Fazer Owners Club - Unofficial
Bikes, Hints'n'Tips => Fazer 1000/FZ1 corner => Topic started by: bigfootpete on 21 April 2017, 04:59:37 pm
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I've only had the battery for a year and probably only used the bike six months of the year and it's completely dead.
It was fine two days ago, I left the bike as per usual, just on the immobiliser, so that wouldn't drain the battery any more than normal.
But even if I had managed to leave the sidelights on I would still expect the battery to be low but not dead.
I can't charge it and if I swap the terminals it doesn't even warn me that they are on the wrong way, so it's now a paperweight.
Anyone recommend a replacement that's any good? Last one I had was a Yuasa, and they hate the cold.
Really need one that holds it's charge well, and lasts longer than a year.
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Came across this battery, 200cca, reasonable price too.
https://www.tayna.co.uk/YTX12-BS-Enduroline-Advanced-Motorcycle-Battery-P9115.html (https://www.tayna.co.uk/YTX12-BS-Enduroline-Advanced-Motorcycle-Battery-P9115.html)
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I can only say that the yellow motobatt are great batteries, hold charge for ages,all winter with no alarm and last years,my fazer has one about 4 or 5 years old.
Either yours has been cooked by the bike or standalone charger or left flat flat,, or of course you had a bad one,,always possible.
I would recommend you use a motobatt again,,,never use trickle charger, just top them up every other month during lay up times.
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After early failure of my motobatt i bought a numax battery from Tanya.....Cheaper but too early to comment on durability.
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I have had yuasas in the past and had no issues with cold.
My fazer had an old "MF super sealed" when I got it years ago. It had been stood in a breakers for months, it's still on to this day and never misses a beat, never been on a charger or optimate. Batteries die mostly when they are not being used (charged, load , discharged etc) no matter how expensive etc
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Best batteries I have used. Never had a problem and even started my old fzr after a year in storage.
Like all things you get duds.
Contact Mottobatt
http://www.motobatt.com/index.php (http://www.motobatt.com/index.php)
Have you tried leaving overnight on charge. Safe place.
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I complained to motobatt but was told 'one year warranty' end of message!
No offer of assistance towards a replacement.
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I bought a Motobatt for my Speed Triple. Rubbish, never held a charge from day 1. Seems like you randomly get a very good one, or a very bad one. Yuasa all the way.
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It's strange how some can go west and others stay fresh.
I've had a MotoBatt on my ZX1400 for 5 years, I stored it over winter for 5 months, started first click of the starter after 3 months in a garage with night temps down below freezing. After 5 months, it still started fine, but I gave it charge for the first ride this year anyway.
Conversely, I had a standard YUASA drop dead after two years on the Fazer. That bugger cost 80 quid, yet a cheap and cheerful no name battery that I bought for less than 30 quid is still fine after 3 years.
Quality control on batteries of all makes is utter crap, it seems.
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Well this is my second Motobatt, first one I got off eBay, but couldn't remember if it had been use or not.
Also had two Yuasas, they are worse than the Motobatt.
I emailed the company and they didn't seem very sympathetic, thought they might want to examine it to see what they
could learn.
Now, after leaving it on the charger(Optimate II) it is actually registering as charging, but I'm not sure it will hold it's charge
after I take it off charge.
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The original battery on Liz's Fazer 1000 lasted 14 years. Replaced it with a Yuasa.
Bike is always on an Optimate type of charger when not in daily use.
I'm a believer in these things - similar treatment with my Aprilia RSV and it's original battery lasted 10 years.
Our 2003 Fazer 600 hasn't had it battery changed yet (also has Optimate connected whenever it's not running).
But, even with the same treatment, my FJ 1200 seems to need a new battery every 5 years or so - no matter what type.
Always wondered why my electricity bill was a bit high (nothing to do with the 400 watt security lights that are constantly going on overnight due to all the bloody cats, squirrels, foxes etc that come into in the garden (or run along the fence).
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i have had both, my mottobatt didn't last a year so back on yussa.
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After early failure of my motobatt i bought a numax battery from Tanya.....Cheaper but too early to comment on durability.
Exactly what I ended up doing. Think it was £28 delivered and has a 1 year warranty. Already survived 1 winter without issue
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I have a motobatt on my kz and it regularly goes for a month or two and always has plenty to kick her over.
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I was impressed with mine to start with, but come winter it all went tits-up. Just had to take it off the bike this morning to charge, despite having had a good ride on it last week.
It's not even that cold now - tho nights can be a bit chilly. I rode it about 20 miles (A17 wide bit - so pretty fast) and when I got it out for the MOT a week later it didn't have enough juice to start the bike.
I put it down to the fact that I hadn't ridden it all winter. It's the first time I put it away for that long, so didn't know what to expect (though I had ridden it a couple of times prior to the MOT) - but now I am putting it on a charger once a week, just to make sure.
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I've had a Motobatt I bought from Wemoto on the Fazer for a couple of years now, with no problems at all.
It's been through a couple of winters, powering the bike and Gerbing heated gloves, and has been left, at most, for about a month without use, but always turns the bike over.
The Yuasa I had before, on the other hand, only lasted a couple of years and was pretty poor at holding a charge, especially in the winter, so I'm quite happy with the Motobatt.
I'm not convinced that trickle charging is necessary, or that good, for batteries if the bike is used regularly, even once a week or so. You wouldn't expect to do it to a car battery, after all (well, I wouldn't!)
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:agree
I have a Motobatt and it's give me a couple of years hassle free starting including weeks of non use over the winter months. I'm also skeptical about trickle chargers as from what I've read vehicle batteries are not designed to be constantly charged or to be at maximum charge for extended periods and that their life can be shortened by doing so.
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:agree
I have a Motobatt and it's give me a couple of years hassle free starting including weeks of non use over the winter months. I'm also skeptical about trickle chargers as from what I've read vehicle batteries are not designed to be constantly charged or to be at maximum charge for extended periods and that their life can be shortened by doing so.
Would I be correct in saying there are trickle chargers, and 'maintenance' chargers, which are two different things in the way they work? A trickle charger will charge constantly, unless it has a cut off circuit that kicks in when a preset maximum voltage is achieved. A maintenance charger will alternately charge and then draw on the battery, as if it were in use on the vehicle, and so it doesn't just keep the battery at full charge constantly?
I used to have a spare battery for one of my previous Fazers, and it was kept on a maintenance charger for months. Did the battery no harm as far as I could tell.
Left my current one in an unheated shed for a couple of months this winter, and it was flat as a pancake when I pulled the bike out again. Put it on a charger, and it was fine for a few rides. Left it for about a week and it was flat again. Charged it for two hours yesterday, and was able to take the bike out around the Lake District for a few hours. I've put it back on the maintenance charger for now, but will be replacing it before I head for Spain next month, just for peace of mind.
I usually use Yuasa batteries, but if I remember correctly, they weren't all made in Japan, and the Japanese-made ones were of better quality. For a time, they were much more expensive too. Can't remember now where the others were manufactured, and don't know if this is still the case.
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nick I think? they where made in wales but shut down now. ;)
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nick I think? they where made in wales but shut down now. ;)
Hmm, doesn't ring any bells. I think what might have happened (and I'm going back to about 2007-ish), is that due to hikes in raw materials costs, Yuasa batteries imported from Japan got very expensive for a time. Distributors in the UK then sourced them from other manufacturing plants that Yuasa had, but I think it was still somewhere in the far east (not China). These were not of such a high quality though. Japanese Yuasas then dropped in price again at some point later. Or something like that. It happened while I was working at a motorcycle dealership. We ended up selling Turbo batteries, which were distributed by Feridax, whilst Jap Yuasa prices were so high.
My main point being, the price and quality of Yuasa has indeed varied depending upon where they were made.
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nick I think? they where made in wales but shut down now. ;)
Hmm, doesn't ring any bells. I think what might have happened (and I'm going back to about 2007-ish), is that due to hikes in raw materials costs, Yuasa batteries imported from Japan got very expensive for a time. Distributors in the UK then sourced them from other manufacturing plants that Yuasa had, but I think it was still somewhere in the far east (not China). These were not of such a high quality though. Japanese Yuasas then dropped in price again at some point later. Or something like that. It happened while I was working at a motorcycle dealership. We ended up selling Turbo batteries, which were distributed by Feridax, whilst Jap Yuasa prices were so high.
My main point being, the price and quality of Yuasa has indeed varied depending upon where they were made.
Thanks for that Hedgetrimmer. It's interesting to know that there's a reason behind sudden drops in quality. I'm pretty sure the dreadful quality of the latest Dainese jacket I bought recently is due to them being bought out a couple of years ago. It just isn't up the standards of jackets I've had previously.
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Thanks for that Hedgetrimmer. It's interesting to know that there's a reason behind sudden drops in quality. I'm pretty sure the dreadful quality of the latest Dainese jacket I bought recently is due to them being bought out a couple of years ago. It just isn't up the standards of jackets I've had previously.
Are you sure it's not fake? There seems to be lots about.
http://www.mslmagazine.co.uk/fake-dainese-leathers-watch-the-video/ (http://www.mslmagazine.co.uk/fake-dainese-leathers-watch-the-video/)
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Interesting. I bought it from Infiniti Motorcycles who should be a reliable source. It's not like I bought it sight unseen from eBay or similar. I even sent the previous one back and the Dainese importer gave them a very hard time, so I'm pretty sure its genuine.
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Hmm, I've just put a MotBatt in my bike so I hope it's ok! :eek
Hedgetrimmer is quite right....only use a maintenance charger if using anything at all.
There are fake everything these days it seems, one of the perils of easy internet global marketing / purchasing.
I bought my battery from a local bike shop so confident in it's genuineness!
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Fekk me!!
Having fully charged it off the bike just 10 days ago, I went out to start it a few minutes ago and it was, well not dead as a Dodo, but might as well friggin be cos all I got was clickety-click.
Bought it two years ago (minus two weeks).
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Yup - last time it took all day to charge up (with my decent trickle charger, off the bike). Now 10 days later, and it had less 'oomph' than last time (but I didn't measure the voltage), within 6 hours it was showing as fully charged - the charger switches off automatically and comes back on when the voltage drops below a certain point.
At 'full charge' I checked the voltage and it was 12.45V. I think it's safe to say the battery is no good.
I'll check it in the morning and check the discharge over the next week. I'm going to buy Yuasa next, as it has a good rep and a higher CCA than the Motobatt.
This battery was great for 18 months, but after a 4 month lay-up with no riding but occasional charging and starting the bike, it's a goner. Next winter if I don't ride (due to amount of salt they chuck down) I will keep the battery in the house and charge it once a week.