Darn Good Battery!!

1985 xj700n--My battery died last week and today I got around to removing it and discovered that it had been in the bike since 2018! It was a BigCrank ETX15L that I bought from Battery Mart in July of 2018. 6 years!! Yep, I reordered the same battery today. A little pricey, but for 5-6 years I'm willing to pay. The battery is apparently made by Deka and they have the same EXT15L battery. It's about $10 less on Amazon, but I decided to stay with BigCrank and Battery Mart. By the way, I do keep the battery on a battery tender when not in use.

 

I have been going with "motobatt" of late. So far they have been really good on the three different bikes I have put them in. Big Crank sounds like is a beast as well. I hope it does last as long as the first one.

 

I’ve been using Motobatt as well but that “big crank” looks equivalent.

Remember to use a trickle charger with an AGM mode to get the maximum life out of AGM batteries with these bikes. The stock charging system doesn’t supply the proper voltage.

To clarify:
I’m not saying that agm won’t work with the stock charging system, just that you may not get the maximum life out of the battery.

 

My Motobatt just turned 8 years. Really happy with it. Been trough two bikes, one accident, and I'm really bad about putting it on a trickle in the off season. Happy customer here.

 

What does that mean? I don't know anything about AGM, other than what the name of them implies. This summer my riding mower battery went out and I threw an AGM bike battery in to get by and it seemed like it never charged until I put the trickle charger on it.

 

I did a deep dive into 12v batteries and automotive charging systems recently as I upgraded my cars sound system (for sound quality). With that said I’m certainly no expert in the area of electronics.

The easiest rule of thumb I’m aware of for battery replacement is to replace in kind. If your vehicle or motorcycle came with FLA (flooded lead acid) use FLA, and the same for AGM (absorbed glass mat).

The charging voltage for OEM FLA equipped vehicles is usually around 13.4V and around 14.4V for OEM AGM equipped vehicles. If an AGM battery is installed (and not maintained) in a OEM FLA equipped vehicle the lifespan will be decreased.

BUT - as long as you have a charger with an AGM charging profile the batteries lifespan will be maintained. I have a CTEK 7002 and I’m very happy with it.

Here’s an explanation I just found:
https://www.power-sonic.com/blog/flooded-batteries-vs-agm-batteries-understanding-the-differences/

This seems to be a somewhat controversial and debated topic on the internet as people like to add their anecdotal experiences either for or against.

Again, I’m no expert. The above is just my understanding.