Recommend me a new battery please.

Ex-Call Centre Chimp

Ex-Call Centre Chimp

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Word up Comrades. I have a less than 13,000 mile, 3 year old 12GSA & the battery appears to be on the verge of giving up the ghost.
I've spoken with my local dealer who tells me a new battery is £126.
Can anyone suggest a decent quality alternative please & where to buy?
I've done the search in here & Oddessy seem to get mixed reviews but I am happy to take any appropriate suggestions.

Thanx in advance.
:thumby:
 
Motobatt for me, handy with four terminals. Also it was the battery that Sjak Lucasson had on his R1 to jump start the bike at minus 35 deg C . I fitted two batteries to my f650 gs twin one at 3 yrs Yuasa, lasted two years. Motobatt on its 3rd year and when I trickle charge it over winter, goes green eg fully charged within mins. Yuasa used to take ages.

Hth
 
Motobatt for me, handy with four terminals. Also it was the battery that Sjak Lucasson had on his R1 to jump start the bike at minus 35 deg C . I fitted two batteries to my f650 gs twin one at 3 yrs Yuasa, lasted two years. Motobatt on its 3rd year and when I trickle charge it over winter, goes green eg fully charged within mins. Yuasa used to take ages.

Bought the Motobatt from Busters, next day del if I remember.
Hth
 
Motobatt is a good mid range but I personally would go for Cheap n Cheerful and expect to replace every 2 years or go full fat with a Ballistic LiFePo at about £130. The latter has virtually no power loss if left unused and will not suffer sulphate damage from lack of use. Its also small enough to put elsewhere on the bike making the big battery box available for other stuff.

Down side is short term cost and a different start routine for very cold weather. But if the bike is garage stored it should never be an issue. There is no need to keep it on a conditioning charger, especially handy where there is no power to the garage.

Long term costs should save money as you wont be replacing sulphated batteries.

Odyssey are also very good but at best part of £100 a pop IMO might as well go the whole hog and benefit from the smaller battery size.
 
Thanx guys. I don't want to replace every 2 years & right now I'd rather not be spending £130, though I appreciate the suggestions.
I see MotoBatt do an 'Upgrade' battery. Is it worth paying the extra few quid?
 
Mine was the same only it had 7.5k on it. Replaced with the Odyssey one and haven't looked back. Expensive but did the job.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Can't say if the upgrade is worthwhile but the Motobatt that I fitted to my 1150 had plenty of cranking power. Better the the OE battery was from new.
 
I see no point in paying £100 for what is basically old technology though admittedly the Odyssey is (very) solid.

If you want to avoid cheap n cheerful the Motobat is the best option. But saying that, a cheap battery will last if it's kept on an Optimate and not allowed to sulphate. Use the bike only every few weeks and any lead acid will suffer. Used every day and a cheapie could go one for a long time. The only reason Odysseys last longer is they have more capacity to begin with so can afford to lose more before they fail.
 
My Odyssey has the positive on the right front. I ran the main cable in a loop over the back of the petrol tank and down to the terminal. The negative also fits fine. The crummy bit of metal sold with the battery was not needed and frankly a waste of time.
 
AberdeenAngus said:
Nonsense.
So long as you don't let it go flat, it'll be fine.
Click to expand...

All batteries self-discharge when not used. Lead acids develop permanent hard sulphate as a result. Some more than others and some have more capacity to use up (waste), but they all do it. Used every day they will be fine but left standing will reduce their life. Optimate chargers are not snake oil.
 
All my bikes have lived outside under a cover and have NOT been connected to chargers..
And yet all have started first time every time..
The best thing for battery life is to throw your alarm as far as you can !
The longest I have left my bike was for 3 weeks last winter and it started instantly (Honda CB1300)
 
why not try the lithium lightweight batteries? they are ridiculously light and very powerful got one on the panigale and no problems
 
I asked Mrs Bear to buy me a new battery for Xmas last year. I chose a Motobatt MBTX12U 14Ah with 200 Cold Cranking Amps (CCA). Cost about £60 from eBay.
 
Motobatt Bill. I've had mine 3 years, the bike lives outside, it spends half it's life sitting in a conatiner for weeks on end, it's never seen a charger and always starts on the button. I wouldn't have anything else....!
 
Bill , I have been using an up rated Motobatt version that fits the GS .. MBYZ16H it is 240 CCA and 16.5 AH on ebay at £52.40 at the moment.
eBay item number:111882769152
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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