Modern Buddy

There's probably already a thread or two on this, but the search function seems to be broken on the site.

I wanna replace the battery in my Stella Auto. I left it sit all winter uncharged and it's likely shot, plus I'd rather have a lower maintenance, sealed battery that I don't have to check levels, refill, etc anyway.

What would you guys recommend? I'd like the best I can get for under, say, $40. Something I can get at a store (as opposed to buying online) would be great. It doesn't specifically have to be a scooter battery does it?

Thanks for the info! (And I promise I'll take care of it this time! )

caffeine65 wrote:There's probably already a thread or two on this, but the search function seems to be broken on the site.

I wanna replace the battery in my Stella Auto. I left it sit all winter uncharged and it's likely shot, plus I'd rather have a lower maintenance, sealed battery that I don't have to check levels, refill, etc anyway.

What would you guys recommend? I'd like the best I can get for under, say, $40. Something I can get at a store (as opposed to buying online) would be great. It doesn't specifically have to be a scooter battery does it?

Thanks for the info! (And I promise I'll take care of it this time! )

Do you happen to know the model code of the battery? If not, I can swing by my dealer when I'm out running errands and look.

BTW, consider spending a few bucks more and get a MotoBatt. I've had one in my Riva 180 since December 2013 when it ate a transmission bearing. So it's been parked since then. No trickle charge. Bike will still power on, run the lights, carb fan and gauges. It'll even try cranking the bike over, but bad gas and a fickle engine won't allow it to start. It's a bigger battery than a Buddy (14A), but I'm impressed at how well it's held a charge.

Checked at the dealer. Pulled a cowl to verify. The Stellauto uses a BTX5L battery. A quick google search revealed a bunch of sub $40 options.

Here's my recommendation:

http://www.motobatt.com/MB5U

It's a bit spendier at $60, with free shipping on Amazon, but I think it's worth the price for a bolt in and go, fuggetaboutit battery.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B007V5GN3 ... SY200_QL40

Someone earlier mentioned the AntiGravity battery. It's lithium so I was wondering how it works with the 4t charging system.

az_slynch wrote:Checked at the dealer. Pulled a cowl to verify. The Stellauto uses a BTX5L battery. A quick google search revealed a bunch of sub $40 options.

Here's my recommendation:

http://www.motobatt.com/MB5U

It's a bit spendier at $60, with free shipping on Amazon, but I think it's worth the price for a bolt in and go, fuggetaboutit battery.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B007V5GN3 ... SY200_QL40

Do you think that when winterized, this battery indoors and on a tender....
that we will get 3 years out of the battery?
opinions?

Agm battery's. like this do not need to be left on a tender , charge them and check them monthly during the winter. 3 years should be no trouble

Thats how I treat my wet batteries.
Once a month, hook up the tender for 24 hours, then take off.
Do it again next month.
I always get 3 years out of 1..
My next one will be this one as the wet can be painfull when the acid drips out of the overflow tube in summer and ruin the looks of my pretty performance exhaust!!

Shorai.
Std. lead-acid batteries lose one volt per month during storage, Shorai LiIon loses 0.1 volt. No battery tender or worries and long life. I own four of these now and they're great.

good news, GreggsBuddy.
thanks for the info!!!

if you switch to a lithium you will need a charger for that type of battery.

youkiddin wrote:if you switch to a lithium you will need a charger for that type of battery.

Probably not. They have to behave like standard batteries, otherwise you'd have to swap out the scooter's stator/rectifier/regulator if they were too arcane.

PeteH wrote:

youkiddin wrote:if you switch to a lithium you will need a charger for that type of battery.

Probably not. They have to behave like standard batteries, otherwise you'd have to swap out the scooter's stator/rectifier/regulator if they were too arcane.

From Shorai's site:

While standard lead-acid chargers can be used with Shorai LFX when needed, the BMS01 is specifically designed to charge, store, maintain, balance, and diagnose your LFX battery.

PeteH wrote:Probably not. They have to behave like standard batteries, otherwise you'd have to swap out the scooter's stator/rectifier/regulator if they were too arcane.

That's my concern. On the Antigravity web-site, it says that your bike has to have the right kind of stator/rectifier/regulator. I was wondering if the 4T was modern enough to handle it.

Good points. If indeed there are specific charging system requirements made by the vendor that the bike's supposed to have (most probably involving voltage regulation at the battery), then yeah, I get that they could conflict with the charging gear on the bike. I would _hope_ that vendors make that sorta thing very clear on their advertising and packaging, as you could do some damage. On the other hand, it would be somewhat silly to market a battery that couldn't be used more-or-less universally.

Just a note on winter storage for wet cells and AGMS...but first a little factual stuff.
A FULLY charged 12V battery will read 12.7 volts in STATIC condition if it is in good shape. Static condition is what you get if you disconncet the negative wire when you put her to bed..then take a voltage reading in the morning.
Your battery tender will charge at a minimum of 13.1V... and a standard modern charger will charge a semi discharged battery at around 14.5V and then ramp down into the mid 13V range and then maintain in the 13.2 range with minimal current as the battery gets full. If you measure voltage after charging it will be misleading because of something called the surface charge on the plates...that's why you let it sit overnight.
Once you know you have a fully charged battery...then you can remove that negative wire and leave it all winter. A standard wet or AGM cel will not freeze until it is -90 below IF fully charged. It will freeze at 15 degrees if depleted. So we want to avoid that by taking a volt reading once every couple of monts or so. A wet battery in cold weather will lose less than 10% of its charge per month...an AGM less than 1% of its charge just sitting there. Either way...you should be able to go 90 days or more with SAFETY before you get to the 60% charged level on wet cells which is where you are starting to get into the 10 below zero freezing range of freeze temp.
So just put a charge or a tender on it overnite at that point.

In use...regular use and/or commuting should be sufficient to keep the battery up...but it doesn't hurt to check ...and for best life you want to put charger on if voltage drops below 12.2 Volts which is a 50% charge.

Lithium batteries are great but require separate charging and systems developed to handle them at this point. I like the AGMs since they are low maintenance and hold a charge far longer when not in use...but the cost is generally around 2X of the wet cells for the same end performance in starting etc.

Hope this helps some out.

Good info, Cam.
Thanks alot for this.
Im sticking with my 22 dollar Dekkas.. thats 7 bucks a year for peace of mind in the battery dept.