Preemptive battery replacement

[Coyote Chris]

I have three bikes.
1. 2017 Suzuki V strom. Needs new battery to replace OEM one. It has an in dash volt meter so I dont even need to put on my battery tester.
2. 2014 Yamaha FJR. My maintenance records show I have never replaced the battery but that doesnt mean I didnt and didnt write it down. Starts the bike fine but I need to put the load tester on it and it isnt easy to get to. I will be touring on this bike for sure this summer.
3. 2015 VFR. I know for sure I never replaced its battery. It doesnt get coddled over the winters. I barely hit the starter and the bike fires right up.

I am tempted to replace all the batteries. Thanks to a bad welding machine at Yuasa I have had a goldwing battery burn open upon start while on tour..three times......a certain forum member and I were touring and his BMW Battery failed one miles from the Motel near bozeman.

Anyone else have catostrophic battery failure?

 

[Chucksklrst]

I had a couple of Bike batteries work/start strong until they did not. Was like an on off switch. One min they worked real strong, the next they were dead dead. One on my 1986 VT1100C Shadow and the other on my 2003 ST1300. Also had a jeep battery do the same. Did not know if it was the battery or a safety switch gone bad.

 

[ST1100Y]

Quite happy with those:

NOCO - Lithium Powersport Collection Lithium Batteries

Lithium Powersport Collection - Discover lithium powersport batteries. Powerful lithium powersport batteries for motorcycles, ATVs, UTVs, PWCs, and more.

no.co

requiring a dedicated charger though:

NOCO - Battery Chargers - Genius

GENIUS Series Collection - Discover the world of charging. Find battery chargers for cars, motorcycles, trucks and more. From trickle chargers to onboard marine battery chargers.

no.co

and those under the seat/convenient place for fast access:

https://no.co/gc008

 

[Coyote Chris]

I had a couple of Bike batteries work/start strong until they did not. Was like an on off switch. One min they worked real strong, the next they were dead dead. One on my 1986 VT1100C Shadow and the other on my 2003 ST1300. Also had a jeep battery do the same. Did not know if it was the battery or a safety switch gone bad.

Curious if they went dead when you hit the starter switch? You turn the key on and get the lights, hit the starter switch, and everything goes dark as a weld to a plate openens up.
A forum member's battery went dead just driving down the road and the engine died. The bike would start and run on my jump pack but not when it was removed.

 

[ARKNT]

A preemptive battery replacement is a bit of a tough call. I don't know that I would trust the new battery to be any better than the one installed now.
I can be a little pessimistic on buying stuff today. I bought a deer feeder battery (cheapy batt) that only lasted a couple months.
A longer trip with a battery several years old might be helping your odds by replacing it before the trip.
The battery in my Versys is the original and almost 6 years old. Seems fine so far but in back of my mind I realize it has aging going on.

Arknt

 

[Coyote Chris]

A preemptive battery replacement is a bit of a tough call. I don't know that I would trust the new battery to be any better than the one installed now.
I can be a little pessimistic on buying stuff today. I bought a deer feeder battery (cheapy batt) that only lasted a couple months.
A longer trip with a battery several years old might be helping your odds by replacing it before the trip.
The battery in my Versys is the original and almost 6 years old. Seems fine so far but in back of my mind I realize it has aging going on.

Arknt

Odd , is it not? A battery has lasted used and not used for 11 years in my VFR. Works perfectly. So do I replace it before a long trip? I will do a load test this weekend and see what I think. I load test all the Lith Ion jump packs I carry in my six-seven vehicles and usually replace them about every 3 years. My wife uses the heck out of hers on people at dog shows with bad batteries in their cars.

 

[ST1100Y]

A preemptive battery replacement is a bit of a tough call. I don't know that I would trust the new battery to be any better than the one installed now.

Dunno... the quality/lifespan of 'conventional' batteries degraded significantly in the past 25 years...
In the 90ies my OEM YUASA lasted 5~6 years without issues... after the turn of the millennium they merely lasted one season... couldn't revive them in spring...
(environmental regs one one hand, greed for profit on the other seem to have a play in that...)

The LiFeSO4 will a) shut off before full depletion and b) are fully recharged within 30~45 minutes (vs the 12~24hrs required for AGM...)

For an NT I would not get a gel type though, they seem to increase internal resistance under load, my GF's NT700VA required 4~5 taps on the starter button to actually engage the solenoid, and the starter motor really struggled to turn over...