Wilsons Sandbox

My stocker (A15) died in the first year... replaced under warranty. It wouldn't start the bike easily or not at all. Second one (that I did the initial slow charge on) has worked flawlessly since then. West

----- Original Message ----- From: mikesupon To: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.comDSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Saturday, April 23, 2005 6:40 PM Subject: [DSN_KLR650] Stock Battery Lifespan??? I'm trying to decide if my stock A15 battery is nearing the end of its life. All seems OK now, but I don't want it to die in the middle of nowhere. Maybe a little preventive maintenance will save a lot of aggrevation! What are your experiences with when the stocker dies? I'm also considering the Yuasa maintenance-free sealed replacement battery...comments? Thanks as always! Mike A15 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

On Sun, 24 Apr 2005, mikesupon wrote:

> I'm trying to decide if my stock A15 battery is nearing the end of its > life. All seems OK now, but I don't want it to die in the middle of > nowhere. Maybe a little preventive maintenance will save a lot of > aggrevation! What are your experiences with when the stocker dies?

My experience with unsealed Yuasa batteries is that they last anywhere from 1 to 2 years, depending upon your usage pattern and where and how you ride. The typical failure mode is that they develop an internal short due to sediments flaking off the plates and won't keep a charge. Keeping the battery filled with DISTILLED water will help extend its life. But these things just are not a very robust technology. However, unless you intend on camping overnight with your KLR, I wouldn't worry about it dying "in the middle of nowhere". Typically it will die at home, in your garage. You'll go out, and the battery will be dead. The charge will have leaked out. Just keep it filled with distilled water in the meantime. And if on a long trip, take along some distilled water with you in a small bottle, because the KLR seems to overcharge these guys and cause them to lose a lot of water to electrolysis over time, and loss of enough electrolyte could kill it in the worst places imaginable. But proper care will generally keep it from dying in the m iddle of nowhere.

> I'm also considering the Yuasa maintenance-free sealed replacement > battery...comments?

I bought one of these for my bike. It has no hose, appears to be pretty much completely sealed, has no liquid in it that I can see (it was all absorbed by the glass matt) and because there is a fiberglass mat between the plates physically seperating them there is no way for sediments to flake off between the plates and short them together. Thus far I have been quite pleased with it, though I've only had it for six months (my last battery developed the "slow leak" syndrome that I noted, which finally got to the point where it would not even hold a charge overnight). My suspicion is that this battery will last 3 to 5 years. Obviously since this is new technology I have no personal experience telling me such, but of all the batteries in all the motorcycles that I've owned in the last 30 years, pretty much all of them died in the way I described (developed a slow leak and would take a charge but would discharge overnight) and since this new technology is not succeptible to that particular failure mode, I guess we'll find out what other failure modes a lead-acid battery has. I suspect eventually electrolysis will cause it to run out of electrolyte, sealed or not, and it will at that point no longer take a charge. -E

On Sun, 24 Apr 2005 01:40:43 -0000, "mikesupon" said:

> I'm trying to decide if my stock A15 battery is nearing the end of its > life. All seems OK now, but I don't want it to die in the middle of > nowhere. Maybe a little preventive maintenance will save a lot of > aggrevation! What are your experiences with when the stocker dies?

I'd get that craptastic wet-cell outta there now and go sealed. It wouldn't be so bad if battery access weren't such a pain in the butt. RM

Go sealed...see site below http://www.westcobattery.com/battery_page.php?bid=14&vid=1&mid=161 --- mikesupon wrote:

> I'm trying to decide if my stock A15 battery is > nearing the end of its > life. All seems OK now, but I don't want it to die > in the middle of > nowhere. Maybe a little preventive maintenance will > save a lot of > aggrevation! What are your experiences with when the > stocker dies? > > I'm also considering the Yuasa maintenance-free > sealed replacement battery...comments?

Thanks as always! Mike A15 WVDoran Scottsdale, AZ __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

And for a little more cash you can get this one...... http://www.batterymart.com/battery.mv?p=ODY-PC545 I'm going to replace my current battery when it goes bad with one. Lots of recommendations by folks on this list... Does Fred carry these? -don

On 4/24/05, W.V. Doran wrote: > > Go sealed...see site below > http://www.westcobattery.com/battery_page.php?bid=14&vid=1&mid=161 > > --- mikesupon wrote: > > I'm trying to decide if my stock A15 battery is > > nearing the end of its > > life. All seems OK now, but I don't want it to die > > in the middle of > > nowhere. Maybe a little preventive maintenance will > > save a lot of > > aggrevation! What are your experiences with when the > > stocker dies? > > > > I'm also considering the Yuasa maintenance-free > > sealed replacement battery...comments? > Thanks as always! > Mike A15 > > WVDoran > Scottsdale, AZ > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around > http://mail.yahoo.com > > > Archive Quicksearch at: http://www.angelfire.com/ut/moab/klr650_data_search.html > List sponsored by Dual Sport News at: www.dualsportnews.com > List FAQ courtesy of Chris Krok at: www.bigcee.com/klr650faq.html > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > -- --My greatest fear in life is not death, but waking up one morning ordinary and predictable.

On Sun, 24 Apr 2005, don cain wrote:

> And for a little more cash you can get this one...... > > http://www.batterymart.com/battery.mv?p=ODY-PC545 > > I'm going to replace my current battery when it goes bad with one. > Lots of recommendations by folks on this list...

Some time back there were positive reports about an ebay seller of these. Right now I see: Starting bid: US $49.99 Buy It Now price: US $53.95 Shipping costs: US $13.50 - UPS Ground (within United States ) This is listed as: ODYSSEY PC545 DRY CELL BATTERY NEW PC 545 Seller: odyssey_world odysseyworld@... About a year back when shipping was $11, I e-mailed them about the price for shipping two batts (wife and I with matching bikes) and it was $16 for the shipping in that case. Once again thinking that it would be nice to deal with the batts before they actually start to die. -- Doug Herr doug@...

You know sometime I wonder what they would cost if around 50 to 100 of us went directly to Odyssey for a wholesale purchase........ -don

On 4/24/05, Doug Herr wrote: > > On Sun, 24 Apr 2005, don cain wrote: > > > And for a little more cash you can get this one...... > > > > http://www.batterymart.com/battery.mv?p=ODY-PC545 > > > > I'm going to replace my current battery when it goes bad with one. > > Lots of recommendations by folks on this list... > > Some time back there were positive reports about an ebay seller > of these. Right now I see: > > Starting bid: US $49.99 > Buy It Now price: US $53.95 > Shipping costs: US $13.50 - UPS Ground (within United States ) > > This is listed as: > > ODYSSEY PC545 DRY CELL BATTERY NEW PC 545 > > Seller: odyssey_world odysseyworld@... > > About a year back when shipping was $11, I e-mailed them about > the price for shipping two batts (wife and I with matching bikes) > and it was $16 for the shipping in that case. > > Once again thinking that it would be nice to deal with the batts > before they actually start to die. > > -- > Doug Herr > doug@... > > Archive Quicksearch at: http://www.angelfire.com/ut/moab/klr650_data_search.html > List sponsored by Dual Sport News at: www.dualsportnews.com > List FAQ courtesy of Chris Krok at: www.bigcee.com/klr650faq.html > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > -- --My greatest fear in life is not death, but waking up one morning ordinary and predictable.

On Sun, 24 Apr 2005, don cain wrote:

> And for a little more cash you can get this one...... > > http://www.batterymart.com/battery.mv?p=ODY-PC545

I've looked at the specs for the Odyssey gel cell vs. the Yuasa AGM (sealed) battery, and frankly the Yuasa wins hands-down on every spec I can find, whether it was cold cranking amps, watt-hour capacity, whatever. The only thing the Odyssey *may* win on is durability -- AGM technology is still too new for me to have a good feel as to its durability, whereas gel cell technology has been around for decades and its durability is well known. However, I decided that having the battery fit perfectly without needing to hack to battery cover or battery wires was worth the potential cost in durability, especially since the Yuasa AGM battery is about $20 cheaper than the Odyssey. It is still true, no matter what, that the Yuasa AGM battery (or ANY AGM battery) solves the most common failure mode of of lead-acid batteries in a bike like the KLR, i.e., sediments shorting out plates and causing slow leaks (with a fiberglass sponge located between the plates this particular failure mode is impossible). Oh, the cheapest place to get the Yuasa AGM is probably a local motorcycle accessories shop. I paid $58 for mine at a local shop. -E

I bought an Odyssey PC545 on Ebay last year. It seems to have considerably more juice than did the Yuasa that had been in the bike. My other bikes will get sealed batteries when the time comes...no more acid worries, corrosion, etc. They also lose charge much less quickly when in storage. Eric Stevens Mechancisburg, Pa

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, Doug Herr wrote: > On Sun, 24 Apr 2005, don cain wrote: > > > And for a little more cash you can get this one...... > > > > http://www.batterymart.com/battery.mv?p=ODY-PC545 > > > > I'm going to replace my current battery when it goes bad with one. > > Lots of recommendations by folks on this list... > > Some time back there were positive reports about an ebay seller > of these. Right now I see: > > Starting bid: US $49.99 > Buy It Now price: US $53.95 > Shipping costs: US $13.50 - UPS Ground (within United States ) > > This is listed as: > > ODYSSEY PC545 DRY CELL BATTERY NEW PC 545 > > Seller: odyssey_world odysseyworld@c... > > About a year back when shipping was $11, I e-mailed them about > the price for shipping two batts (wife and I with matching bikes) > and it was $16 for the shipping in that case. > > Once again thinking that it would be nice to deal with the batts > before they actually start to die. > > -- > Doug Herr > doug@w...