Noticed the bike seems pretty slow cranking over on startup, but more noticeably the V meter only reads 11.6 after a good 40 mins of riding right after switching engine off. To be fair it only gets ridden on weekends really sometimes every other. No power in garage either so can't trickle charge it. From what I can find on a search that's an abnormally low reading? Is it worth putting it on an external charger to give it a boost or is it best to just get a new battery? Chris
Try something like this Solar Battery Charger - 12v ideal for Cars, Caravans, Tents and Boats: Amazon.co.uk: Sports & Outdoors Andy
IME, once a battery starts giving trouble, it will only get worse. Get yourself a cable kit, if you don't already have one and an AGM Yuasa. It'll start brilliantly then
Berry, do you get 14v ish with the engine running? If so then your charging system is working OK which means your battery at 11.6v just after switching it off is indeed very low. With a reading that low it is surprising it is starting at all. Probably need a new battery but if you can't charge it on occasion through the winter (best take it out and keep it in the house) it will die very quickly and you can ruin even the best batteries over a winter if you let it get exposed to sub zero temperatures in a state of partial or full discharge. A solar charger as Andy has suggested is a good idea for the spring/summer if you have no power in the garage, batteries last longer when kept fully charged with intermittent charges every few weeks whilst the bike is not being used (not constantly connected to an Optimate as advocated by some). Get your battery from a battery specialist for the best value and stick with Yuasa for one of the best quality.
Solar charger, brilliant shout. Cheers Andy! For the meantime though it sounds like I've possibly ruined the battery then. Denzil; I'll check the running Volts tomorrow, hopefully it's around 14v as if not then I suppose that means the bike isn't charging it properly, so something else wrong? Managed to contact Bluey, the previous owner of the bike who says it didn't have a new one in his ownership, so it's probably due one tbh. Cheers all
My mate has the solar charger from Amazon and works a treat. He also used an old battery that holds charge but not enough omph to start his Aprillia connected to a lamp so he can work at night.
Yes! AGM are enormously better in terms of starting power. This is expressed as CCA - cold cranking amps. Look up the recommendation on the Yuasa website.
Cheers for all the help. I've sorted a battery out (well it's in the basket at MDS) just thinking about a charger too just to keep the thing tip Top. Any suggestions/tips? It seems to be a toss up between the optimate and the ctek ones at the moment. Any specific model features that are worth looking for?
Just to reiterate that the AGM Yuasa in my 749R is awesome - holds its charge well and starts instantly, every time.
