Battery lifetime

[Guest bordsenius]

Hi all.

 

My first posting here! Thanks for letting me join.

I have ridden Guzzi's for the last 15 years, and the previous ones all had led-acid batteries. And they had to be replaced after 3-4 years.

 

Now the battery on my V11 Sport 2001 seems to be lacking a lot of punch when I start the engine. It might be due to the fact that I live in Norway, and it's about 3 degrees centigrades here in the morning, but I seem to rememeber that the startet turned a lot faster a few years ago.

 

 

How long are the batteries supposed to last? Do they losse power when they go older? I have no experience with this dry-cell battery type, so all ideas are welcome.

 

Yours

Stig bordsenius

[Mike Stewart]

Hi all.

 

My first posting here! Thanks for letting me join.

I have ridden Guzzi's for the last 15 years, and the previous ones all had led-acid batteries. And they had to be replaced after 3-4 years.

 

Now the battery on my V11 Sport 2001 seems to be lacking a lot of punch when I start the engine. It might be due to the fact that I live in Norway, and it's about 3 degrees centigrades here in the morning, but I seem to rememeber that the startet turned a lot faster a few years ago.

How long are the batteries supposed to last? Do they losse power when they go older? I have no experience with this dry-cell battery type, so all ideas are welcome.

 

Yours

Stig bordsenius

49263[/snapback]

 

 

Hello and welcome to the site!,

 

My 2000 V11 Sport battery died about two months ago, so I would say the battery life is still about 3 to 5 years. I also had a small leak from the battery over winter, so that is what most likely caused the battery failure in my case.

 

Mike

[jrt]

Mine is still going on an '01 sport, but it lost some punch over the winter. Since it has been warming up, it's getting better again so I think it'll last this year, but not next winter.

[tikkanen]

Hej Stig,

 

Velkommen, jeg tror du er den eneste nordmand, der er aktiv på denne site.

 

Sorry for talking crypto, I'm back in English again. Regarding your morning starting routine my Scura acts exactly the same way. It takes a split second before the starter engine decides to wake up, so I wouldn't be worried. The temperatures here in Denamrk this morning was below 0, so I know how you feel.

 

Welcome onboard!

 

Søren

 

PS: I'm still on the original battery

[guido]

Your battery will, as you know always be lazy when cold. If you haven't got a heated garage, why are you driving a Guzzi?" (slight acknowledgement to Bugatti "

There could be other reasons for a slow starter, including the starter itself, but to be sure, get the battery tested. simple thing to do, it's usually free and takes a minute or so.

[Guzzirider]

I can recommend Hawker Odyssey batteries for cold cranking- they cost a few quid extra but last forever and are tough old cookies.

[gh67]

Use a battery tender (regulated trickle charger) whenever you aren't actively riding.....your battery will love you much longer.

[jimbemotumbo]

I just replaced the battery on my 00 V11, after similar symptoms. Hawker Odyssey now and great starting, even in the cold.

 

Great price at www.portablepowersystems.com and very inexpensive shipping.

 

btw - I have two of these batteries powering my Defender 90. Less than half the weight of a single battery, enough cranking amps, and running with an isolator I have my winch and lights hooked in with full recharging. Never a problem. Tough little battery.

[jrt]

Can you park the bike inside the house?

[antonio carroccio]

Velkommen, jeg tror du er den eneste nordmand, der er aktiv på denne site.

Héy Knaekebröd, keep it civil...

[Paul Minnaert]

in The Guzzi technical notes read this:

 

Subject: new battery

Model: V11

Problem:

short life-span of the presently fitted ESA SPARK 500E battery.

Solution in production:

the YUASA YTZ12S battery will be fitted (comes from Yuasa already filled with fluid).

In production is fitted a new wiring while on bikes with present wiring it is possible to fit the battery and reroute

the cables.

 

 

My last yuasa was alive for 9 years! And it was even a smaller version, ytx9-bs

 

the YTZ12S is used in:

CBR1100xx blackbird

VTR 1000F

VFR800Fi

honda silverwing scooter '02

honda NSS250 Reflex '01-'02

 

So the dealers of these bikes might have them, yuasa is very good.

[belfastguzzi]

btw - I have two of these batteries powering my Defender 90.

49309[/snapback]

 

 

Now show me yours.

 

[Steve G.]

The factory Tesco battery went in my '01 V11 last spring. Got an Oddesy dry cell, lovely strong thing.

A word of caution though. Do not, I repeat DO NOT trickle charge dry cell batteries. Which ever battery you buy, read the instructions. Trickle charging dry cell batteries is a no no.

Ciao, Steve G.

[dlaing]

My Spark 500 lasted from when I got the left over 2000 model December 2000, until December 2004. So, atleast four years...but southern california years...

It might have lasted longer if I rode more frequently and did not give it too many volts when charging with my 6 amp automotive charger. Yes, it went over 15 V

Maximum charging voltage for the Hawker Odyssey is 15 Volts.

You can trickle charge, but follow the Odyssey guidelines.

A fully charged battery is 12.84 V

I don't think you should charge it once it is fully charged, which is what many do with trickle chargers.

Odyssey recommend 1.25amp Battery Tender brand battery charger for keeping it charged, but not recharging.

For recharging they recommend Deltran brand 6 amp and 20 amp. The Deltran also supports storage charging.

***EDIT: Warning: Read further on in the thread. Odyssey no longer recommends Deltran...and vice versa. end EDIT***

From what I can figure out, the Spark 500 is identical to the Hawker Genesis, which Hawker does not recommend nor warrant for "power sports"

Instead they recommend the Hawker Odyssey.

I'll let you know when my Hawker Odyssey fails

Checkout the service bulletin that Paul M. mentioned, (see GH67's post at:

http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=4967&hl= )

[dlaing]

Dang!

Look what I just found:

"Notice to Odyssey battery users  HEADING_TITLE

 

Deltran Battery Tender no longer endorses nor recommends the Hawker Energy Products Odyssey line of batteries for PowerSports vehicles. In our opinion, Hawker's advertising program for the Odyssey battery does not promote the best interest of the PowerSports industry or consuming public.

 

The marketing department at Hawker uses the term "PCA" to rate their battery cold cranking capacity. The term "Pulse Cranking Ampere" is not a BCI (Battery Council International) industry standard and in our opinion should not be used to measure battery output.

 

The battery industry has, and still uses, a very specific set of criteria to test batteries ("CCA"). The term "PCA" can be, and is, very misleading to the consumer because it is inconsistent with industry standards.

 

Deltran is a forty year old family-owned business that prides itself on not only customer satisfaction, but most importantly, product safety. In our opinion the chargers specifications recommended by Hawker could be very dangerous to the average consumer if those chargers were inadvertently used on normal flooded or gel batteries.

 

Deltran also believes that most of the today's PowerSports vehicles are supplied with standard alternators that have an output of approximately 14.2 volts. Hawker Odyssey batteries require a voltage over 14.7 volts to fully recharge the battery. The standard alternator will not return a Hawker Odyssey battery to a full state of charge.

 

We feel that the Hawker Odyssey battery was developed for the Stand-by Power industry and not for Powersports vehicles. "

source:

http://batterytender.com/notice_odyssey.php

 

So, our alternator is specified to put out 14.0-14.6 Volts, which may be fine for maintaining adequate charge, but peak battery performance must require periodic charging of 14.7 to 15.0 V.

Our service manual recommends the following for charging:

 

52    BATTERY

The battery’s voltage is 12 V with a capacity of 13 Ah; it is charged by the generator.The battery used on the motorbike is a sealed type lead acid battery (without  maintenance) which does not require any checks.CHARGING INSTRUCTIONS WARNING• It contains toxic substances (Pb e H2 SO4);• Extremely high currents, avoid short circuits;• Do not recharge in the sealed container;•  Using  different  battery  chargers  will  cause irreparable damage to the battery.GENERAL NOTES Charging lead acid or pure-tin sealed accumulators, just as other re-chargable accumulators, is a question of saving the energy supplied during discharge. As this process is in some ways inefficient, it is necessary to bring back tothe accumulator from 105% to 110% of the amperes-hour supplied  during  discharge.  The  quality  of  the  power necessary to completely re-charge the battey dependson the flatness of the accumulator, on the method, re-charging time and temperature.It is important that the battery is capable of supplying all or nearly all of its capacity before receiving the requiredover-charging.  However, to obtain an optimal duration interms  of  cycle  numbers,  the  battery  must  periodicallyreceive the required over-charging. Charging can be carried out in different ways. The aim is to  convey  current  through  the  battery  in  the  direction opposite to the discharge. Constant voltage charging is the  standard  method  used  to  charge  lead  acid  type accumulators. Constant voltage charging The  voltage  charging  method  is  the  most  efficient  for charging sealed lead- acid pure-tin accumulators. Using this  charging  method,  it  is  not  necessary  to  limit  the maximum current supplied by the charger. The voltage must however be adjusted so that it is within the values prescribed  below. This  feature  is  due  to  the  internal resistance of the battery.  It is extremely low and features a  high  recombination  efficiency  during  charging. We recommend to observe the following values for constant voltage charging:

 

 

ELECTRICAL SYSTEMACB

CYCLIC USE:From 14.7V to 15.0V per battery, at 25°C. No current limit requested. BUFFER USE:From 13.50V to 13.80V per battery, at 25°C. No currentlimit requested.

Removal:•Remove the saddle as described in chapter 4 sectionE;•Release the locking belt “C”;•Disconnect the negative terminal “A”, then the positi-ve  “B” by unscrewing the nuts;•Remove the battery from the motorbike. N.B.Always disconnect the negative terminal first “A”then the positive one “B”.N.B. The negative terminal  “A” is black , while thepositive one “B” is red.

Refitting:•Apply protective spray for electrical contacts on thebattery terminal board;•Insert the battery in its seat on the motorbike;•Connect the postive terminal “B” then the negative one“A”;•Hook the locking belt “C” once again.•Refit the saddle.