Motorbike battery - max charge rate vs alternator output

[p38arover]

Now something to exercise those little grey cells.

I need yet another battery for my 2007 Yamaha XJR1300. I don't ride it enough and it looks like the CTek XS0.8 charger that is usually connected might have boiled the battery dry. So I looked up the specs for the YTZ14S AGM battery used in the XJR and noted it has a normal charge rate of 1A and a max charge rate of 3A. The XJR alternator can output 28A which seems, at first glance, to be a little high!

On a fresh battery, it probably wouldn't be an issue as the battery would be fully charged quickly - but what about an older battery?

This may be all rhetorical as I don't have much choice but to buy a new battery but your inputs/thoughts would be interesting.

[weeds]

Cannot help you on battery selection but I too suspected I cooked a battery leaving the charger on 24/7.....

For my camper trailer I had it on a 7 day timer charging for one 24hr period per 7 days.....I than moved to a small solar panel where it trickle charged each day giving the batteries a rest at night.

[drivesafe]

Hi Ron and weed’s suggestion of a solar panel is the simples and safest way to look after infrequently used batteries.

Jaycar and Altronics use to have a regulatered, small milli-amp solar panels.

These would be perfect for your situation.

[rangieman]

I use a Projecta Battery maintainer on my bike over those bad months ,
It puts out roughly 200 milli amps [wink11]
Does a brilliant job and never a issue[thumbsupbig]

[loanrangie]

I put a motobatt agm in my bike 6 years ago and apart from the occasional charge it's holding up well.

[Gordie]

I put a motobatt agm in my bike 6 years ago and apart from the occasional charge it's holding up well.x2...good battery

[p38arover]

I put a motobatt agm in my bike 6 years ago and apart from the occasional charge it's holding up well.

Better than mine. This will be the 4th (or 5th) battery in 10 years.

[rangieman]

x2...good battery
Um x3[thumbsupbig]

[p38arover]

I just had a look on evilbay for a Motobatt YTZ14S equivalent and several suppliers are advertising "new & refurbished" batteries.

What the heck is a refurbished battery? One that has been cleaned?

I'm a bit leery of buying from any of them!

[goingbush]

interesting discussion.

I have a Century PS12180 12v 18Ah SLA motorbike battery in my Electric Landy as part of the ADR/ NCOP14 rule that states the Hazard lights need to work for 30 min in the event of a main traction battery fail.

All the 12v electrics are hooked up to it . Lights / Horn / Wipers etc
It also provides 12V to energise the Kilovac 2000amp contactors for the main traction pack.


When the car is powered on a 50amp DC-DC converter keeps the battery charged at 13.8 Volt


I wonder how long this little battery is going to live given that according to the Century website the safe charging rate of a Lead Acid is 10% of its Ah rating, which in my case would be 1.8Amp ????
May account for the huge fail rate of Tesla 12 SLA batteries, which serve exactly the same purpose.