Battery recommendations, please...

OK, I have had it with Advance Auto Parts. I bought a new battery from this place for the VFR on July 27th. Took it out of the bike for winter storage on October 15th.

I stored the battery inside while it was out of the bike (to prevent it from freezing).

So after my carb rebuild, I go to start the bike up. No juice, the battery was able to only crank the engine over 7 or 8 revolutions. Crap. So I take it back out of the bike, and hook it up to my 1 amp charger overnight. Tested the battery after the charge, it read 12.8 volts. Again, it only was able to crank the engine over 7 or 8 times before clicking the starter. Crap, battery is TOAST!

So I took it back to Advance, they "test" it (because I can't tell that the battery is garbage...) and they inform me that there is no pro-ration on the battery, and that the only warranty that the battery ever had was a 3-month free replacement. He then asks if I want the battery back... WTF?!? Like a 5 month old dead $50 battery isn't bad enough?!? You know where you can stick it, mister.

I am done with that place, they have screwed me over a few times in the past, I would certainly not set foot in there now. Nobody else here should, either.

 

Yuasa Batteries come with a 1 year repacement warranty, although it should last longer than that. I had a Yuasa that lasted 3 yrs. They cost ahout 70.00 + tax.

p.s. I never did like that place, service sucks there.

 

Yuasa is definately the way to go. I'm getting as many as 7 yrs. and as few as 5 yrs. from a battery with good maintenance. I've got 5 bikes 4 that are registered for the street and one track bike. The one that gets ridden the least is my Hawk GT. The last battery went 7 years before replacement. All of my bikes are put on maintenance chargers right after their ridden and left on until they are ridden again.

 

A battery for my 02 was $130, so I want to batteries plus and they basically had the same gel cell battery for 75 dollars. Also if you do not need a gel cell the no maintenance batteries a wal-mart work pretty well. Have had one in my magna for two years, and works great.

 

Ok, I'm new here, been lurkng for a while, but I have been in the battery business for 10 years.

I work for a company out of Pennsyvania called East Penn Manufacturing. I work for the Industrial division (Huge electric vehicle batteries, mining carts, forklifts, etc) But East Penn makes batteries for the specialty (motorcycle) market as well. The name of the battery is DEKA. You will NOT find it at cheif or napa, you will have to look up a specialist. try www.dekabatteries.com to find a retailer.

Hands down it is simple the best product made (I used to work for the Industrial Yuasa/Exide division)

The company is 100% american owned and made (funny because we are foreign bike enthusiasts) but is also PRIVATELY OWNED, so there is no shareholder pressure to cheapen the product (read: less lead and manufacturing shortcuts)

Every single positive and negative plate is formed INDIVIDUALLY, and is discarded and recycled if not properly formed. This is true for the specialty batteries as well as the industrial. I can tell you, honestly, the industrial battery is the logest lived product in the market. It is also about 10-15% more expensive.

This company was founded by a father and son after the WW2 rebuilding batteries for surplus military vehicles. They started in a rented two-room creamery and it is now a 900 million dollar company.

When I buy a new vehicle, the first thing I do is remove the OEM batteries and replace them with DEKA's (2006 Dodge 2500 Cummins TD and the 2008 harley already comes with a DEKA it is the OEM as of 2002).

If I'm shilling for this company, so be it. People need to know. They are one of Forbes top 50 US companies to work for also.

Good luck.

Adam

 

:loco: Batterys need to be charged for a few hours EACH month.

 

I love Deka batterries and use them in my business regularly. I go out of my way to buy them over other brands. I also have them in my personal vehicles, that is except a couple of my bikes. There is a Deka dealer local to me and a warehouse not far away either. Trouble with Deka and motorcycle batterries iis that when I went to buy a new one half way through last summer for my '01 VTR 1000 F track bike Deka didn't offer one. I was forced to buy a Yuasa. My maintenance chargers are even the DPI units rebadged with Deka's label and trademark. http://dpipower.com/batrychrgrs_Excel.htm

 

I like Deka batteries also. I use them in my semi-truck and in all of my cars. I haven't tried one of their bike batteries, but if they last as long as their bigger ones, you'd be happy.

 

B4 buying any battery you owe it to yourself to visit www.batterystuff.com they have lots of good info on batterys and how to maintain them. They also sell mail order. Highly recommend them.

 

My 6th gen needs a new battery and based on these recommendations, I would like to get the DEKA powersports battery (aka big crank?) The Yuasa equiv. is a YTZ12s with dimensions of 6" x 3 7/8" x 4 3/8" and 210 CCA.

The only DEKA battery that will fit is the ETX9 which only has 120 CCA. Does DEKA make a small battery with enough power?

 

I'd be willing to bet that you'll end up having to buy a Yuasa to get the correct battery CCA. I had to go that route for my '01 VTR as DEKA did not offer one for the bike.

 

Right you are Lifttruck. I just got off the phone with East-Penn Manufactuing (makers of Deka batteries) and they said that they would send me a Yuasa because they don't make one small enough to fit my 04 VFR that has enough CCA's. Oh well, I guess I'll get the Yuasa.

 

Well if anyone finds a gel battery, let me know please. I was going to get an Optima but they don't make em for motorcycle's, to bad too as those batteries are the best I've had.

 

I second the Deka recommendation! I know a guy who used to run a motorcycle shop and he always recommend the Deka brand because they are reliable and they don't need those damn battery tenders. I have the Deka in my VFR and it cost about $15 more than the OEM battery and I've had no problems with it so far.

Deka all the way!

 

I bought an Optima yellow-Top once, wouldn't ever do that again.

Damned thing FROZE SOLID overnight after starting the car the day before. Granted, the temps were in the -20's, but still... My other car with a "normal" battery started fine.

 

There are Yuasa's in both the VFR & Hawk. The VFR battery is 5.5 years old & the Hawk's is 4.5. Both bike start up just fine. I've never used anything other than Yuasa & I really don't have anything bad to say about them. The stock Honda battery in the VFR lasted less than 18 months.

KC-10 FE out...
lane:

 

FWIW, I put a DieHard battery in my Nighthawk 4 years ago, and it still starts strong even when it's freezing in my garage. I do keep it on a Battery Tender while parked, but so far it's lasted as long as previous Yuasa batteries have, and it was cheaper.

Not sure if they make one to fit the VFR, so my apologies if this doesn't apply to everyone!

 

Wow, never heard of this, as I'm pretty sure there is no water in em, suppose to be a gel, I've seen the goop, doesn't look like it would frezz, hope you got a new one under warranty. I have em 3 of my cars as it stands Optima does not make a motorcycle battery. Poop!