Its new battery time :-(

[Baza 07]

Evening all,after reading this post,im even more confused,,,,,

Thread 'Battery recommendations'

Jan 14, 2025

The old girl (1150) needs a new battery.

I usually run the Optimate on once a month for a couple of days but clearly not using the bike last year at all has taken its toll.

Any recommendations on batteries or are they all just as shite as each other these days?

• Paul G (BHT)
• Replies: 59
• Forum: 850/1100/1150 Oilheads

My bike is a 2010 ,,1200GS,with a Motobatt MBYZ16HD,the battery is five years old and was o the bike
when i bought it,its always on the Optimate,but today the bugga would'nt start,to be fair it has'nt
moved in a good few months,maybe 7,anyway would the team recommend staying with whats in
the bike now,or go for another make,money wise £70ish my top mark
Cheers in advance Baza

 

[wessie]

As I posted in that thread, I don't think your Motobatt is available now. Tayna don't stock it.

As we worked out in that thread: your OEM fitment is a Yuasa YTZ14S but a larger battery, YTX14BS fits in the battery compartment. Your current battery has the same dimensions as the YTX14BS. Nobody else makes a 16Ah version like your current Motobatt.

I like Exide batteries and Tayna has stock of the YTZ14S but not the YTX14BS, so buy the former! The batteries have different size cases but very similar performance. I suspect the internals are identical.

https://www.tayna.co.uk/motorcycle-batteries/types/ytz14s/ - don't worry that the Exide label starts with an E

 

[MrC99]

Actually for the £70ish I'd go for the Yuasa YTX14H as it's the same size as the YTX14 but around 15% more capacity. That's the one I'm likely going to replace my current YTZ14S before next winter (5 years old but still gives 12.7 volts after a couple of days of non-use).

 

[Baza 07]

Thanks for your replies fella’s,would you say that leaving the Optimate on all the time without starting the bike, could damage the battery
Cheers Baza
PS Apart from a flat tyre,going for a run and then the bike not starting is my biggest fear

 

[DrFarkoff]

Thanks for your replies fella’s,would you say that leaving the Optimate on all the time without starting the bike, could damage the battery
Cheers Baza

Its not supposed to! But, Yes

If you are not riding for an extended time ?? As below !

Fire fuel stabiliser in and ride and then fill the tank as far up as you can (Stops Fuel degradation and helps protect internal components)

And simply remove the negative lead and stick a bit of tube on it so it can;t accidentally fall into its normal place again

And Don;t do what so many silly people do and run the bike in the garage for 5 mins to move the oil and all that crap

Only ever Start it and ride it!
Injection sticks a LOT more fuel in Hence why you have to open the air passages with the fast idle (Not a Choke Lever on pre stepper bikes )

And if its going to be off road all winter? All of the above Plus stick Spacers under the swingarm to the ground to lift the wheels just clear of the ground with both tyres and blow them up to 55 PSI AND stick a note some where CHECK TYRE PRESSURE BEFORE RIDING

Look after the bikes and they look after you !! Too Many park em up and start em and ride without any prep Thinking they are smart It all goes great until it doesn;t !

 

[wessie]

Thanks for your replies fella’s,would you say that leaving the Optimate on all the time without starting the bike, could damage the battery
Cheers Baza
PS Apart from a flat tyre,going for a run and then the bike not starting is my biggest fear

unless you have a tracker that drains the battery quickly, a permanent connection is unnecessary in my view. Any electronic device can develop a fault and some older models of Optimate developed a reputation for not coping well after a power outage.

I recently sold a R1200RS. Owned from new for 9 years. OE battery lasted 5 years and the replacement Exide AGM was on the bike when it went last month. Each battery was probably connected to a charger maybe twice a year, and only if the winter was crap and I had not ridden for 2 months. AGM batteries do not self discharge like wet batteries if there is no load but some still hold onto what their dad told them about batteries in 1968.

 

[Santa-2512]

Ride it all year round , ya wimp

It's an adventure bike, not a garage queen lol

 

[Baza 07]

Top advice as per usual,I wish I’d known all that malarkey Doc several months ago
Eh Santa your
Dead right

 

[botus]

real bikes with proper electrics...
TL1000R went 10 years with little use - never went flat, orig battery - at 8 years old once wasn't used, touched or charged at all - started first time after 18 months
Vx800 in the garage Motobatt AGM - untouched 2 years still 100% charged

 

[er-minio]

leaving the Optimate on all the time without starting the bike, could damage the battery

It should not.

As I wrote in another thread recently, I have all three of my bikes hooked up to Optimate Solar units.
So they do run a few hours during the day (fairly little during deep winter to be fair) and they've been like that since around covid.
I stopped changing batteries as often as I did before.


What kills the battery is it discharging and staying in a partially discharged state. See DrFarkoff's comment above about the wrong practice some people have to run the bike "5 mins", that fucks up a few things including discharging the battery. Avoid that (discharging) as much as possible, you're golden.

 

[siddo]

Thanks for your replies fella’s,would you say that leaving the Optimate on all the time without starting the bike, could damage the battery
Cheers Baza
PS Apart from a flat tyre,going for a run and then the bike not starting is my biggest fear

Not in my experience. Been doing it for years and never had a problem.

 

[TLSgazza]

Evening all,after reading this post,im even more confused,,,,,

Thread 'Battery recommendations'

Jan 14, 2025

The old girl (1150) needs a new battery.

I usually run the Optimate on once a month for a couple of days but clearly not using the bike last year at all has taken its toll.

Any recommendations on batteries or are they all just as shite as each other these days?

• Paul G (BHT)
• Replies: 59
• Forum: 850/1100/1150 Oilheads

My bike is a 2010 ,,1200GS,with a Motobatt MBYZ16HD,the battery is five years old and was o the bike
when i bought it,its always on the Optimate,but today the bugga would'nt start,to be fair it has'nt
moved in a good few months,maybe 7,anyway would the team recommend staying with whats in
the bike now,or go for another make,money wise £70ish my top mark
Cheers in advance Baza

They seem to be available via eBay. Less than £75.00 if add the discount code at the checkout.

Pardon our interruption...

 

[Baza 07]

They seem to be available via eBay. Less than £75.00 if add the discount code at the checkout.

Pardon our interruption...

View attachment 394387

Cheers bro,i ordered one today from Rex Speed Shop,£83:62 delivered,the main reason for sticking with Motobatt was the four terminals
Thanks for all your replies fella's

 

[Deleted account 251024001]

I have worries about leaving batteries on chargers for long periods. My bike and a friends both suffered internal shorts after being connected to longterm chargers. Might be a pure coincident but now I have a monitor and charge, for a few hours, when it gets down to 80%.