Battery lesson learned.

[DonGee]

I thought this might warrant a new thread. TLDR version in yellow below.

As referenced in my previous battery swap thread, I just bought a new Motobatt AGM battery to replace the Yuasa lead acid that came with my '05 S50 when I bought it and which is starting to have some difficulty taking a full charge. I was always good about keeping the Yuasa on a tender during the off-season, but was intimidated enough by the battery removal process that I never removed it to maintain it. Well, that oversight bit me in the arse a few weeks ago when I went to start the bike and it didn't. That was the first time it ever even hesitated.

Anyway, I did buy a new battery as mentioned, and as I was putting the bike in storage last week, I ended up pulling the battery since i was going to be installing the new one in the Spring. I'm alternating putting the new and the old on the tender in the house during the winter, and today I thought since it was easy to see the water level in the battery, I'd "top it off" if necessary. I bought a jug of distilled water, put on my gloves and started gingerly filling the first cell. I thought it was incredible difficult to see the level through the side of the battery, so I was going slowly, slightly tilting the battery so I could see better as I didn't want to overfill. After a few more minutes of that, I started to see the level come up....from the very bottom of the battery! Holy crap. Knowing that, I proceeded with the other cells, it the same result. It appears that the battery was pretty much dry. Eventually I filled them all up to just below the full line. I wiped everything off and just put the battery back on the tender to see if it makes a difference. My gut feeling is that the battery is toast, but I'll see if it takes a charge and got the hell of bring it to AutoZone tomorrow to have them do a load test on it.

As lessons go, this one only cost me a little over a hundred bucks for a new battery, which I'll eventually need anyway. I just probably would not have needed it now. Oh well.

And an important P.S. navigator's notes in a previous thread (and pasted below) were very helpful and gave me the confidence to just do this the other day. In hindsight, I clearly shouldn't have waited so long.

----

It really isn't that hard to remove the battery.
Use a deep 10mm socket to remove the screws (negative side first) using a phillips will likely strip the heads.
Roll the rear tire up on a slab of 2x4 or 2x6. Place another slab under the kickstand.
Unbolt the battery door, and drop the battery out....easy peasy.

Reinstall the screws with a phillips (positive side first), then nip them up with a socket.
Star washers will insure a tight connection.

[navigator]

Yup, water acid batteries will boil off and evaporate over time.
It's a good idea to top them off at least yearly.
A tender won't charge a neglected battery.

[hillsy v2]

I'm trying to think of the last time I saw a lead acid battery that wasn't sealed. Cant remember

[Celtics1]

I thought this might warrant a new thread. TLDR version in yellow below.

As referenced in my previous battery swap thread, I just bought a new Motobatt AGM battery to replace the Yuasa lead acid that came with my '05 S50 when I bought it and which is starting to have some difficulty taking a full charge. I was always good about keeping the Yuasa on a tender during the off-season, but was intimidated enough by the battery removal process that I never removed it to maintain it. Well, that oversight bit me in the arse a few weeks ago when I went to start the bike and it didn't. That was the first time it ever even hesitated.

Anyway, I did buy a new battery as mentioned, and as I was putting the bike in storage last week, I ended up pulling the battery since i was going to be installing the new one in the Spring. I'm alternating putting the new and the old on the tender in the house during the winter, and today I thought since it was easy to see the water level in the battery, I'd "top it off" if necessary. I bought a jug of distilled water, put on my gloves and started gingerly filling the first cell. I thought it was incredible difficult to see the level through the side of the battery, so I was going slowly, slightly tilting the battery so I could see better as I didn't want to overfill. After a few more minutes of that, I started to see the level come up....from the very bottom of the battery! Holy crap. Knowing that, I proceeded with the other cells, it the same result. It appears that the battery was pretty much dry. Eventually I filled them all up to just below the full line. I wiped everything off and just put the battery back on the tender to see if it makes a difference. My gut feeling is that the battery is toast, but I'll see if it takes a charge and got the hell of bring it to AutoZone tomorrow to have them do a load test on it.

As lessons go, this one only cost me a little over a hundred bucks for a new battery, which I'll eventually need anyway. I just probably would not have needed it now. Oh well.

And an important P.S. navigator's notes in a previous thread (and pasted below) were very helpful and gave me the confidence to just do this the other day. In hindsight, I clearly shouldn't have waited so long.

----

It really isn't that hard to remove the battery.
Use a deep 10mm socket to remove the screws (negative side first) using a phillips will likely strip the heads.
Roll the rear tire up on a slab of 2x4 or 2x6. Place another slab under the kickstand.
Unbolt the battery door, and drop the battery out....easy peasy.

Reinstall the screws with a phillips (positive side first), then nip them up with a socket.
Star washers will insure a tight connection.

Going to give the socket a shot today - I’ve just about stripped the Phillips screw on the negative side trying to pull the battery.
Thank you!