Battery - SV650s 2003

[aesmith]

My Motobatt failed after 18 months, and before that I had trouble with the terminals working loose. Quite glad to be back to a normal battery.

[SV650rules]

Chinese copy of American odyssey battery design, quality not guaranteed lol.

Used to be involved in engineering assembly equipment for battery makers and was always impressed with the quality control when installing machines in yuasa factories, a lot of yuasa motorcycle batteries originate from Taiwan which is much better than China.

[R1ffR4ff]

I have had two Motobatt batteries and no problems with either.One went with the bike I had stolen.The other is off my spare CX500 and is in my kitchen.It's around 3 years old or more and still going strong.
The terminals on the Motobatt batteries are held in place by Allen bolts/screws.These should be checked for security when installing.

If the Allen bolts/screws have not been secured correctly I suspect this could cause early failure.

[aesmith]

The problem that I had was with the screws that connect the terminal assembly onto the battery. The terminal, a U shaped brass part, is not mechanically prevented from turning, it's only held still by the tightness of the fitting screw. Any movement of the cables in the wrong direction therefore tends to unscrew the assembly. The screw is inaccessible when the cables are fitted so can't be given a final tweak once everything is together.

Solution would be to modify the terminal assembly so it can't rotate in place. Or what had intended to do (if the battery had lasted) was to replace the whole assembly with a brass spacer and longer screw, so the screw that clamps the cable is the same one connecting it to the battery.

[R1ffR4ff]

Originally Posted by aesmith

The problem that I had was with the screws that connect the terminal assembly onto the battery. The terminal, a U shaped brass part, is not mechanically prevented from turning, it's only held still by the tightness of the fitting screw. Any movement of the cables in the wrong direction therefore tends to unscrew the assembly. The screw is inaccessible when the cables are fitted so can't be given a final tweak once everything is together.

Solution would be to modify the terminal assembly so it can't rotate in place. Or what had intended to do (if the battery had lasted) was to replace the whole assembly with a brass spacer and longer screw, so the screw that clamps the cable is the same one connecting it to the battery.

Good points


And just out of interest a,"German Made" battery,

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JMT-Motorc...sAAOSwAuZX7Cgd

Never heard of them so.....
but at £42 inc postage...

Also the Motobatts have four terminal posts,two on the other side so you can do mods etc

I haven't taken the battery out of my newly acquired SV650 as I'm doing a test with the Alarm I've fitted but I want to see what brand it is as it's marked as being fitted in 2005 !

[aesmith]

Originally Posted by R1ffR4ff

Also the Motobatts have four terminal posts,two on the other side so you can do mods etc

Although that sounds good, it's not quite true. They have four fixing positions on the body of the battery, but only provide two terminals (unless that's changed). Making it two terminals but a choice of position. I found you couldn't fit a cable connector directly to the body of the battery without the intervening assembly, I can't remember the exact issue it maybe because that would put the cable too low to clear the battery housing.

Again if I had kept mine I would have made four of the posts so that I could use one pair solely for the original loom, the other pair for Gizmo, charging lead or any other addition. That would be a good configuration and I may have another look at it. I still have the Motobatt and it's not impossible that it's total failure was due to a poor contact and not the battery becoming completely flat overnight. I'd find it hard to trust though.

[R1ffR4ff]

Originally Posted by aesmith

Although that sounds good, it's not quite true. They have four fixing positions on the body of the battery, but only provide two terminals (unless that's changed). Making it two terminals but a choice of position. I found you couldn't fit a cable connector directly to the body of the battery without the intervening assembly, I can't remember the exact issue it maybe because that would put the cable too low to clear the battery housing.

Again if I had kept mine I would have made four of the posts so that I could use one pair solely for the original loom, the other pair for Gizmo, charging lead or any other addition. That would be a good configuration and I may have another look at it. I still have the Motobatt and it's not impossible that it's total failure was due to a poor contact and not the battery becoming completely flat overnight. I'd find it hard to trust though.

You are of course correct.They have four thread holes but only come supplied with two post arrays.

When it comes to batteries and brand you will always find someone who has had a bad time with one make or another.We can only go mean averages I suppose.I had two MF Brand batteries years ago.Very false economy.

For your Motobatt.Have you tried putting it under electrical load to deplete it to say half charge and then put it on a Battery Tender?Auto Batteries like to have constantly changing loads to for them to work well e.g be used.

[Blapper]

Originally Posted by R1ffR4ff

You are of course correct.They have four thread holes but only come supplied with two post arrays.

When it comes to batteries and brand you will always find someone who has had a bad time with one make or another.We can only go mean averages I suppose.I had two MF Brand batteries years ago.Very false economy.

For your Motobatt.Have you tried putting it under electrical load to deplete it to say half charge and then put it on a Battery Tender?Auto Batteries like to have constantly changing loads to for them to work well e.g be used.

How many people keep suspect knackered batteries charged up? I expect it's knackered now even if it wasn't before.

[aesmith]

Originally Posted by R1ffR4ff

For your Motobatt.Have you tried putting it under electrical load to deplete it to say half charge and then put it on a Battery Tender?Auto Batteries like to have constantly changing loads to for them to work well e.g be used.

I haven't tried that. It charged up pretty quick after the time it failed to start the bike. Prior to that the bike had been used every day, so no real excuse for the battery to be in poor condition. It's been sitting for a couple of months but only takes a few minutes on the Optimate before it shows as fully charged again so doesn't apparent loose charge unduly when standing. It's more a matter of lack of trust since I don't know why it left me stuck, rather than having a demonstrable fault.

[R1ffR4ff]

Originally Posted by aesmith

I haven't tried that. It charged up pretty quick after the time it failed to start the bike. Prior to that the bike had been used every day, so no real excuse for the battery to be in poor condition. It's been sitting for a couple of months but only takes a few minutes on the Optimate before it shows as fully charged again so doesn't apparent loose charge unduly when standing. It's more a matter of lack of trust since I don't know why it left me stuck, rather than having a demonstrable fault.

I can understand your reticence.There's not many left now but a lot of Motor Factors used to have a Battery load tester that could check batteries properly.Maybe a local motorcycle shop has one?
It would be interesting to find out