I used to have a standard acid battery and always kept it on a battery tender whenever I wasn't riding. I recently upgraded to a Motobatt MB10U and am wondering if any damage will come to the battery if I do the same? I only get to ride once every week or two.

These things are also able to hold a charge for up to six months. Does that mean I won't need to use a tender over the winter? Or it's able to hold  a charge but I should still keep it on a tender for the cold season?

Battery tender should not cause any damage to the battery  (Like if it is that brand "Battery Tender" which is a smart charger and designed to not overcharge your battery) A "regular" battery charger without smart technology can easily overcharge and damage any battery..

If you are riding once a week or less, and the rides are short, you may want to put the battery tender on ...but I would just put it on until the green light comes on and says the battery is "full".   I would not leave it connected continuously...even though that should not hurt anything..just a waste of electricity...

In cold weather for longer term storage...always make sure the battery is full charged before the cold weather hits......A discharged battery can be damaged by cold....A fully charged battery is basically immune.......

In the winter, when I am not riding much...I put the battery tender on for a day, or until the green light comes on..then I disconnect and leave for two to four weeks...then put on tender again.

I've had a Mottobat for a while now...love it!

Cookie

Quote from: AlexT on July 30, 2014, 03:45:26 PM
I used to have a standard acid battery and always kept it on a battery tender whenever I wasn't riding. I recently upgraded to a Motobatt MB10U and am wondering if any damage will come to the battery if I do the same? I only get to ride once every week or two.

These things are also able to hold a charge for up to six months. Does that mean I won't need to use a tender over the winter? Or it's able to hold  a charge but I should still keep it on a tender for the cold season?

Is the MotoBatt worth the price? I'm in the market for a new battery since I may have overcharged mine.

There are other brands of AGM batteries for less $$ than Motobatt......I'm not sure of the quality....

Regular wet acid batteries are probably the most economical...but it is nice to have a battery which doesn't leak, doesn't need vent tube..and is possibly superior in design.

Cookie

Quote from: Staysyk on August 01, 2014, 09:20:43 AM
Is the MotoBatt worth the price? I'm in the market for a new battery since I may have overcharged mine.

Patrick always recommended the shorai batteries.

I can say they are amazing. He was always right! (at least about the GS500s!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YO9XO7qjXE

My '07 Burgman 400, built in '06 has almost 8 years on the OEM AGM Battery (laying on it's side in the glovebox) and it's still going strong, all I do is plug it into a Battery Tender Jr when not in use.

My Yuasa battery lasted  three seasons, almost 4,  plugged into the tender - adding from date of purchase from PO, and my one season I got out of it. I saw the PO had all his equipment and toys in his garages with tenders, so I don't have an issue with believing that it was true for the bike all the time too when he told me.  It was still on the seat when I walked in.

I bought a BikeMaster gel battery to replace the Yuasa - Got ONE season out of it and had it on my smart charger over the winter inside.  Thought my charger was bad, and was able to replace it for the cost of shipping after providing receipt for the charger and the battery I was using it with - I received an email a few weeks later from the reseller/retailer of the charger (after I had already received my replacement) and they said the charger I sent back was working properly (The email was polite and professional, but I felt bad because I blamed the charger and not my new battery)...  So I took the BikeMaster gel in to load test, and it was actually the culprit. 

I was able to get partial reimbursement for that BikeMaster battery, and then I bought the yellow Motobatt MB10U.  Flawless so far everytime I check with my multimeter, never have an issue with starting or the like - Its been 6 months, so time will tell.  But the quality difference was apparent when comparing to the BikeMaster.  PLUS, its YELLOW... it has to be better

- Bboy

I think AGM batteries are definitely worth the purchase. Motobatt seemed to get really good reviews on the board here and elsewhere so I went with that one. So far it's had strong starts every single time, much better than my skimpy one from autozone. Now I keep that one on the side charged as a spare to test electrics.

Good to know a battery tender wouldn't affect it's life. I don't have the battery tender brand one but it's another one with a similar float function so it doesn't overcharge. Seems like a weekly plug into the tender ought to be good!

When I finally pull the battery out of my Burgman and I get to see what brand name it is....the exact same battery is going into the hole 

Quote from: BockinBboy on August 01, 2014, 11:33:21 AM
  But the quality difference was apparent when comparing to the BikeMaster. 

Quality differences such as?

Well... Yellow for one.. Lol kidding!

But really- the contacts and screws were the first thing I noticed, much better. As in heavier gauge and better material. Multiple hookups too. The casing is heftier and the battery actually weighs less. I don't have hard numbers for that to determine by how much, but the motobatt is a little lighter - couldn't tell you what that really means other than a physical difference though.

- Bboy

MotoBatt great little products.  Good reputation in Oz and in Europe.  Multiple terminal system is pretty nifty.  Nice colour too, helps you not loose it!

Ah. Well, I guess I should have read a few more reviews before I bought the BM Platinum II AGM. Maybe I'll get lucky and get a couple years out of it...

Yeah the BM Platinum II AGM was the one I had that lasted a season... Maybe it was just a lemon, I dunno... But it couldn't happen that often I would presume, otherwise the vendor couldn't afford replacements and refunds like they did with mine.  I got almost 70% of the original purchase price back when I returned it and that's adding in shipping cost to return.

- Bboy

I've had good luck with a couple of Scorpion AGM batteries which only cost about $50.  Riding year around here in NE Ohio except last winter no rides for 3 mo due to age and extreme weather.  I kept my bike in a non-electric garage so no tender possible and it makes me a bit harder on batteries than average with the frequent winter starting.  I found the AGM batteries much easier starting in the winter than conventional wet batteries and with no fluid level checks in the summer well worth the additional cost.

First one lasted 32 mo and 24k miles and 2nd one lasted 29 months and 10k miles, my riding has really dropped off the past couple years.  I've never gotten much more than a couple years from a bike battery in all my 30 years and 400k miles of riding.

http://www.batterystuff.com/powersports-batteries/sYT10L-A2.html

Go Li-ion! I happen to be a battery engineer, so instead of buying Shorai, I buit my own pack that weighs about 3 pounds and gives me 13.5V (20-90% charge, 14V at 100%), 1100A CCC. It easily starts an SUV.

With lead-acid you always suffer from hard sulfatation when you let the battery discharge a lot, and even more so - when you leave it in the discharged state for a while. You do 2 or 3 cycles like that - your battery is dead forever.

On the other hand - Li-ion can be cycled hundreds of times (that's what you do to your phone/laptop/tablet) without significant drop in performance. So even if your Li-ion self-discharges over the winter (although I still wouldn't worry about that), you can simply recharge it and it will be like new.
Sure - Shorai costs 2x as much as the AGM lead-acid, but it will last a long time. I would bet 10 years, because it's so over-spec'ed and even when it loses quite a bit, it will still be fine.

Quote from: jsyzdek on August 04, 2014, 10:34:11 AMI would bet 10 years, because it's so over-spec'ed and even when it loses quite a bit, it will still be fine.

I am an End User...a Li-ion would have to last at least 16 years for it to work to my advantage...this is based on it costing twice as much as an AGM (see my post above) are you going to have the same bike around in 16 years...even if the battery made it that long? 

Quote from: gsJack on August 04, 2014, 05:50:23 AM
I've had good luck with a couple of Scorpion AGM batteries which only cost about $50.  Riding year around here in NE Ohio except last winter no rides for 3 mo due to age and extreme weather.  I kept my bike in a non-electric garage so no tender possible and it makes me a bit harder on batteries than average with the frequent winter starting.  I found the AGM batteries much easier starting in the winter than conventional wet batteries and with no fluid level checks in the summer well worth the additional cost.

First one lasted 32 mo and 24k miles and 2nd one lasted 29 months and 10k miles, my riding has really dropped off the past couple years.  I've never gotten much more than a couple years from a bike battery in all my 30 years and 400k miles of riding.

http://www.batterystuff.com/powersports-batteries/sYT10L-A2.html

I'm going to go ahead and order this one tonight and I'll see how it fairs with my bike. Thanks for the advice!

Quote from: Suzuki Stevo on August 04, 2014, 11:32:28 AM
I am an End User...a Li-ion would have to last at least 16 years for it to work to my advantage...this is based on it costing twice as much as an AGM (see my post above) are you going to have the same bike around in 16 years...even if the battery made it that long? 

If I ever sell my GS, I'll just take my battery with me and drop a cheapie in. I'll also take my LED headlight and put the stock H4 bulb back in.

Regarding the cost - my battery costed me about $25 + time I spent on it (but it was fun time!). And I get almost 10x better specs than a quality Lead-acid, out of 3lbs of weight 
And I never have to worry about self-discharge, sulfatation, discharging it all the way... you name it. I can jump start a car or a pick-up truck from it, too.

But you don't need to go that extreme. All I'm saying is that people put tons of expensive mods in, getting virtually no (or little) performance gain (or decrease the need for maintenance). Putting a Shorai battery in pays off (not everybody gets 8 years our of their battery like you), and gives you a totally hassle-free operation, that is particularly attractive to people who don't have access to a power outlet where they park their bikes to keep the battery fully charged.

Quote from: gsJack on August 04, 2014, 05:50:23 AM
I've had good luck with a couple of Scorpion AGM batteries which only cost about $50. 
http://www.batterystuff.com/powersports-batteries/sYT10L-A2.html

I came across those while looking for batteries this past winter..which is when I SHOULD have replaced the battery and saved myself the two month agony of killing and replacing a stator and R/R.

In fact I'm pretty sure I started a thread about the Scorpion... I was pretty close to getting it. I'm also pretty sure it's the battery rebadged as an AGM batt under several other marks. I was under the suspicion that the Bike Master AGM is the same as the Scorpion.