YTZ14S charging issues

[ZuluTiger]

I've been unable to ride for a while due to travel and other issues. The 1050 has been on an Optimate for at least 6 months but probably closer to a year. It has had a few sluggish starts in between. The battery was purchased in March 2019 for $105. Today, it would not complete a start. I used my starter-charger and kicked it over and took it for a ride of about 60 miles. When I got back, it would still not start, giving the usual low-voltage drop out noises.

I've had it on the high-power charger for 4 hours. It started with a capacity of 67% and is now at 100%. I started it three times in a row, no problems. It is back at 100% but I'm going to rinse and repeat the charge-and-start tomorrow before I trust the battery. Once again, this shows that a charge maintainer is not adequate on its own.

The same battery 3.5 years later is now $160. So much for the published inflation rate. Would the erudite folks of this forum replace the battery or trust in the capacity of the old one? I'm disappointed in the Yuasa's life span but that is likely my fault and non-riding pattern. I'll be interested to hear your opinions.

[Rhead]

I've found all of what you said to be true. I use a small battery tender, and even though the bike started fine even after sitting for weeks off of it last November, my yuasa  battery was dead this spring. The tenders light was green. I've found that some batterys are already a year old when I first bought them and that if the battery is an additional 3.5 years or more going into the winter, its not working in the spring.

[tiggersteve]

Are the batteries in question fluid or gel? Trickle chargers are constantly monitoring the battery so it is "working" constantly if a fluid one the levels can drop off and need topping up

[mustangpilot]

Originally Posted by tiggersteve

Are the batteries in question fluid or gel? Trickle chargers are constantly monitoring the battery so it is "working" constantly if a fluid one the levels can drop off and need topping up

YTZ14S is gel and sealed so top up is not possible.
I only use a trickle charger if needed when the bike was not used for a longer period. Which is once every 3-4 weeks until fully charged and never leave the trickle charger permanently connected.
Optimate 3 for the lead-acid batteries and 4S for lithium.

[Rhead]

Originally Posted by mustangpilot

YTZ14S is gel and sealed so top up is not possible.
I only use a trickle charger if needed when the bike was not used for a longer period. Which is once every 3-4 weeks until fully charged and never leave the trickle charger permanently connected.




same here

[ZuluTiger]

My charger has a gel mode which makes me wonder what it does differently. Some sort of pulse-width change to excite the gel maybe? Or a slightly different voltage? Anyway, the battery seems to have recovered so I'll hang on to it. This seems to be the case whenever it stands for a long time so maybe I'll disconnect it next time and see how that goes. Thanks for the comments. 

[indytiger1050]

A disconnect or removal is the best for more than a couple weeks. 

Liked the Lithium once charged and pulled kept 98% over the winter. If the tender, extension cord pulled didn't matter.
Interested in what you figure out sir. 

[ZuluTiger]

After a short Deals Gap visit without the Tiger, I got back and decided to give the battery a do-or-die test. It had been sitting on a Battery Tender for about 4 days since I gave it the hard charge. It started 10 times in a row with a break each time for the system to reset and send my biometrics to Triumph and Trump. I figure that 10 back-to-back starts proves that it has had a pretty good recovery. My big Schumacher charger said it had dropped to 85% and had it fully charged in 15 minutes. I think I'll call it good. Hopefully I get to ride more in the months to come.

[Paul2bikes]

My OEM battery is now 8.5 yrs old, still holds 12.8v for 2 weeks, gets an overnight boost from 20 yr old Accumate charger every 2 weeks. Gotta go pop any time soon. Never had one stay good this long. Mind, the batteries on my other 2 bikes are over 6 yr old, get same treatment & holding same. All Yuasa.

OEM Battery on my daft stop/start car lasted 3.5 yrs. Luck of the draw, but it doesn't get used much.

[dave_a]

I charge my lithium batt up and disconnect a lead for long term storage.
Gel, lithium, lead acid all require different charging voltages and amp profiles. So any old batt tender may or may not be right for the battery.

I've killed my share of bike batteries treating them nice with tenders and Yuasas by leaving the key on and the neutral light killing (my atv batts). Solved with a $25 lawn tractor.
A fully charged lead acid with no draw on it will be fine for months. Modern Lithiums don't even know your gone if you remove any draw no matter how small. My 2 cents.