Battery woes

[chriswarren]

My OEM battery for my Gen 1 lasted 5 years. Since then, I've had some (relatively) cheap MF batteries (c. £50) that last for 10 months on average. My most recent one now dies completely unless I've got it on Optimate overnight - particularly if it gets below 10 degrees or so.
 
Is this issue because:
 
- after-market cheap batteries give you what you pay for
- my Thatcham System 3 is the knackering batteries?
 
Is it difficult / expensive to get rid of the alarm system if this is a major drain. And otherwise, should I stop being stingey and just buy an OEM battery. (I did get an OEM one as a first replacement but that one only managed 3 months!)
 
I'm riding the bike every day for a 15 minute commute - but not using headlights (yes I know!)....
 
Any comments gratefully received.

[Fazerider]

I'd check the current the alarm system draws and the generator.. either one is taking too much or the other is supplying too little. Batteries last a very long time if they are treated right, my FZS600 is still on the original and is almost 13 years old.

[eddie]

you need an optimiser (trickle charger) by the sounds of it.... got my last battery  from Deefer about 7 years ago always on the optimiser when not using bike

[MEM62]

If an OEM replacement only lasted 3 months I would assume that it must have been faulty.  You have mentioned that cheaper replacements have lasted longer and this shouldn't be the case.  It is worth checking your charging system just in case.  This is easy to do and a multimeter, if you don't already have one, is relatively cheap to buy.  Your commute is relatively short and will not put much of a charge in the battery anyway, but your ovenight charging should easily compensate for this.  As for the alarm, some are worse than others for trashing batteries.  Personally I won't have an alarm fitted to either of my bikes for that very reason.  My FZS1000 has never had an alarm fitted but my VFR came with one - the cost of having that decommissioned was around £50.     

[solorider]

I had a blackbird that had an alarm and I kept it on an optimiser over the winter,that actualy killed the battery,what I did in the end is use a timer and only charge at certain hours,that way the battery only got what it needed and it was allowed to discharge as well

[dekker555]

For what it's worth, I have an 04 Fazer thou with it's original battery, I (2nd owner) bought it last December with just over 5,000miles on it and also it had an alarm fitted that I couldn't get my head around so I had it removed (£80) It had been kept on an Optimate, so NORMALLY an alarm shouldn't destroy batteries.

[ZiggyCol]

If you are riding regularly I don't see that you should have battery problems unless there is something untoward or a crap/faulty battery. I have a 19 mile each way commute and never have to charge my battery and I have heated grips and autocom above standard usage - but no alarm.
 
05 original battery still going strong.

[flesh]

Both my previous Gen 1's had Meta 357 alarms and both sucked my batteries dry. Ended up getting them taken off.
Cost me 1 hour labour at my local independant dealer. Yamaha quoted me £400 for a new loom + labour......yeah right.
My Gen2's OEM battery lasted 2 years (no alarm). Fitted a Varta last year and it lasted 13 months, even on an optimate. Fitted an OEM Yuasa last January and this failed last month. Turned out it was a faulty battery which was replaced under warrenty this time.
Incidentally got a Yuasa YTZ014S (for the Gen2) battery for £60 (RRP £120) from Tippetts Honda which was a bargin. Still selling at that price.

[squitbit]

I've had my Gen1 for 7 years now, original battery died after 2, replacements (cheap as I could get) have lasted 2 years each, the one that's in now is a year old and still fine. I took the alarm (Acumen Cat1) out earlier this year after it refused to disarm. Too early to tell if that was causing the battery's demise but I'll never get another alarm, way more trouble than they are worth IMHO.

[karlo]

I had a similar problem on my old CBR leave it a couple of weeks and the battery was flat (no alarm or anything) so in the end I spent an extra few quid and put a http://motobatt.com/ battery on it and it was fine afterwards.

[chriswarren]

Had the batttery on Optimate for the last 3 days ... 2 green lights for two days now. Started OK this morning, then 10 minutes later after trip to shops, battery dead. Even if the regulator/rectifier were faulty, I suppose this proves that it's a dud battery.
 
I'll go and get a Varta or perhaps the Motoblatt someone mentioned above?

[ghostbiker]

Lost count of the batterys I have had, I think its 5 in 5 years but 1 was faulty and returned affter a month. Bike is used all year round but not regularly. It might be used daily for 2 weeks then not touched again for 2 weeks. It's random. The bike is also kept outside all year round.
I did have a current drain that took me a couple of years to find. It turned out to be the heated grips. Not sure how it sS drawing a current but affter removing the fuse its not had a flat battery since.

But tracing that took years LOL as a multimeter showed nothing so in the end out of desperation I randomly started unplugging things.
Touch wood I haven't had a problem since spring.

[mickdel]

Mine used to last about two weeks in winter with a thatcham alarm (oem batts).  They would charge up ok though, but if the bike isn't used in winter,  the loss of batt power was very noticeable.  When the batt was on it's last legs, I got fed up and used to disconnect it when I wasn't riding the bike.    The alarm is the culprit though.   On my old bandit, which didn't have an alarm, it still started after 6-8 weeks of not being used.  If you have a power source, as the  guys said,  an optimate will keep you happy.