my bike eats batteries

DanF · 13 Jan 2016 at 20:05

Just had to put in the 2nd new battery in less than a year for the ktm 990, pretty sure the previous owner put in a battery before I bought it as well.

the new batteries voltages are

12.8v just charged
12.68v fitted with ignition off
12.2v lights on engine off

14.4v engine running from tickover to 6k rpm, seems to hold steady all the way through.

Does that look right?

DanF · 13 Jan 2016 at 20:42

yeah the battery I got last summer was a Motobatt Motorcycle Gel Battery CTZ14-S / YTZ14-S. The one fitted when I bought it looked like a pretty cheap one so just put in the oem spec Yuasa YTZ14S.

Shouldn't really be going flat as it's used 2-3 times a week.

DanF · 14 Jan 2016 at 18:50

God the new fully charged battery started the bike, it stalled then it only just restarted it

maybe my engine is about to seize or something. Ran pretty rough until it warmed up.

DanF · 14 Jan 2016 at 22:45

well rode it home tonight and it started fine and ran fine. Maybe it was just a symptom of it being sat for 3 weeks before swapping out the battery. Will check the voltages over the weekend to see if it's draining much each day.

DanF · 20 Jan 2016 at 01:04

Aha, I used car jump leads on to the spare motobatt this morning just to make sure it started. The old battery is still holding charge so might be fine in warmer weather.

Having to wait for the bike to fully warm up atm. If I try to use it too quick it seems to run bad for the whole journey.

DanF · 20 Jan 2016 at 01:08

stuie said:
This, I use n on mine all year round last summer my 52 plate cbr600 killed its battery. Got a mate who runs a garage to swap it for him to find it was the original 13 year old honda battery.

have to keep it parked out in a shared car park. I wish I had a garage

DanF · 25 Jan 2016 at 18:39

The Deuce said:
a motobatt most certainly is NOT a cheap battery

buy an optimate/oximiser to keep your battery tip top, but it cold be your rectifier failing

the original one on the bike before the motobatt went in

DanF · 25 Jan 2016 at 18:41

leigh_boy said:
sounds like rectifier
although the voltages are good, does the battery get hot / smell? if so defo rect

seems fine now with the new Yuasa in. Looks like it's temp dependant as it starts fine now it's 10c again. ktm recommend to go with thinner oil if running near 0c but I'm not gonna do it for just a few weeks of the year.