I purchased my bike new last year. I Purchased a top of the line trickle charger. When the engine is cold, sometimes it start right away and sometimes it dosent. And when it dosent, it isnt long before the battery goes DEAD. I want a top of the line battery. HELP.

I can't give you a top of the line battery but I can say just get any battery marketed for a motorcycle. I even like Walmart batteries or any place like that. The battery turn over is generally good. I would rather get a battery in a place like Walmart as opposed to some shop that has had a top-shelf battery that has been on the shelf for years.

The battery that came with the bike is a good battery and you may have just had an early failure. The early 'normal' failure is between 1 to 2 years. Most any battery will last 3 years and that is the good average. My battery was weak on my riding mower and I was thinking that I may have to replace it this summer. It's on the 3rd year.

I never keep a trickle charge on a battery. I keep a rudimentary charger around to boost various batteries that have been sitting too long. The exception, to the rule is for northern climates where there bike may sit during a long winter. Either trickle charge the battery, occasionally ride and charge the battery, or disconnect the battery and keep in a nice location. The digital clock is a path for battery discharge. If not for that you can keep the battery connected and tricke charge the battery a few days prior to riding weather.

And a saftey tip. What battery post to disconnect first? The negative. It doesn't matter to the battery or the motorcycle. Your tools matter. If you have a battery wrench on the neg post and accidently touch a nearby gound, nothing happens. On the neg ground machine, you just shorted the ground to ground.

If, however you do the same thing to the postive post, you create a 12 volt unfused short to ground. You get lots of current, heat, damaged tools and sparks. if working on a battery that is venting fumes from being overheated or around fumes like gasoline, than a big explosion could insue.

That last thing about sparks. When attaching jumper cables, connect the positive cable to the positive posts. Then connect the ground cable to ground somewhere away from the battery. The arc is less likely to ignite something. This is important if the battery has been cranking the battery and is overheated and dead. There can be a big arc when connecting jumper cables.

That answer's helpful. I've got a follow-up question. I bought my 599 last year at the end of the summer. The bike was mint with 9,000 km. The previous owner told me he'd just put in a brand new battery. At the end of last summer it was cold here and I didn't ride the bike for maybe 2 weeks and jump-started it from a garage socket. It ran fine for the last few rides of the season (cold as hell out and snow on the ground!) I removed the battery for the winter and just tried starting the bike. The lights came on but it wouldn't start. I'm trickle-charging it as we speak for a ride tomorrow. 2 questions:
1. Do you think the battery will be able to keep the charge? I'm worried about getting stuck somewhere.
2. I'm having trouble pushind down the red cap on the positive. It seems impossible. Any suggestions? Thanks!

It's hard to deduce anything from the battery symptoms described.

If the new battery was charged up and ran sufficiently should have maintained a good charge. Then after some time in storage, it should have at least turned the engine some. If the battery was partially run down, sat some time, then when attempting to start the bike, well it could be understandable not to start the bike. A good charge should get the bike started.

Now, the main thing is to tell if the battery is ckay and it is getting a charge.
If you have voltmeter, the voltage of battery is 12.5 volts. Right after shut off or after you take it off a charger, the voltage is typically 13.2 volts, but over night the voltage should fall to it's full 12.5 volts . Any lower than 12 volts, then the battery or the amount of charge is suspect. When the bike is started, the charging system of the cycle should raise the voltage to somewhere between 13.2 to 14.4 volts.

If you don't understand the voltage and charge relationship and don't have a DC volt meter, it's best to have some one check it for you.

One good thing you can do without a meter is clip a scrap head light bulb to the battey with alligator clips and see how long the battery keeps a bright light. (A 55 watt bulb would make a 1/2 amp discharge). The Honda battery is rated at 7 amp hours. Say, after 3 hours, the light is bright, the battery is probablly good. It could burn bright for about 6 hours or more ( it would then need a good charge).

I don't know what you mean by pushing down the red cap. The battery cable cover may be twisted funny if the person didn't route the battery cable correctly. Check the battery connections. The person that installed the battery may not have tightened the cables correctly (loose connections cause funny charge/start conditions).

Thanks Tomacana. I live in Montreal and got the bike started up last weekend and took it out for a decent highway ride. Now we're expecting snow!

One good thing you can do without a meter is clip a scrap head light bulb to the battey with alligator clips and see how long the battery keeps a bright light. (A 55 watt bulb would make a 1/2 amp discharge). The Honda battery is rated at 7 amp hours. Say, after 3 hours, the light is bright, the battery is probablly good. It could burn bright for about 6 hours or more ( it would then need a good charge).

You do realize that constant, or consistant discharging, then recharging is the quickest way to shorten the life of a battery right? The only thing worse that you can do is to overcharge it.

CJ, your battery is undercharged. While it is true that the lights will come on, your starter motor takes a lot of electrical oomph to get it going. Throw it on a charger (directions are printed on the top of the battery), when you're done take it off, let it sit for 30 minutes and check the voltage with a multimeter (mine was $20 Canadian). It should read at least 13 volts on a good battery (mine's at 12.95 and it runs outta juice if I don't get it started fast).

The red cap is there to make sure you don't cause a short to ground... which is to say directly connect the positive terminal to the frame or the negative terminal. Doing so will effectively turn your battery into an arc welder. YIKES!

Thanks!

A data point: My original battery was always a bit weak. I was pretty frustrated with it - I had to be careful to keep in charged up with a Battery Tender, and I live in nice warm San Diego! Well, it died after less than two years, and I hunted around for a new battery. I could not find anything in San Diego that was better than the original Yuasa (and I didn't want to wait for something off the 'net) so I bought a new Yuasa battery.

When I took out the old battery I put it on the garage floor and then picked up the new one . . . whoa! The new one was considerably heavier than the old one. These batteries are sealed, too, so they don't lose water. I guessed that the original battery had not been prepared properly and that it did not have a full complement of electrolyte.

I've not had ANY problems with the new battery, either.

Thank you for all the information in regard to batterys. Well, I decided to just buy a new battery at Walmart. All my problems cleared up. Bike starts up as soon as I hit the key. Choke time / rev time shortened.... brigher lights. That factory battery sucked.

Had my battery charged today and when I went back to the bike to attempt to put it back on I was lost. Do I need washer to screw the cables back to the posts? I've been looking for pictures for reference but could not find any.

Also, when I remove battery do I detach negative or positive cable first? When I put the battery back which comes first?

A friend helped me remove the battery. I recall removing the positive first then the negative. Was that correct?


Thanks.

You do not need a washer. You put the positive on first.

When you work with a battery, you work with the positive terminal only when it is not fully connected -- that way you don't short it out. If the negative terminal is connected, and you hit something metal when you try to take off or put on the positive terminal, you can damage your battery. If the negative terminal is not connected, you won't have that problem. So, always take the negative terminal off first and put it on last.

:)

The best way to make a battery last is to prepare it properly.

Fill the to-be-sealed unit with electrolyte, allowing the acid to seep in from the acid pack over time. Do not attempt to speed up the process.

Install the seal, and let the battery stand for 20 minutes to 2 hours (depends on manufacturer). In order for the acid to fully soak into the lead plates.

Charge the battery at 10% of its rated amp hours for 10 hours. So if it were a ten amp hour battery (it will say this on the outside) you would charge it at 1 amp for 10 hours.

Allow the battery to sit another 20 minutes.

Install the positive lead first, using a small amount of dielectric grease on the terminal posts to prevent corrosion. Ensure the connection is tight!

Place the rubber boot over the post.

Install the negative lead with dielectric grease. Ensure the connection is tight.







As for which to remove first, you remove the GROUND side first, on most bikes this is the negative as a standard, but older British and some American bikes used the positive side as a ground. Check the wiring diagram if you're uncertain.

The reason you remove the ground first is because the frame itself is used as a path to ground. If you have the ground connected and accidentally touch a bare spot on the frame and the other battery terminal, you've created a direct short (an arc welder). More then likely the shock will knock your hand/tool off the terminal and prevent anything really bad from happening. But it's also possible that the tool will be welded in place with the short and potentially cause the battery to explode.

You do not need a washer. You put the positive on first.

When you work with a battery, you work with the positive terminal only when it is not fully connected -- that way you don't short it out. If the negative terminal is connected, and you hit something metal when you try to take off or put on the positive terminal, you can damage your battery. If the negative terminal is not connected, you won't have that problem. So, always take the negative terminal off first and put it on last.

:)

The screws won't tighten into the battery posts which is why I thought there would be washers. There are no treads on the battery posts for the screws to mesh into. Anyone have diagrams or pics?

The best way to make a battery last is to prepare it properly.

Fill the to-be-sealed unit with electrolyte, allowing the acid to seep in from the acid pack over time. Do not attempt to speed up the process.

Install the seal, and let the battery stand for 20 minutes to 2 hours (depends on manufacturer). In order for the acid to fully soak into the lead plates.

Charge the battery at 10% of its rated amp hours for 10 hours. So if it were a ten amp hour battery (it will say this on the outside) you would charge it at 1 amp for 10 hours.

Allow the battery to sit another 20 minutes.

Install the positive lead first, using a small amount of dielectric grease on the terminal posts to prevent corrosion. Ensure the connection is tight!

Place the rubber boot over the post.

Install the negative lead with dielectric grease. Ensure the connection is tight.







As for which to remove first, you remove the GROUND side first, on most bikes this is the negative as a standard, but older British and some American bikes used the positive side as a ground. Check the wiring diagram if you're uncertain.

The reason you remove the ground first is because the frame itself is used as a path to ground. If you have the ground connected and accidentally touch a bare spot on the frame and the other battery terminal, you've created a direct short (an arc welder). More then likely the shock will knock your hand/tool off the terminal and prevent anything really bad from happening. But it's also possible that the tool will be welded in place with the short and potentially cause the battery to explode.

Battery seems to be the sealed type, non-spillable?

Yeah, it will be a sealed type. Hornets don't really have the accomadations for a "wet" battery.

There should be 2 little squares of metal that the battery bolts tighten into. If they aren't in there, you need to find two nuts that will fit inside the post and with the same threads as your battery bolts. It's possible your local bike shop will have some spares floating around. Actually, it's almost certain they can scare something up for you.

It can take a LOT of jiggering to get those bolts to start to thread though. I like to take a small piece of cardboard, fold it in half, then stick it under the nut. This lifts the nut into the bolt so it threads easy. Then after it's tightened in place you just pull the cardboard out.

Yes, but if you buy it "raw" it will come with the caps off and a little container of acid ready to be poured into the cells. After you put the acid in and the caps on, it is effectively sealed.

If you look very closely at the existing battery you can see a thin dividing line under the caps at the tops of the cells.

I'm pretty sure I said that.

Yep, you did.

Was able to download a service manual and diagram shows there are two square washers, one for each post. I really didn't notice any when I took battery out, Now I have to look for some, shop is closed today. Arghhhh.

Here's a link, just in case. :)

hondatech.info (http://hondatech.info)

Those are the nuts, Cillian. There are no washers.

Oh hehehe. Learn something new everyday. watta nut.

You do have the nuts, now, don't you? :wink:

The bike is stamped mfg. in 03 and it is now 07 the original battery is still going. And in the in evadable event it bites the big battery in the sky :lol: and it will I will get the same brand OEM battery it’s that good!!


Angelo 8)