Rielly close by, that'd be the way to go.

Picked one up this morning at O'Reilly's for my 06.

89.99 + tax + core charge was $106.34 out the door.

I"ll get 8 bucks back when I return my core.

Mine too has the DEKA brand under the AGM Super Start label.

15K miles on the bike. Hope this new battery lasts as well as the 5 yr old Yuasa I just yanked out.

Picked one up this morning at O'Reilly's for my 06.

89.99 + tax + core charge was $106.34 out the door.

I"ll get 8 bucks back when I return my core.

Mine too has the DEKA brand under the AGM Super Start label.

15K miles on the bike. Hope this new battery lasts as well as the 5 yr old Yuasa I just yanked out.

In your case having one dropped on your doorstep for $20 bucks less, and getting it in 2 days, would have been a better deal. And what's with this core charge... O'Reilly needs to get their act together...

The ETX20L (O'Reily's) is a smaller battery than my old battery for my 89 VR. Is that what every one else has found for their MKII. What did you do to fill in the gap so the battery does not slide around.

Now O'Reily's did have an AGM battery the exact size I need but it was like 240 ccp.

The ETX20L (O'Reily's) is a smaller battery than my old battery for my 89 VR. Is that what every one else has found for their MKII. What did you do to fill in the gap so the battery does not slide around.

 

Now O'Reily's did have an AGM battery the exact size I need but it was like 240 ccp.

The ETX20L is for the 2nd gen bikes.

http://www.bohannonbattery.com/html/deka.html

But the Odessy battery that was popular for the 1st gens was bit smaller than the stock battery also. Some used padding to fill the space and some relocated the TCI into the extra space to make a home for it.

Mike