Battery tender still in yellow?

3837 Views 31 Replies 14 Participants Last post by Oldjeep, 2 mo ago

wczimmerman

Discussion Starter · 2 mo ago

I have a couple of varieties of battery tenders for the stable but all are Yuasa branded (for what that is worth). Just yesterday and from overnight I noticed that the light for the tender on my FJR was still yellow. We have been out on a ride here and there so it hasn't been sitting. Also, the battery on the FJR was replaced with a Yuasa in Dec of last year so it is only a few months old at this point.

If I plug the lower tender in the picture to the bike, the light goes green immediately, but the upper one (1amp) stays yellow now. I also have a couple of these 1 amp unit and I switched it out just in case one was failing. Same result.

I don't want to damage the new battery so I figured I would see what others have run into.

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wczimmerman

Discussion Starter · #21 · 2 mo ago

RaYzerman said:
I am making an assumption your battery is good......... You need some data...... check battery voltage while charging, disconnect and do an ignition cycle to remove any surface charge then recheck voltage, reconnect charger and check initial charge voltage (this will tell you if charger has a desulphation mode ~14V, which should taper off to ~13V at some point). I suspect only Yuasa can answer how that model in particular works........

On Yuasa's site, they don't even sell those any more, lowest one now is 1.2A.

Bike was off the charger for overnight. Measured 12.8V after an ignition cycle. Put the charger on it and it started at 13V, climbed steadily to 14.15V and leveled off at 14.14V...then slowly climbed to 14.25-14.28V.

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wczimmerman

Discussion Starter · #22 · 2 mo ago

Ok, so update. While I've been looking at this I was also shopping around for a replacement as I found out that if you buy a Yuasa through a retailer, it's the retailer that sets the replacement policy. In my case that meant Amazon with their 30 day warranty. So, I thought I'd find a replacement locally with a better warranty anyway.

Picked up a Duracell powersports battery listed for the FJR and it was a full 1" too wide. Returned it and found at batteriesplus.com this model:

https://www.batteriesplus.com/productdetails/battery/motorcycle/yamaha/fjr1300a/1300cc/2014/cyla14b4xta

All the dimensions lined up perfectly and it was cheaper to boot. Customer service was completely top notch, I will add.

Well, I took the panels off to replace the battery, got the positive battery cable hooked up and then ran into an issue connecting the negative. The FJR battery cable is in a U or C shape and the post on the negative and positive side is too shallow to work. This wasn't an issue on the positive side since the deep part of the C is on the outside but the negative ran into an immediate issue.

I put the Yuasa back in since it is going green eventually. I'm likely overthinking this but I am curious what other batteries folks have been using since I cannot find one with the right dimensions, at least locally.

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dimmer

· #23 · 2 mo ago

Yuasa YT14B-BS is what is used for last 2 replacements. I keep a "dry" one in stock.

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rbentnail

· #24 · 2 mo ago

Motobatt, both the AGM and the red print lithium fit fine.

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wczimmerman

Discussion Starter · #25 · 2 mo ago

rbentnail said:
Motobatt, both the AGM and the red print lithium fit fine.

Much appreciated.

I wonder how much of a difference the CCA's makes between the two? The Yuasa is posted at 210 cca's and the Motobatt is 180 but the amp hours is slightly higher for the Motobatt.

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bounce

· #26 · 2 mo ago

Amaguq said:
I have had the same issue and here is what I found out. Firstly batteries usually have a manufacture date stamp on the case showing month and year when the battery was produced. A new battery will go stale just sitting on the store shelf, so always check for that date and never buy a battery over 2 years old. Secondly don’t leave the battery on trickle charge all winter, do a full charge it at the end of the riding season, again in December/January and finally when you prep the bike in the spring. I used to use trickle chargers in the past, but not anymore. Since I started doing this my batteries have lasted longer than 2 years, current battery is 4 years old now and going strong. Sorry to tell you that the battery you have is pooched, there is no way that I know of to recover it. Another bit of advice is to never buy a battery from a dealer or Sears or other stores like i, 9 times out of 10 it’s stale because they don’t have the sales volume to maintain inventory of fresh batteries. I buy get my batteries from a dedicated battery store and I always check the date on the battery. Hope this helps.

Great points. Also the surface charge they put on it at a shop isn't very good for the longevity. Take it home, put it on the trickle charger (1.x amps) for 24 hours to get a good deep charge, THEN install it.

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rbentnail

· #27 · 2 mo ago

wczimmerman said:
Much appreciated.

I wonder how much of a difference the CCA's makes between the two? The Yuasa is posted at 210 cca's and the Motobatt is 180 but the amp hours is slightly higher for the Motobatt.

Both Motobatts work fine in my bikes. Don't overthink it

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wczimmerman

Discussion Starter · #28 · 2 mo ago

rbentnail said:
Both Motobatts work fine in my bikes. Don't overthink it .

Yeah, agreed. Though, being German, it's tough not to overthink it...

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mortenk

· #29 · 2 mo ago

If your bike cranks with no hesitation, battery is likely fine. Ride it. I simply pay attention to the cranking sound whenever I start my bike. If it starts to sound "tired" I order a new battery and start parking in high spots, as I know trouble is a few weeks away. This has worked for 30+ years and I have never been stranded anywhere. I've had to push-start it a few times while waiting for the new battery to arrive, but that's super easy, especially if you park it in high spots.

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MRB06ae

· #30 · 2 mo ago

How high would that high spot have to be for an AE model?

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wczimmerman

Discussion Starter · #31 · 2 mo ago

Well, I have 2 trips coming up to TX and TN so I replaced the battery rather than have a question. My thanks to @rbentnail for the Motobatt recommendation.