Battery heads up

[King Rat]

I know I am going to get slated for this - because fitting a battery should be easy no?

I have just spent two hours trying to attach the battery leads to the new battery.......Motobatt with versatile terminals. well, they are not very versatile and I can't work out how to attach them.

Now I need to go and buy another battery - any ideas on where I can buy a battery that will simply just attach. I don't even have a vice, so I can't go drilling (i don't have a drill either). I just want a battery I can put the bolts through and will just fit.

 

[aspiring]

dont the motobatt batteries come with some kind of "post extenders" that need to be used to get the leads to fit?

 

[(RIP) Mark H]

To answer your question http://www.motobins.co.uk/ will supply something off the shelf that will bolt straight on

 

[Rushy]

Tell us what year and model of bike and then we can tell you what to battery you need to buy, what battery did you take out? There is Roly Capper in Leek that should have the right battery in stock.

 

[DutchBryn]

Is Roly Capper still there then? I seem to remember him re-building the rear wheel on my XL125 (many, many moons ago).
Hijack over... ;-)

Tell us what year and model of bike and then we can tell you what to battery you need to buy, what battery did you take out? There is Roly Capper in Leek that should have the right battery in stock.

 

[NeilDD]

Having fitted a Motobatt to my 1150 a month or 2 back it was a peice oif pi55

Bolt the supplied brass angle bits to the battery terminals, bolt existing bike battery wires to new terminals, time taken 5 min's if that.

If you pull the wrong battery terminal covers off (motobatt has 2 sets) just push the plastic bungs back in.

 

[ghiribizzo]

As above - the Motobatt scores over Odyssey as the terminals can be oriented so easily.
Sounds like you may have not got the correct battery for the bike?

 

[King Rat]

The battery is correct, but the brass terminals will not take the swaged attachments on the ends of my battery leads. 2003 Adv. The battery you buy from Motoberx, either of them, supposedly original equipment....oh yes, so why did the original last 7 years and the replacement (good quality Exide, supposedly the same as the original BMW supplied item) less than 3 under the same conditions? I am not buying another battery off them. The Motobatt maybe rubbish, but at least it is cheap!

The terminals are far too small - the 'bolt' on the swaged end won't go through the hole, it is too big and the cap head for the screw to attach the terminal takes up a significant amount of the room available to go through the hole as well and then there is no room for the nut to tighten, even if the nut would go between the sides of the brass terminal.

 

[stephen.stallebrass]

Do you not have ring terminals on your leads? How do they not fit? You may have gotten the wrong battery terminals... there are a few different types available. Get the seller to send you a new/correct set or do a google search. I bought a second set to utilise the extra set of terminals for some accessories so as not to crowd them.

Motobatt's are great batteries, they out perform just about every battery available and are good value. If you get it sorted you won't regret it. I suspect this is a simple error. I had no problems fitting my motobatt and it fires up first time, every time even if left for weeks in freezing conditions. I couldn't ask for more.

 

[NeilDD]

Hi King Rat
You do NOT need a nut and bolt to hold your battery leads onto the Motobatt brass adapters.
You just use the supplied button head screws with a shake proof washer. The brass adapters are tapped with an M6 thread.

Hope this makes sense

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

 

[Grim Rider]

I have to say I had the same problem as OP when I fitted Motobatt battery to my GS, could fit live connection easily enough but ended up making very short cable with a ring connection either end for the earth. Meant it as a temporary connection but that was nearly three years ago and still fine. I might have been given the wrong one mind you as also had to split the battery case slightly to make it fit.

In that time never had to charge up battery or connect to Optimate, seems to hold its charge much better than the previous BMW battery which set the ABS lights flashing at the first sign of winter each year.

 

[NeilDD]

Just to help clear up any confusion, the correct Motobatt battery for the 1150's should be the MB51814, and it does not require any mods to the battery carrier or the wiring loom.

HTH

Neil

 

[ghiribizzo]

+1 - although you've maybe been lucky with the battery carriers. I've probably fitted around a dozen Motobatts and the most awkward was my own R1100R. Very tight in the battery box until I decided to file a a small amount off the moulding ridges on it!
But no problems getting cables onto the terminals.

 

[King Rat]

Got some larger terminals, hopefully they will do the job.....I will find out when I get a chance to lift the tank again.....in the meantime, it is on the charger all night so I can go to work in the mornings!

 

[Jurassic Mark]

Found the thread very helpful as my battery needs replacing on my 1100. I've found a motobatts 51814 supplied by a company called Wemoto.com but it's £95 delivered. Is that about right or are they available cheaper elsewhere?

 

[Packer]

Found the thread very helpful as my battery needs replacing on my 1100. I've found a motobatts 51814 supplied by a company called Wemoto.com but it's £95 delivered. Is that about right or are they available cheaper elsewhere?

As somebody else in the asylum recently paid ~£130 to a BM dealer I think that the delivered price is OK. I got a Motobatt for my 1150GS in Newcastle back in May, it cost me ~£80 ish, collected.

 

[bmstan]

Found the thread very helpful as my battery needs replacing on my 1100. I've found a motobatts 51814 supplied by a company called Wemoto.com but it's £95 delivered. Is that about right or are they available cheaper elsewhere?

Busters on ebay £73.99 inc post. Listed for r65ls but battery number is correct one

 

[King Rat]

Mine came from Stuff4Bikes in Doncaster I think it was £68 delivered - very helpful and doing his best, but he can only supply what comes in the box! He has robbed another battery to try the bigger terminal connectors - no good. i spnt three hours this morning trying to fit this battery. The result is a broken fuel quick release connector, so I then had fuel pouring everywhere - you try and find something to plug up the hole in a hurry when all you have is the pavement outside the house! At least 5 litres of fuel all over me and the bike. Oh well, it is degreased now.

The result is, I have phoned him and he is sending a courier ot pick up the unused battery - still with all the plastic caps and everything. I have gone for a standard lead post battery, like the Exide terminals, 20Ah and it was half the price, only 12 months warranty, but then at half price that is the same. I have bought TWO! One for each bike and a 7.5Ah for the fishfinder on my fishing kayak - all three delivered for the same price as ONE battery from Motoberks.

If I can work out how to get pictures off my phone, I will post up the pictures of the end of my leads and the termianals, then you can see what I was up against. Chinese puzzles are not my forte.

 

[Steptoe]

What a lot of people have to bare in mind is that there are two different types of earth lead terminals on an 1150GS loom.

One of the types has a threaded stud that goes through the battery terminal hole and is secured by a single nut.

If you have a battery terminal with a threaded insert or a terminal with a captive nut it isn't straight forward to fit..

 

[King Rat]

What a lot of people have to bare in mind is that there are two different types of earth lead terminals on an 1150GS loom.

One of the types has a threaded stud that goes through the battery terminal hole and is secured by a single nut.

If you have a battery terminal with a threaded insert or a terminal with a captive nut it isn't straight forward to fit..

Thank you Neil - I couldn't find the words to describe my predicament. I have the fixed, threaded stud on a swaged plate type........I just want a hole to put it through!