Maintenance free battery advice needed please

[Guest Mac750]

Hi, reading my owners hand book for the NC 750X it states that the battery is the maintenance free type and consists of an impregnated fibreglass mat which does not need topping up with distilled water. It also says not to use a car type battery charger, this raises a few questions. Under normal use how long does this type of battery last before needing replacement ?.

Also thinking ahead to the winter lay up, I leave my motorcycles sipping on a "Optimate 2" motorcycle battery charger through the winter months, this is done by fitting a connecting coupling to the machines battery and then connecting it to the Optimate which is left switched on over winter, it regulates the charge into the battery as required. This has worked well on my older machines.

But can I still connect the coupling to the battery terminals on the Honda as normal without damaging expensive electronics and would the Optimate be okay for this Mat type battery fitted to the NC750X ?.

As an alternative I also have a new Avon advanced charger "which can be used on all types of modern battery and automatically selects 6,12 or 24 volt depending on battery type" . I use this one to keep my camper van happy, as it has 24 volt truck and 12 volt leisure batteries on board so I alternate charging use.

I would like to keep the Optimate just for motorcycle use and the Avon fitted to the Campervan. Advise regarding the Honda's modern motorcycle battery would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks in advance.

Mac

Edited September 12, 2016 by Mac750

[ste7ios 469]

It's only a factory activated AGM battery. Just keep it always full (as any lead acid battery) and it will be happy. The OptiMate is perfect for this job!

The expected battery life is about 5 years but it depends on many factors, like environmental temperatures, riding distances / time, etc.

You may take a quick look at Yuasa's Techical Manual for more details...

[embee 7,288]

As Stelios says, there's nothing particularly special about the OE battery, it's a Yuasa YTZ series item, a very good battery. The Optimate will do a fine job. No need to take special precautions, just fit the usual Optimate fused extension lead (or whatever you prefer) and plug it in whenever possible.

 

As for life, like he says above, keep it fully charged at all times and you'll extend the life as much as possible. I've had them last 7yrs, I'm sure some folk have had more.

[Guest Mac750]

Thank you guys for the prompt reply, my NC is now tucked up in bed and sipping on the Optimate Charger

[Guest aldmannie]

Best way to keep a battery in good condition is ride the bike regularly over reasonable distances.

Optimates are for the hobby or part time biker.

If you ride regularly you'll never need one.

 

"Winter lay up"...?

You live in Cornwall, its positively tropical down there!

[ste7ios 469]

Ideally, yes! Long rides is the best way to keep the battery fully charged! For both the battery & the rider!

But in reality it's not possible for many of us...

In any case it's a good practice to monitor the battery from time to time & keep a log, to have a picture of its state and have an idea of how our riding affecting its charging level...

For sure short distances, many engine stops-starts, etc. doesn't help. Lead acid batteries need a lot of time to FULLY charge them (approx. 45') to stop sulfation.

And some of us have some more parasitic drain from various accessories (alarms, oilers, etc).

(Sorry for my bad English).

[DaveM59 1,605]

Batteries kept on top up chargers on average tend to not last as long as one on a regularly used bike. I am currently on year 6 of a GM battery on my X9 and year 5 on the Integra. They seem to last longer than the retailers who sold them to me.

I got about 4 years out of old wet cell ones previously. Whichever bike is not currently used often sits 2 or 3 months and fires up as normal when needed without requiring optimates but I definitely have no parasitic drains other than OEM immobilisers.

[ste7ios 469]

One fact is that sulfation stops only when the battery is fully charged (13.0V for AGMs of Yuasa, Varta and other... Not all of them.).

Other fact is that lead acid charging is not just pulling electrons but a more complicated procedure to avoid overcharging, gasing... Not every charger / maintainer out there is gentle & smart enough.

And of course we don't know how thorough is every professional, how well he maintains all of his stock... Storage temperature, charger technology, charging schedules...

Most importantly, in most cases we don't really know how fresh is a factory activated battery. Even a well maintained battery will deteriorate by grid corrosion...

Mine died in about 2 years because of my daily commuting (max 20-25' in city traffic). It was impossible to fully charge it with my rides. Occasionally charging with a maintainer didn't help... So I replaced it with a LFP which doesn't have sulfation problems, and can be charged really quickly!

[Guest Mac750]

Yep the bike slumber's more often than not now, self employed = most weekends working = low miles per year. No longer have three weeks off in a block to tour. But still do a 100 to 200 miles around the coast roads given an excuse . Today was the hottest on record in parts of the U.K. Meanwhile in the West Country we have monsoon like precipitation. Winters down here are mild and very,very, wet lasting from November to April, sunny Cornwall where's my boat .

[Reckless 945]

I use optimate chargers on my bikes, but I will not leave them connected and switched on no matter how good at controlling themselves they are, I have heard of people getting their battery fried or boiled dry being left on charge. My solution is quite simple, I have the Chargers plugged into a timer, they are on charge for an hour which is long enough to get the fully charged light on and stable. If the charger develops a fault or looses the plot for whatever reason one hour isn't enough to do any damage, when it looses the power it resets itself as well so hopefully back to normal for next cycle

[Guest sykospain]

Other intelligent chargers for GEL batteries than the Optimate are available - at less cost and they're mostly just as good.

 

IF and when the OEM Yuasa on my 2015 bike kicks the bucket, despite 'sipping' ( good concept, Mac ) on my 'Ring' brand golf-cart monitor, I'll replace it with a Lithium Iron Ion battery like I had on my K75.  Doesn't self-discharge during extended rest periods, so no gradual falling-off of power, 4 times the cranking whack and a third the weight of a lead acid jobbie, and you can charge it from a flattish won't-start-it state within 20 mins.  But it needs a bespoke charger / monitor, so it's an expensive move.

Edited September 14, 2016 by sykospain

[ste7ios 469]

To be precise, our batteries are not gel but AGM. Gel cell batteries is a different beast that is incompatible with our charging system.

LFP is a good idea. It doesn't have the problems of lead acid, its charging is much simpler, much much quicker and they're more powerful! (Peukeur's law doesn't apply!)

The only problem is that the proposed capacities by their manufactures are undersized for real life. Just ignore their Pb equivalent Ah ratings and go for the real thing or something close to it (~11Ah).

Also if you let it drain completely you may destroy the battery. It's more sensitive than AGM...

I would suggest an EarthX (for the embedded BMS), or an Antigravity (for their perfect cell matching).

You don't need a special charger unless you want to balance the cells. Any AGM charger will do the job BUT you must have desulfation / recovery mode disabled.