Battery Age?

[schoeney]

Is there normally a date stamp or code on the OEM battery?

I am just amazed at how long my battery has lasted (6 years) but now I am wondering if it is really the original as I was told about 15 months ago.

I keep it on a tender every time I park it.

[dogdoc]

I just bought a new Yuasa battery and there is a date stamped on it. the stock battery didnt say that brand name. Mine died at 3 yrs and 10 mo. I hear the hotter the climate the faster they go. I have only had the tender the past 1 yr. The new battery came with acid seperate and i had to put that in and do a first chg. Its got 13.3 dcV now. Just got to drop it in tonight.

[cactusjack]

Originally Posted by Doc (Lonewolf)

I just bought a new Yuasa battery and there is a date stamped on it. the stock battery didnt say that brand name. Mine died at 3 yrs and 10 mo. I hear the hotter the climate the faster they go. I have only had the tender the past 1 yr. The new battery came with acid seperate and i had to put that in and do a first chg. Its got 13.3 dcV now. Just got to drop it in tonight.

Here in AZ, the average life of a replacement battery is 2 years, because of the heat. Original batteries seem to last a lot longer. I'm talking car batteries. I had to replace the battery in my Pontiac every summer until I switched brands.

[macmac]

Being a New England dweller heat has never been much of an issue to me. Winter is when cold slows electrons, but other wise is harmless to a good battery. I said good..

For example my car and truck were stored in a field during my 10 month trip, and both started up on my arrival back.

Both had a nasty case of bad fuel when I drove out of the field, but a 5 gallon jug of fresh gas fixed the loss of power quickly.

The clutch was rusted on the car and i had to start the engine in neutral, and warm it up, then shut it off, for a 'Bump Start' which broke the clutch free in 1st gear. The truck has a seized caliper for the sitting out under the weather as well. Another easy fix.

I still have that same car battery today in the car and it was there in 02 when I painted the car. It still has blue over spray. I would have liked to been able to keep these on chargers but could not.

The gel battery in a Nomad is a very good battery IMO. It can last in the right circumstances 8 years.

IMO time isn't much of an issue. The ability to take and hold a charge is. Keeping the battery at full charge all the time is the best way to keep any 12 volt battery up for so long as it may last.

This means on a auto float charger so it is NOT over charged. This type of charger sences full charge and stops working untill a demand is made.

Perhaps yopu have a radio with a clock, which looks off, but isn't quite off, or a voltmeter like I do I leave ON all the time thru out my season, 24/7. These light draws alone in time will wear the state of charge down too low and the battery will begin to degrade and start to 'sulfate' to death.

This is like errosion and once started can't be fixed.

I am not sure why heat bothers batterys, but it must tend to warp cell plates, which may create tiny dead shorts inside the battery. These may burn up in a way, a corrosion of a type, and then work at what was damaged to become a given more damage.

It isn't any issue common to me, so I can't really say I know why..

On a charger the batter tersted with a meter will read what the charger puts out. This is a false reading and it will remain that way a while.

False Surface charge is just meaningless. A meter will read it, but the information is worthless.

You can wait 10 hours an take a reading, or you can LOAD that battery for 30 seconds or more, by starting the engine so the hi beam comes on and then sh*t the engine off, leaving the hi beam on.

Depending on what the watts are on the hi beam and other DRAW LOADS are you can time the LOAD. If you can figure out and create a 1 amp draw with the engine off, then you can use that info.

Another way to LOAD the battery is disable the engine and then use the start motor which will draw in the vicinity about 365 APMS in so many seconds as you crank the start motor.

I would suggest no more than 10 seconds or the start motor will over heat!

Another way is to buy a tool called load tester, and has a carbon core which gets red hot. This is as close to a dead short as you can get on a battery like these. This is a timed test too.

The basics are a 10 to 30 seconds time or the tool will burn out too!

When the battery drops in dcv to be 10.5 volts or less timed indicates LOAD resistance. In other words the longer it takes to drag the load to 10.5 dcv the better the battery is, and the better it will charge and HOLD the load.

A good battery after this, NOT placed back on a charger in time will recover to about 12.4 dcv, all by itself. That would be REAL SURFACE CHARGE, what the volts really are..

A weaker battery will not recover as well, and a bad battery will not recover at all.

There is no use charging a dead battery that was a victim of abuse, and or time... Most any dead battery with 9dcv that sat a few years out in the shed is never going to come back and be of service.

A dead battery because you left passing lamps on 4 hours to get a bite to eat will come right back with a jump, and if it is a really good battery may come back in 45 minutes all by itself.

Once my wife left head lamps on in my car to attend a job interview, on a foggy day.

I was about 45 minutes away when she called to say she was stranded. I told her to make sure all the dash controlls were off and the ignition was off, and went to get her. The car had cable to jump with.

When I got there I took the keys and befire i used them turned on hi beams a instant reading the meter on the dash, ahd having her tell me if the lights were bright.

They were, and so I shut them off. I just started the car as if iut never had the battery run down.. That battery was recent and recharged itself in 45 minutes or so. No cables and I never popped the hood.

She wasn't exactly happy about that either!

[macmac]

Ouch that was long.

[ringadingh]

Im still on my original battery and since its lasted this long I'll consider paying the extra difference and getting an identical one like it. Maybe I got lucky with my original battery but there seems to be a definate higher quality standard to the OEM ones.

[macmac]

I bought my 01 in 05 and am 100% sure it was the first and only battery that bike ever got....

Had I been able to own that bike more than 361 days, I might know how long these batteries can last better.

My 06 still has it's OEM battery and i will just break down and cry when it goes to the happy hunting ground for battery's

[ringadingh]

Thats all it takes to make you cry, I hate to see what you would to if something else happened

[jmorrow]

I bought my Nomad new in June, 2004. It still has the OEM battery at 53,000 mile. I never put it on a charger during the winter months until this past winter for one day. Like Ring I'll probably buy the same battery for a replacement.
I've got a 1988 (August) Honda fourtrax 300 four wheeler that I didn't replace the battery on until March, 2000, I replaced it with the same OEM battery and it's still cranking.

[caddman11]

I just got stuck in a time warp a few posts up--------

[ringadingh]

I guess Ive been lucky with battery's, the one in my Argo atv has been there over 10 years and is still working, and that machine sits for ten months between usage. I have to charge it in the fall and then its always worked through the winters until next season.

[macmac]

I get sentimental over a good thing, so cry easy... :'(

last time was because my x junked this


to be a B!tch

It doesn't look like much, but it would move snow mista'

[ringadingh]

Originally Posted by macmac

I get sentimental over a good thing, so cry easy... :'(

last time was because my x junked this


to be a B!tch

It doesn't look like much, but it would move snow mista'

I can see how you would shed a few tears over that one. ;)

[dogdoc]

Just rteplaced my dead battery with a Yuasa YTX20CH-BS which is what most web sites pull up as the replacement for the Nomad. its an 18 AmH battery but when i received it, I had to add the acid to it fiorst, then charge it, then install it. WTF?? is this the normal battery for the Nomad, I thought all the Yuasa's were gel? This is not gel but reg acid. it all worked fine and turned over the Nomad very well at 13.3 dcV. Anybody else had to do all this? im sure when you go to a dealer and buy one for $150 they do all the stuff for you.
My question to those who have went before me with new batteries. How did your battery come in the mail? did you have to add acid, etc. Thx

[cyclecat]

Brian's battery has over 60,000 miles and is original from 2001; mine is original from 2003 and has over 50,000 miles. No battery tender but the Nomads are kept inside year round, and we do live in Alberta where winter is 10 months long so lots of cold weather to preserve anything.