Suspicions confirmed- battery

[Garz747]

I bought a MY 19 Tracer 900 new in 2021, Im guessing the battery was activated and  the  bike sat on the showroom floor. Although it has been kept on a maintainence charger in the off season, last fall the bike would not idle without holding the throttle slightly open. A fellow forum member suggested the battery was on its way out. I finally tried to fire her up for the first ride of the season yesterday and even thogh my charger showed a green fully charged light the starter would only click. After a boost from a Yuasa sea doo battery all was well including a steady cold idle.  Im off to purchase a new battery-probably the NOCO NLP 14 lithium as Yamaha is even selling them on  their own site.

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[texscottyd]

@Garz747 - I’ve had that a couple of times, where the Battery Tender showed everything was fine, but the battery was definitely on its last legs.    I’ve finally started going with Lithium-Ion batteries in my bikes (a recent AntiGravity brand is working great in my Speed Twin), I will go that route in the FJ when it comes time for the next replacement.  

[vincep]

@Garz747 good to know that indicator for a battery on the way out - thanks.

[bwringer]

Yeah, the AGM battery in these bikes is very, very small for the application, and once it starts to decline at all, the party is over. There are also a lot of cheapies out there that are marginal out of the box.

That said, this bike is also one of many with onboard gnomes that inexplicably like to loosen the battery terminals for no reason. Always worth checking that if you get the clicky-click.

 

Also, never leave a small battery (especially one this small) on a maintainer or "tender" all winter, and don't plug it in if the bike is being ridden at least every week or two. Just hook it up for a few hours every month or so during the dark times and that'll be plenty. The constant "topping up" will drastically speed the battery's demise.

FWIW, in the USA O'Reilly Auto sells a very nice quality AGM battery made by Deka, which is a large cut above the generic cheapies sold at the other parts stores. Look for the distinctive light gray case and beefy terminals

 

[Ride365]

1 hour ago, bwringer said:

Yeah, the AGM battery in these bikes is very, very small for the application, and once it starts to decline at all, the party is over. There are also a lot of cheapies out there that are marginal out of the box.

That said, this bike is also one of many with onboard gnomes that inexplicably like to loosen the battery terminals for no reason. Always worth checking that if you get the clicky-click.

 

Also, never leave a small battery (especially one this small) on a maintainer or "tender" all winter, and don't plug it in if the bike is being ridden at least every week or two. Just hook it up for a few hours every month or so during the dark times and that'll be plenty. The constant "topping up" will drastically speed the battery's demise.

FWIW, in the USA O'Reilly Auto sells a very nice quality AGM battery made by Deka, which is a large cut above the generic cheapies sold at the other parts stores. Look for the distinctive light gray case and beefy terminals

 

This the one? If so, it gets pretty unfavorable reviews from what I read, they say it does fit well however.

 

Edited April 30 by Ride365

[2and3cylinders]

1 hour ago, bwringer said:

Yeah, the AGM battery in these bikes is very, very small for the application, and once it starts to decline at all, the party is over. There are also a lot of cheapies out there that are marginal out of the box.

That said, this bike is also one of many with onboard gnomes that inexplicably like to loosen the battery terminals for no reason. Always worth checking that if you get the clicky-click.

 

Also, never leave a small battery (especially one this small) on a maintainer or "tender" all winter, and don't plug it in if the bike is being ridden at least every week or two. Just hook it up for a few hours every month or so during the dark times and that'll be plenty. The constant "topping up" will drastically speed the battery's demise.

FWIW, in the USA O'Reilly Auto sells a very nice quality AGM battery made by Deka, which is a large cut above the generic cheapies sold at the other parts stores. Look for the distinctive light gray case and beefy terminals

 

Good to know about the O'Reilly's battery because it's nice to have a local auto store if you're on a trip but it only has a 6-month warranty and the reviews aren't great but I got my new Yuasa from Amazon for about 20 bucks more which also people should know Amazon won't warranty but I've never had a problem with a Yuasa and the OEM lasted 8 years which is nothing to complain about

[bwringer]

22 hours ago, Ride365 said:

This the one? If so, it gets pretty unfavorable reviews from what I read, they say it does fit well however.

 

 

Yep, that's the one!

Six month warranties for powersports batteries are entirely standard. Not sure why that's brought up as an issue; longer warranties are confined to four-wheeled vehicles.

 

Motorcycle batteries always have unfavorable reviews, and if you read some of the reviews you'll begin to see why.

For example:

"...I purchased it April 7, 2018 of last year and a little over a year later it can't hold a charge for more than 2 days and I'm pretty good at puting it on a good quality slow charger when not in use. ..."

or

"...Second one I was informed because I tried to use a trickle charger at home it could not be replaced? ..."

These guys killed their batteries with constant use of a "tender" or trickle charger, but don't realize it.

And the opposite is common, too -- ignore a tiny battery like this from October to April, and yeah, it's going to fail. Not the battery's fault.

 

And as with cars, people commonly don't understand their motorcycle's charging system and that it's failing, and blame the battery. You see the same thing with car alternators, too; they'll burn up and return alternators trying to keep a stone dead battery alive, and vise-versa.

 

That said, there were a few concerning reviews from a few years ago that a terminal pulled out. That's a new one, and it's hard to tell whether that was user error or what. But I know what I suspect. Seriously, have you met... people?

 

Truth be told, I actually had an issue with O'Reilly when I replaced my FJ-09's dying battery this spring. The battery they shoved over the counter at me in February 2024 was made in April 2023. I didn't really make a note of this at the time. I installed the battery in the parking lot, and of course the poor old thing was nearly stone dead after sitting on a shelf for ten months, reading just 10.3 volts. So I pulled it out, noted the date sticker, and went back inside to retrieve my dying but not quite dead old battery so I could get home. That one was mostly on them, but partly on me too.

The counterman gave me some guff and nonsense, but we finally got things sorted out. They didn't have a fresher one on hand, so a few weeks later I found a fresh battery at a different O'Reilly. I checked the date sticker (only two months old) and poked it with a volt meter (12.5) before accepting it, and so far things have been just fine.

 

As to Yuasa... maybe I'm weird, but I wrench on a lot of motorcycles, and I've never had more consistently poor results than with Yuasa batteries. Ten or 20 years ago, sure; Yuasa was the go-to, the top of the line, the ultimate. But I had to stop buying and recommending Yuasa a few years back after several sudden early failures. I'm not a pro, but I do have a pretty good sample size of bikes I work on in any given year.

Every time I mention this, I get a mix of responses; some people continue to believe wholeheartedly in Yuasa and make accusations... but many report the same string of poor experiences. Maybe Yuasa has gotten their quality problems sorted out by now. I dunno. YMMV, and you may disagree vehemently, and that's fine.

FWIW, my go-tos nowadays are the Deka-made AGM batteries sold under an assortment of doofy house brand names or the yellow "MotoBatt" AGMs.

If I need a cheapie just to get a bike out the door for the season, there's a company called "Chrome Battery" based near Indy that stocks and distributes Chinese AGMs that work surprisingly well for a year or two. Google 'em, or look up their Amazon storefront.

Edited May 1 by bwringer

[Ride365]

Great write up and I concur on much all you mentioned, plus who even knows anymore what reviews are even legit these days. My local Oreilys has these in stock, I will give it a go purely at your recommendation/experience.

[2and3cylinders]

The thing that pisses me off about Yuasa is Amazon has sellers that supposedly warrant them but if you go to Amazon you are just pounding sand.

Worse yet, you have to call Yuasa with the manufacture date code to find out its fill date, and they're indignant you feel you have a need to know.

It was at 12.9v+ when I got it.  Put it on my 1.25a BT+ anyway.

Went for less than a 100 mile shake-down run.  Got back in the shop it was 13.44++

3 days later it's still 13.12+

Not worried about it but I monitor all 5 of my batteries regularly.

Only put them on my BT+ when necessary.

As I said, I get at least 6 years out of all of them.

Tried 2 Motobatt in my VTRs, was not overly impressed but mine is still 6 years old.

Distributor is 45 minutes away.  They had a friend ride over and replaced his 2 years after new because he though it was low, so that was heartwarming!

Next time I'm getting a NOCO or something. A buddy has been running them for years and doesn't understand why anyone would have a AGM.  He's still a track coach at 74 and everything is about weight.  Other thing he does first thing is a slip-on but BMWs can all do that.  FJs not so much.  Yet he thinks his RT is a featherweight though he also has an XR.  He just picked up an RC390 with full suspension and all set up for the track, $2,900!

He's a shopper and only pays cash.  Got his GSXR600 for like $5k.

Also have a Noco Genius 2 smart charger that also handles LifePo4.  Funky connectors but I bought their SAE adapter cable to which I can connect a SAE to coax cable, so I have 2 ways to charge the bike and run my heated jacket liner and vest, and plug in a volt meter / BT.

[DubT9]

After replacing 2 yuasa batteries in as many years, each costing 130euro, I ended up getting a Nitro agm for 35eur last year. Its still starting the bike without issue even with months of inactivity and no trickle charger needed. I've always bought Yuasa for my bikes but will stick with the cheaper options or go lifepo4 when I need a replacement. BTW Nitro is part of the Afam brand here in Europe. 

[miweber929]

22 hours ago, bwringer said:

As to Yuasa... maybe I'm weird, but I wrench on a lot of motorcycles, and I've never had more consistently poor results than with Yuasa batteries. Ten or 20 years ago, sure; Yuasa was the go-to, the top of the line, the ultimate. But I had to stop buying and recommending Yuasa a few years back after several sudden early failures. I'm not a pro, but I do have a pretty good sample size of bikes I work on in any given year.

Every time I mention this, I get a mix of responses; some people continue to believe wholeheartedly in Yuasa and make accusations... but many report the same string of poor experiences. Maybe Yuasa has gotten their quality problems sorted out by now. I dunno. YMMV, and you may disagree vehemently, and that's fine.

You are definitely not weird and that has been a very common occurrence with Yuasa in “recent” times. A 20 year old one will last forever, a 2 year old one? Budget for a new one in the next year because 3 or so is all you’ll get. Have a ton of bikes over the years and it’s been the common theme.