spud786 Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 Well, some of you guys may be pleased, My beloved YTZ14s has begun to show signs of failure. The battery about mid life was totally drained all the way, it is also subject to 150 degree living quarters, none of these are good for a battery. But Last week I noticed it felt weak on start up , so I put it on the tender, to see if I could rejuvenate. Something in the 4 or 5 starts I did after the tender, the ECU lost power on one of those startups, cause my clock has reset along with my acessory trip meter. Never had issue on the ride, showing 14,8 volt, but the battery is about to go belly up, 46,000 mile is where its at on life, I'll have to get a new battery pretty quick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spud786 Posted August 16, 2011 Author Share Posted August 16, 2011 I was about to order a new battery, but I decided to do a load test on it. This is where I leave the headlights on for a sustain amount of time. 5 minutes or so, a battery on its way out will not start the bike after this. It spun very strongly, so I may have fixed the battery with the tender last weekend and all the starting and riding. That is a $220 battery, although I can get one for $120. Anyway, this is very good at the moment, so maybe will last a while longer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veefer800Canuck Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 I got a YTZ14S so long ago I've forgotten when. And it's still going strong. One of these days I gotta start keeping records or something....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspanglish Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 I also have YTZ14S Yuasa... going strong even after stator failure... and I don't treat her well... short trips to and from work everyday... worst treatment for these batteries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spud786 Posted August 16, 2011 Author Share Posted August 16, 2011 I also have YTZ14S Yuasa... going strong even after stator failure... and I don't treat her well... short trips to and from work everyday... worst treatment for these batteries. My bike sits in a 150 degree Garage during the summer, It sat for 2 weeks in that condition without riding, and its been in that situation for months,, Normally it never sits that long, Hopefully it was just some sulfation build up from the heat, and the Tender plus charge and riding broke it loose. I was surprised it spun so strongly on that load test, so I think its okay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Rice Posted August 16, 2011 Member Contributer Share Posted August 16, 2011 ECU losing power could be an indication of 30 AMP fuse wire issues. I had the same until I replaced the wire and the fuse holder with heavier gauge ones. Worth a look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEBSPEED Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Your battery is probably fine. Check your wiring and grounds... and pick up a multimeter if you don't already have one. Every VFR gearhead should keep one close to their heart... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Rice Posted August 16, 2011 Member Contributer Share Posted August 16, 2011 We now know the identity of "The Stig". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Snafu Posted August 16, 2011 Member Contributer Share Posted August 16, 2011 I got a YTZ14S so long ago I've forgotten when. And it's still going strong. One of these days I gotta start keeping records or something....... I have that same problem. I used a Sharpie and wrote the date ON the battery of when I installed the battery on the bike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tightwad Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 I had a Yuasa that was only 1.5 years old die on me...but it was never great from the beginning. I wonder how long it had been sitting on the shelf when I got it. Now I have my custom build battery in. I also have an amp draw that I can't locate, so the battery has been drained dead a couple times....but it comes right back of course. Weird thing is, when I first test for amp draw I get 20 ma, then it drops to 1.9 or so. no change when i remove the 30 amp fuse, but when I remove the one from the starter relay the amp draw goes away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspanglish Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 I had a Yuasa that was only 1.5 years old die on me...but it was never great from the beginning. I wonder how long it had been sitting on the shelf when I got it. Now I have my custom build battery in. I also have an amp draw that I can't locate, so the battery has been drained dead a couple times....but it comes right back of course. Weird thing is, when I first test for amp draw I get 20 ma, then it drops to 1.9 or so. no change when i remove the 30 amp fuse, but when I remove the one from the starter relay the amp draw goes away. Well the protocol as I'm sure you're well aware, is with the multimeter + probe to ground cable and - probe to - batt. terminal and one goes about disconnecting connectors until the leak no longer shows up on the multimeter ¿right?... so if it goes away as you say on disconnecting the starter relay fuse... the leakage is in that circuit somewhere ¿no? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspanglish Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 I also have YTZ14S Yuasa... going strong even after stator failure... and I don't treat her well... short trips to and from work everyday... worst treatment for these batteries. My bike sits in a 150 degree Garage during the summer, It sat for 2 weeks in that condition without riding, and its been in that situation for months,, Normally it never sits that long, Hopefully it was just some sulfation build up from the heat, and the Tender plus charge and riding broke it loose. I was surprised it spun so strongly on that load test, so I think its okay. Yeah we get very high temps here most of the year round... 40ºC for a few months in summer... but it gets down to 5ºC in winter... this doesn't help my batteries' lifespan either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spud786 Posted August 16, 2011 Author Share Posted August 16, 2011 ECU losing power could be an indication of 30 AMP fuse wire issues. I had the same until I replaced the wire and the fuse holder with heavier gauge ones. Worth a look. Wiring is fine , When I plugged the tender into the power port, after charging I went to remove and it was stuck, like I say my garage is 150 degrees so it swelled, fighting with that, maybe I created a spark and that caused the clock reset. My power port is directly connected to the battery, battery in standby is 13.1 to 13.2 volt. running voltage 14.8v very normal Like I say there was no riding issue, it was all after I detected a weak motor spin up compared to normal, so I plugged the tender in to rejuvenate, before I replaced the battery for becoming weak. After riding and finding my clock reset , with no performance issue. I thought the battery was going into failure soon. But I think its now okay after doing that stress load test , I havent put a tender on this battery for a few years, the High heat storage condition, I think didnt help and allowed some sulfation to build up. But charge voltage reads great, wiring is great perfect condition, I did have to replace a tail light, preventative troubleshooting the wiring health, it had burned out, the brake light was fine though. But 90,000 mile on a tail light, is probably okay to fail. At this point I think we are in good shape Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Belfry Posted August 16, 2011 Member Contributer Share Posted August 16, 2011 Well, some of you guys may be pleased, My beloved YTZ14s has begun to show signs of failure. Why would we experience schadenfreude at the death of your YTZ14S? Even though you pooh-poohed my current MotoBatt experiment , I am happy that your $150 battery is still kicking. If the MotoBatt doesn't last, I'll probably pop for the Yuasa. I just figured that since it turned out I didn't have OEM in the first place, a sub-$60 battery with a two-year warranty and good reviews was worth a shot. So far so good, but of course its only been in there for a few weeks. It starts the bike up smartly, however, and the lights are bright. I did torture test it in several lineups over the past weeks (border, Seattle/Portland traffic, road work) that involved multiple restarts for a good length of time (1.5 hours at the border) in temps up to 90F. Only time will tell whether it lasts as well as the pricier alternatives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spud786 Posted August 16, 2011 Author Share Posted August 16, 2011 Well, some of you guys may be pleased, My beloved YTZ14s has begun to show signs of failure. Why would we experience schadenfreude at the death of your YTZ14S? Even though you pooh-poohed my current MotoBatt Its a little joke between some of the guys here, we've had on batteries, Tastes great, no it doesnt tastes great, no it doesnt. But this battery has already outlasted the oem by Near 10,000 mile, and added years(still showing strong after alittle doctoring. So I dont know how long it will last but it must about 3 year old and 46,000 miles. This is an upgrade over the oem, as its a battery for the fz1 and st1300. I dont think it can be beat, much like proad2 tires on life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spud786 Posted September 10, 2011 Author Share Posted September 10, 2011 I started keeping the battery on the tender all the time since an issue developed. It started fine this am , 100 mile later I stopped at a fuel station and barely turned over. Battery has plenty of juice once going, seems to be a intermittant cca issue. Like a said I think the 155 degree storage area toasted the battery. Battery has 48,000 miles on it , ytz14s thats actually pretty good, even though id like more. So I had to order, but since cash is tight, I ordered the scorpion ytz14s, $50 cheaper, hopefully it will do atleast as well, if not I'll go back to the yuasa ytz14 next time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spud786 Posted September 15, 2011 Author Share Posted September 15, 2011 So I installed the New YTZ14s Scorpion battery, the intial quality is near Yuasa Level, the nuts that comes for the battery post screws are poor quality and the design of the post to hold the nuts is also poor quality, I used the scorpion screw with the Yuasa nuts. But I had to hold the nut to get it to mate with the screw. NOt my ideal way of perfection, but I dont want my battery screws coing loose. The battery charged up to 13.25 volts, OUtstanding!!!! So its just a matter of seeing if it holds up as long as the yuasa, I got 48,000 mile out of the ytz14s yuasa , is the extra $50 worth it for better screws and post design, well, thats going to depend whether this battery obtains over 45,000 mile. It seems to be a decent batttery at less cost thus far. But it has to prove itself Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spud786 Posted June 10, 2012 Author Share Posted June 10, 2012 9 month update, on YTZ14s Scorpion battery, My Normal is the Yuasa YTZ14s, but the scorpion was a $50 savings mail order through Batterystuff,com. Identical AGM battery, just competitor. The only real issue with the scorpion was cheap nuts, and had to use the nuts off my yuasa being replaced. So far, the scorpion, has yeilded every bit of the performance of the Yuasa. I wont really know the final result till I get up into the 40,000 mile range, but thus far its been worth the $50 savings over the yuasa. $72 verses $121 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veefer800Canuck Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 I got a YTZ14S so long ago I've forgotten when. And it's still going strong. One of these days I gotta start keeping records or something....... So a year later, the curse descends. LOL Went to start the bike yesterday, battery too weak to fire her up. Bump started it and it was OK after that. I put it on the battery charger afterwards so I won't have a problem with it for the near future, but it's battery time now. Tried to remember when I installed this latest battery, and it seems to me that it was before I did the underseat exhaust mod, which was 2006. So total life for the YTZ-14S has been at least 6 years, possibly 7. I remember fabbing a plywood spacer to sit underneath the battery (because it's shorter than a YTX-12BS) so that would predate the underseat exhaust mod. I later removed the spacer because of the aluminum under-tray i had fabbed for the exhaust, and modding the OEM battery box, removing the lid, etc. So this battery may well have been purchased in 2005 sometime. Suddenly, $153 doesn't look so bad. I did run the battery right flat last year at Nelson, I left the frickin key on. That probably didn't help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spud786 Posted May 23, 2015 Author Share Posted May 23, 2015 Hey How bout an update Looks like I bought this scorpion ytz14 battery around September of 2011, while my my mileage has cut way back on the vfr, Ive seen the first signs the scorpion is reaching end of life. charges fine, and haven't use a tender at all. but on start up I detect a hitch of a weaken cell. It hasn't had a clock reset yet on start up, but that's probably going to happen in the not too distant future. Yuasa's normally lasted about 44,000 miles, and back when I was running a lot of mileage that was about 2 1/2 years or so.. I think I only have around 30,000 miles on this scorpion, but battery is going on 4 years. So really I consider that a toss up between years and mileage, between the two. I'll probably just get another scorpion, it seems to be usable and considerably cheaper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spud786 Posted May 31, 2015 Author Share Posted May 31, 2015 Well, last week I mention the battery was at end of life , yesterday, put on my helmet and fuel pump primed, all light on but nada, not enough juice to turn the motor over. Rode my other bike while it was charging, but same battery cant put out enough output to turn the motor over. Also the battery reads 12.9 volt at rest, so you see voltage read doesn't necessarily mean anything with these agms, new scorpion ytz14 is on order. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spud786 Posted June 6, 2015 Author Share Posted June 6, 2015 My scorpion battery arrived installed and tested, boy you got the luv the spin of a new ytz14, strong and fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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