Battery advice please

Robbiem

Robbiem

Active member
UKGSer Subscriber
Joined
Dec 4, 2016
Messages
147
Reaction score
2
Location
Burton on trent england
Just bought a 1200gs anniversary 2010 off a friend of a friend —
He has told me the battery was replaced in 2014 and it’s looks about shot it again. - struggling even after a full charge - charging voltage good. After doing a little reading it seems they might be a tad small for the job — I have a 1150 gs next to it with no fancy gizmos and the battery on that has more amp hours !

Recommendations please for a upgraded battery which will do the business —
Cheers


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
I’ve just fitted a lithium battery. 240 cca. £65 ebay


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I have a JMT lithium on the 1200. They are great because they don't need to be on a conditioning charger and can be left untouched for months with no damage. It does appear to struggle when it's cold but TBH that's a feature of the battery.

Lead acids can only give about 30% with any useful current and a lot less when its cold. For useful power delivery, a 14AH capacity is much closer to 4AH. The charge is there but the battery will only release it at a slow rate. They also suffer when left unused for long periods.

The Lithium starter batteries have a smaller total capacity but can deliver 95% at full current so they don't need to be so big. BUT they dont like cold and start to grumble well above 5 degrees C.

On the plus side a cold Lithium will warm itself by trying to turn a cold engine. At around freezing, mine turns the engine slowly but initially it wont start. Give it a few seconds then switch off and wait again for the start sequence. This time the battery has warmed itself and spins the starter normally. It could be seen as annoying but the slow turning gets oil moving in the engine so all good really.

It cost me not much more than 1/2 the cost of an Odyssey, saves 8 pounds in weight and it helps the oil to circulate before the engine starts.

Another tip. Lithiums are wrecked by a too high charge voltage and will be bricked if discharged to dead flat. JMTs have electronic circuits to protect their voltages going too high or too low. An Optimate "recovery mode" will kill a lithium. Just use a normal car battery charger.
 
Bendy toy said:
I have a JMT lithium on the 1200. They are great because they don't need to be on a conditioning charger and can be left untouched for months with no damage. It does appear to struggle when it's cold but TBH that's a feature of the battery.

Lead acids can only give about 30% with any useful current and a lot less when its cold. For useful power delivery, a 14AH capacity is much closer to 4AH. The charge is there but the battery will only release it at a slow rate. They also suffer when left unused for long periods.

The Lithium starter batteries have a smaller total capacity but can deliver 95% at full current so they don't need to be so big. BUT they dont like cold and start to grumble well above 5 degrees C.

On the plus side a cold Lithium will warm itself by trying to turn a cold engine. At around freezing, mine turns the engine slowly but initially it wont start. Give it a few seconds then switch off and wait again for the start sequence. This time the battery has warmed itself and spins the starter normally. It could be seen as annoying but the slow turning gets oil moving in the engine so all good really.

It cost me not much more than 1/2 the cost of an Odyssey, saves 8 pounds in weight and it helps the oil to circulate before the engine starts.

Another tip. Lithiums are wrecked by a too high charge voltage and will be bricked if discharged to dead flat. JMTs have electronic circuits to protect their voltages going too high or too low. An Optimate "recovery mode" will kill a lithium. Just use a normal car battery charger.
Click to expand...

Cheers — lots of info there I didn’t know.
What a great site this is.
I’ll give it some thought - thanks again


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
I use my bike most weeks so don’t really need the long term storage ability. But I do like the weight saving and the smaller size of the battery. It might even be possible to put it elsewhere on the bike. If you could be bothered of course.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
How do these fit in the GSA ? Do you have to lift them up so the terminals are at the top of the frame where the battery leads come in or can you somehow re-route the leads lower down inside the battery space ?
 
Robbiem said:
Just bought a 1200gs anniversary 2010 off a friend of a friend —
He has told me the battery was replaced in 2014 and it’s looks about shot it again. - struggling even after a full charge - charging voltage good. After doing a little reading it seems they might be a tad small for the job — I have a 1150 gs next to it with no fancy gizmos and the battery on that has more amp hours !

Recommendations please for a upgraded battery which will do the business —
Cheers


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info just ordered the motobatt 16ah
£64 delivered —


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
buncobooth said:
How do these fit in the GSA ? Do you have to lift them up so the terminals are at the top of the frame where the battery leads come in or can you somehow re-route the leads lower down inside the battery space ?
Click to expand...

They come with spacer blocks so the battery too ends up the same height as before.
 
I recently fitted a Yuasa YTX14h-bs lead acid jobbie. 240cca.

£75 delivered from Halfrauds, or £58.40 if you have access to a Halfords trade card.

A straight swap for the original.
 
Sea Dog said:
Be handy if it could be turned into useful storage space. Is it big enough to be useful? Has anyone done it?
Click to expand...

To be honest the space can't be "that" useful but a custom made tank could carry extra fuel on a GS. Cheaper than trying to fit a GSA tank.

I'm still at the head scratching stage but it looks like the 240 CCA JMT will fit in a box carried between the front forks from the beak frame central tube. I need to do some CAD work as they did on the Project Binky Mini. (Cardboard Aided Design). ;)

Is it needed? Of course not, but I fancy having a go.
 
Bendy toy said:
I have a JMT lithium on the 1200. They are great because they don't need to be on a conditioning charger and can be left untouched for months with no damage. It does appear to struggle when it's cold but TBH that's a feature of the battery.

Lead acids can only give about 30% with any useful current and a lot less when its cold. For useful power delivery, a 14AH capacity is much closer to 4AH. The charge is there but the battery will only release it at a slow rate. They also suffer when left unused for long periods.

The Lithium starter batteries have a smaller total capacity but can deliver 95% at full current so they don't need to be so big. BUT they dont like cold and start to grumble well above 5 degrees C.

On the plus side a cold Lithium will warm itself by trying to turn a cold engine. At around freezing, mine turns the engine slowly but initially it wont start. Give it a few seconds then switch off and wait again for the start sequence. This time the battery has warmed itself and spins the starter normally. It could be seen as annoying but the slow turning gets oil moving in the engine so all good really.

It cost me not much more than 1/2 the cost of an Odyssey, saves 8 pounds in weight and it helps the oil to circulate before the engine starts.

Another tip. Lithiums are wrecked by a too high charge voltage and will be bricked if discharged to dead flat. JMTs have electronic circuits to protect their voltages going too high or too low. An Optimate "recovery mode" will kill a lithium. Just use a normal car battery charger.
Click to expand...

Hi Bendy - can you recommend a supplier for the JMT batteries - found a few on line, but nobody seems to be responding to emails and some of the prices are pretty high
 
I’ve got he same JMT battery and have been very happy with it. I bought that a specialist battery charger from an eBay guy , although can’t remember the name. What I would say is that the JNT battery fills the hole with the little chocks on the bottom on top of the BMW chock. So it could be a good chunk taller. If I were buying another I’d search for the tallest one to fit the hole rather than the one for the GSA.

I will however say one other thing. I replaced mine as from day one it seemed to struggle to start the bike. And I’m in the process of replacing the starter on my 2010 anniversary GSA as it’s dead. Apparently a common issue according to my local dealer. So maybe that’s a better starting point. FWIW This is the 5th battery in 5 years on this bike. And it looks like from day one the issue was actually the starter.
Cheers Chris.
 
Motobatt is top dog.
It was -5 in Cardiff at 8.30 this morning and my '09, which lives outside, started up fine on its journey in to work. Roads were dead slippy though when work called it a day at 12.30 (due to snow), the slush was beginning to ice up. On Tourance Next's, definitely not a snow tyre. Used TKC's on my old 1150GSA in Russian winter and they were fine.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

DJ123
Charging Issue; Stator or RR
2
Replies
26
Views
2,153
DJ123
DJ123
Santa-2512
Fit an Odyssey battery in an LC
Replies
1
Views
717
richtel
richtel
Weird charging - or not.....
Replies
8
Views
688
Nantywenynen
Electrical Problems Remaining after Stator and RR Replacement
Replies
10
Views
936
__YANNICK__
Neil W
Zumo 660 Mount Not Charging
Replies
4
Views
416
ogri-nic
ogri-nic


Back
Top Bottom