new battery

[wmh9680]

Hi, I need a new batt for my 2002. I read the list of possibilities on the $ for $ on the website. I remember reading about the batt sensor that you might have to disc but I don't remember what you have to do. Anyone remember. Thanks, mike

[Nathan (South Carolina)]

Connect the sensor wire to the positive side of the battery to keep the battery light off on the dash if you are using a maintenance free battery. The light only lets you know when the battery's electrolyte is low and is not needed on a maintenance free battery.

[bikerking.biz]

Connect the sensor wire to the positive side of the battery to keep the battery light off on the dash if you are using a maintenance free battery. The light only lets you know when the battery's electrolyte is low and is not needed on a maintenance free battery.

Better solution:
Bug the light blue wire from the battery sensor onto the orange wire of the signal flasher. This way the circuit will be switched, and not hot all the time like if connected to the battery.

[wmh9680]

Thanks, the batt had a hard time holding a charge this winter even with a trickle charger. Sometimes I had to jump it plus I lost one of the caps along the way. I've had the bike since 2007 so I don't know how old the batt is. Thanks again, Mike

[wmh9680]

Since the $4$ list is kinda old any suggestions on what batt to get? Thanks, Mike

[Mr Jensee]

Spring for a AGM or gel cell battery. I found one on the internet a few months ago for less than a hundred dollars. Plenty of cranking power. I can try to find the info for you.
Here you go...
Power Max Power Sport 12 Volt Battery (GTX24HL-BS) from http://www.ebatteriestogo.com cost me $87. shipped at the time I bought it. Jetjock76 bought the same and he says he is happy as well with it.

[wmh9680]

Where do you guys live? I live in the Chicago area and I start my bike all year and keep a battery tender on it. It needs to start in the winter and I know some batteries take a special tender/charger that costs as much as the battery itself. Thanks, Mike

[Mr Jensee]

I live in Louisiana. I keep my bike on a tender all the time I am not riding it. I work a 7 and 7 schedule offshore so the bike will sit a week unstarted. Never have problems starting. The tenders for motorcycles are pretty cheap. I have a Yuasa and it was about 30 bucks several years ago. You don't need the tenders they use on cars. Having a tender on a maintenance free battery will give it a long life. The battery on my ZRX1100 was nearly 10 years old when it finally died. The ZRX uses a maintenance free Yuasa battery. When you compute the cost of a regular lead acid battery and the short life they have over an AGM with a tender the savings of the AGM are tremendous. Worth the investment.
-Michael

[wmh9680]

I use a Deltran Battery Tender on both bikes and my wifes Honda Fit since it actually has a bike batt in it and she doen't drive much so over a period of time the batt will go dead. Hondas solution is to drive more or put a batt tender on it-not stand behind their car/batt and the batt compartment is so small only their special batt made for the Fit will fit without mods. I had an Odessy (SP) batt before and am thinking about a Braille batt for the Fit and they say it takes a special charger for both or you will ruin the batt. I had bought the charger for the odyssey and it was $80 or so. Thanks, Mike

[Rhinestone Kawboy]

Spring for a AGM or gel cell battery. I found one on the internet a few months ago for less than a hundred dollars. Plenty of cranking power. I can try to find the info for you.
Here you go...
Power Max Power Sport 12 Volt Battery (GTX24HL-BS) from http://www.ebatteriestogo.com cost me $87. shipped at the time I bought it. Jetjock76 bought the same and he says he is happy as well with it.

Keep in mind when using AGM or gel cell batteries, that they are more susceptible to overcharging- even if using a battery tender (was told this by a battery dealer). I've had lead/acid batteries also be "boiled" fairly dry after the initial year of a new battery with the battery tender/battery minders or the like on full time when not riding. With the AGM's and gell cells, they are sealed, so you don't know what's going on inside. I've had lead/acid batteries last better than 5 years, and one AGM that burned up in 13 months with the battery tender on full time when not riding. My battery tender is Ok. The solution as I now know it, is to use a battery tender/battery minder or like quality charger/maintainer, and put it on a timer. I run mine on 2 hours, and then off 4 hours every day. To do that, you may have to buy a digital or mechanical timer that can do that. I also live in PA where we have too long of winters and the bike sits with the battery tender on it, but now charging as indicated above.

[Mr Jensee]

The whole purpose of a having an actual tender is that it gives the battery exactly what it needs then goes into standby mode so overcharging is not done. I have not had a single AGM battery over charge using the Yuasa chargers nor have any of them failed in 10 years of usage. The Voyager's original battery did boil down some but I cannot definitively attribute that to the tender. Riding weather down here gets fairly high during summer months and that could just have well contributed to loss of fluid as anything. One thing that does lead to premature failure of lead acid batteries is the failure of the user to use only distilled water in them. Once you introduce tap water to a lead acid battery it will progressively shorten it's life.

[Rhinestone Kawboy]

The whole purpose of a having an actual tender is that it gives the battery exactly what it needs then goes into standby mode so overcharging is not done. I have not had a single AGM battery over charge using the Yuasa chargers nor have any of them failed in 10 years of usage. The Voyager's original battery did boil down some but I cannot definitively attribute that to the tender. Riding weather down here gets fairly high during summer months and that could just have well contributed to loss of fluid as anything. One thing that does lead to premature failure of lead acid batteries is the failure of the user to use only distilled water in them. Once you introduce tap water to a lead acid battery it will progressively shorten it's life.

I was just reporting what a well respected battery man had told me in our area, and from some experience with the battery tender with a lead acid battery. Others have found the same thing. Maybe the battery tender or battery minder don't work quite the same way as the Yuasa maintainers, but irregardless, I have had at least 3 lead acids all boil down (over the winter-cold weather) with the battery tender on full time. I changed to try a different tender, and it seemed to do the same as mine. I also use distilled water in all my lead acids when needed. I have just recently started to use a timer as others have tried, but will not know if that makes a big difference from personal experience until after at least a year or so probably.

[wmh9680]

I have had acid batts boil down over a winter or two so I've mostly went with agm batts. Thanks, Mike

[SgtSlag]

I just pulled my Voyager's lead-acid battery, last night. It had been plugged into a Battery Tender Jr. all Winter, in an unheated garage, in southern Minnesota. I put a light behind it to look at how full each of the cells was, with acid (connected a smart battery monitor device, which showed the remaining life of the battery at 100%, with a voltage of 12.7 Volts): each cell was full.

Having said that, though, I had another bike's battery boil down around 1/3 of the acid, over the previous Winter, connected to the same model of Battery Tender Jr... Not sure what to make of it. I have three BT Jr.'s, on three bikes. I have not checked the other two batteries yet, but all were topped off before putting them into storage. I don't know what to make of it, except that perhaps some of my BT Jr.'s are defective? I have not tracked which BT Jr. boiled off a battery to see if it follows the unit. I guess that would be the way to see if it is the BT Jr., or something else. They are microprocessor controlled, so there really is no easy way to test them. Cheers!