How long did your original battery last ?

[roadrash83]

All my bikes live on a tender in a garage that doesn't get below 40 degrees in the winter. Four years seems to be the magic number on service life.

[stumpy]

mine failed at 5 months...replaced under warranty.  might have been the dealers fault if the battery was installed when assembled..not sure.  replaced without issue at yamaha

[3banger]

Mine didn’t survive the winter, last ride was likely in November last year.   No battery tender for 4-ish months, bike garaged at 50 to 60*F.  Put it on the charger over night the other day and just click click when I tried to start.  This is a 2016 so 4 years with no real battery maintenance isn’t bad I guess.  Anyway Shorais on order, one for my FJ and one for the missus FZ-07

[Luma46]

My experience with various motorcycle brand batteries is 4 to 5 years life. This is provided your alternator is charging properly and over winter having the battery at least once a week on a charger/maintainer for a day or so.

[skipperT]

On 3/13/2019 at 11:16 AM, Luma46 said:

My experience with various motorcycle brand batteries is 4 to 5 years life. This is provided your alternator is charging properly and over winter having the battery at least once a week on a charger/maintainer for a day or so.

Not trying to be a pill, but NO motorcycle made in the last several decades has an alternator except for the Honda GL1800.

Powersports vehicles use a (usually) wet stator for creating electrical AC voltage. A regulator/rectifier rectifies the AC V to DC V so that the bike/battery etc can use it.

The reason this is important for people to wrap their heads around, is that a car's alternator will recharge a low battery (in a case where you left your headlights on for example), where a stator is ONLY powerful enough to keep a healthy battery CHARGED. IT CANNOT recharge a discharged (below 12.0v) battery. You need to attach a charger for that job.  

Hence why it common for powersports batteries that aren't maintained to get discharged to the point where they are damaged or unrecoverable. Requiring consumers to replace lots of batteries.

Battery tenders are your friend.

-Skip

[Luma46]

13 hours ago, skipperT said:

Not trying to be a pill, but NO motorcycle made in the last several decades has an alternator except for the Honda GL1800.

Powersports vehicles use a (usually) wet stator for creating electrical AC voltage. A regulator/rectifier rectifies the AC V to DC V so that the bike/battery etc can use it.

The reason this is important for people to wrap their heads around, is that a car's alternator will recharge a low battery (in a case where you left your headlights on for example), where a stator is ONLY powerful enough to keep a healthy battery CHARGED. IT CANNOT recharge a discharged (below 12.0v) battery. You need to attach a charger for that job.  

Hence why it common for powersports batteries that aren't maintained to get discharged to the point where they are damaged or unrecoverable. Requiring consumers to replace lots of batteries.

Battery tenders are your friend.

-Skip

Good points.

[bamarider]

Mine still has the original battery,  which makes it over 4 yrs old. Try to use a tender when i think of it.

[tinkerfreak]

On 3/15/2019 at 7:46 PM, skipperT said:

Not trying to be a pill, but NO motorcycle made in the last several decades has an alternator except for the Honda GL1800.

Powersports vehicles use a (usually) wet stator for creating electrical AC voltage. A regulator/rectifier rectifies the AC V to DC V so that the bike/battery etc can use it.

The reason this is important for people to wrap their heads around, is that a car's alternator will recharge a low battery (in a case where you left your headlights on for example), where a stator is ONLY powerful enough to keep a healthy battery CHARGED. IT CANNOT recharge a discharged (below 12.0v) battery. You need to attach a charger for that job.  

Hence why it common for powersports batteries that aren't maintained to get discharged to the point where they are damaged or unrecoverable. Requiring consumers to replace lots of batteries.

Battery tenders are your friend.

-Skip

My Moto Guzzi(2007), C10 Concours(1998) and BMW R100(1993) had alternators!

 

Cheers

[estell]

My experience seems to be in conflict with the statements in this thread. I still have my original 2015 battery and I do not connect it to a battery tender. Instead, I start the bike and warm it up at about 4 week intervals so it doesn't sit all winter.

Regarding charging, I recently left the ignition on for 40 minutes and discharged the battery such that it wouldn't crank over at all. I jump-started it and rode for 20 minutes. That fully re-charged the battery. 

[superfist]

On ‎3‎/‎19‎/‎2019 at 1:35 PM, estell said:

My experience seems to be in conflict with the statements in this thread. I still have my original 2015 battery and I do not connect it to a battery tender. Instead, I start the bike and warm it up at about 4 week intervals so it doesn't sit all winter.

Regarding charging, I recently left the ignition on for 40 minutes and discharged the battery such that it wouldn't crank over at all. I jump-started it and rode for 20 minutes. That fully re-charged the battery. 

I have a similar experience.

 

I have a 2015 model purchased in Nov 2016 (19,500 miles now on original battery).  I ride year round and have never hooked up the battery tender.  I had one morning where it didn't want to start.  It turned over, but about the third attempt, there wasn't enough power to turn the starter motor.

 

I jumped it, let it run for a while and went for a 30 minute ride.  It started right up the next morning.

 

A 12v battery should be somewhere in the neighborhood of 12.5-13.5v when fully charged.  Motorcycle running and I see just over 14v.  I always thought 14v was charging voltage and 12v was operating voltage.  I've always just assumed the motorcycle charge system could handle charging a low battery.

[bugsplatered]

The Battery on my 2015, which was purchased in May 2016, went dead yesterday 3/27/19.

I think that I will get a new battery rather than trust the old one.

 

[skipperT]

On 3/25/2019 at 10:17 AM, superfist said:

I have a similar experience.

 

I have a 2015 model purchased in Nov 2016 (19,500 miles now on original battery).  I ride year round and have never hooked up the battery tender.  I had one morning where it didn't want to start.  It turned over, but about the third attempt, there wasn't enough power to turn the starter motor.

 

I jumped it, let it run for a while and went for a 30 minute ride.  It started right up the next morning.

 

A 12v battery should be somewhere in the neighborhood of 12.5-13.5v when fully charged.  Motorcycle running and I see just over 14v.  I always thought 14v was charging voltage and 12v was operating voltage.  I've always just assumed the motorcycle charge system could handle charging a low battery.

You guys are fortunate. I guess it depends on how "low" the battery actually was - deeply discharged below 11v and possibly damaged cannot be recovered via a stator.

-Skip

[keithu]

Really good info Skip!

I still have the original battery on my '15. I ride year round but I am frequently away for 1-3 weeks on business trips. I put my FJ on the battery tender every time I go away.

[texscottyd]

Until today.  My original battery lasted until today...  2015 model, bought new in March 2016.  14,327.4 miles (give or take) 

Interestingly, the Battery Tender showed it as fully charged, but when I hit the starter it made about three or four slow revolutions, and then just a click and vague electronic buzzing noises.   Yup, it’s dead!  

Replacement is already installed, and it fired right up.  All is right with the world once again...

[commiezilla]

Bought in 2015 moved to Nevada in 2017 and dealer said I needed a new battery. I took their suggestion but I think it was a waste now that I look back. Only had about 10k on it at that point.