2 Dead Batteries in 4 days

BlackJota

BlackJota

Senior member
Location
Sunshine Coast Australia
Back in April this year I purchased a replacement battery for my Jota " SSB RTX20-BS "

superstart.com.au

RTX20-BS High Performance AGM Motorcycle Battery

RTX20-BS High Performance AGM Motorcycle Battery
superstart.com.au superstart.com.au

This is a AGM 18ah 400CCA battery and worked well, so I bought one for the SF2 as well
in August this year. SSB is a leading battery manufacturer and sales brand in Australia that's another reason I bought them both.

So. last Thursday I was riding the Jota home all going fine until the volt meter I have installed near the handlebars started to
flicker and give low volt readings on and off until the engine cut out completely. On the side of the road no ignition no power.
I removed an indicator globe and a bit of wire I carry jumped the battery terminals, nothing. So I ring the wife and she brings the van
to pick up the bike. When I got the battery out of the bike and tested the battery which read 9.9V 185CCA. So I guessed correctly it
had dropped a cell. Warranty job, posted back to the interstate suppliers. All good so far.

So , last Sunday morning I took the SF2 out for a ride, with the same type 2 month old from purchase battery in it, Hooting down the motorway
at 100 kph the volt meter went crazy and the engine cut out completely, making me scramble lanes with no power onto the inside of the road. Turned ignition off and on again, nothing.
For F#*ks sake, were my first thoughts. Then I managed to wiggle the battery get ignition and started off again, only for another 300 metres,
but this time it conked out half way up a 6 lane bridge. FFS. Pushed it over the rise and coasted down the other side and managed to stop in
a safer place. Rang the wife again, come and get me and the bike. Removed the battery and pretty much the same readings as the
Jota battery was just 4 days earlier.

Contacted a local distributor, as I did not purchase the battery from them, they were kind enough to replace the battery
under warranty for me. Saying they sell heaps of this type of battery " XR AGM Series" for bikes and have not had one returned with dropped cell in a very very long time, and I actually believe them, they were helpful and honest people. So I'll be putting the replacement batteries back into the bikes, but I must say with some
trepidation, 'cos any battery make or model can fail at any time right!!


Anyway I would like to ask a couple of questions here.

1) Why would it lose all power to the ignition and coil when the engines were running. I would have thought that both the Jota's alternator and the
SF2's generator would have kept the engine running even with the stuffed batteries. Battery leads and fittings all tight and clean on both bikes.

2) How come I have been able to in the past, push start bikes with flat batteries and they will start and run, but not start and run with a dropped cell.

3) Would each bike run off it's charging system, 13.5V with no battery, but a wire from the voltage regulator straight to the coil, If I could directly power the starter motor up from another vehicle, ie another car using jumper leads to the starter terminal or tow start or downhill jump start.

Don't know what the odds of this happening to me were, or if the battery god's are going to punish me again in the future, but if there is a work around for this on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere to get running again without the bikes battery working, I would be grateful for any suggestions. Very reluctant to call the wife to pick me up again. o_O
 
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BlackJota said:
Back in April this year I purchased a replacement battery for my Jota " SSB RTX20-BS "

superstart.com.au

RTX20-BS High Performance AGM Motorcycle Battery

RTX20-BS High Performance AGM Motorcycle Battery
superstart.com.au superstart.com.au

This is a AGM 18ah 400CCA battery and worked well, so I bought one for the SF2 as well
in August this year. SSB is a leading battery manufacturer and sales brand in Australia that's another reason I bought them both.

So. last Thursday I was riding the Jota home all going fine until the volt meter I have installed near the handlebars started to
flicker and give low volt readings on and off until the engine cut out completely. On the side of the road no ignition no power.
I removed an indicator globe and a bit of wire I carry jumped the battery terminals, nothing. So I ring the wife and she brings the van
to pick up the bike. When I got the battery out of the bike and tested the battery which read 9.9V 185CCA. So I guessed correctly it
had dropped a cell. Warranty job, posted back to the interstate suppliers. All good so far.

So , last Sunday morning I took the SF2 out for a ride, with the same type 2 month old from purchase battery in it, Hooting down the motorway
at 100 kph the volt meter went crazy and the engine cut out completely, making me scramble lanes with no power onto the inside of the road. Turned ignition off and on again, nothing.
For F#*ks sake, were my first thoughts. Then I managed to wiggle the battery get ignition and started off again, only for another 300 metres,
but this time it conked out half way up a 6 lane bridge. FFS. Pushed it over the rise and coasted down the other side and managed to stop in
a safer place. Rang the wife again, come and get me and the bike. Removed the battery and pretty much the same readings as the
Jota battery was just 4 days earlier.

Contacted a local distributor, as I did not purchase the battery from them, they were kind enough to replace the battery
under warranty for me. Saying they sell heaps of this type of battery " XR AGM Series" for bikes and have not had one returned with dropped cell in a very very long time, and I actually believe them, they were helpful and honest people. So I'll be putting the replacement batteries back into the bikes, but I must say with some
trepidation, 'cos any battery make or model can fail at any time right!!


Anyway I would like to ask a couple of questions here.

1) Why would it lose all power to the ignition and coil when the engines were running. I would have thought that both the Jota's alternator and the
SF2's generator would have kept the engine running even with the stuffed batteries. Battery leads and fittings all tight and clean on both bikes.

2) How come I have been able to in the past, push start bikes with flat batteries and they will start and run, but not start and run with a dropped cell.

3) Would each bike run off it's charging system, 13.5V with no battery, but a wire from the voltage regulator straight to the coil, If I could directly power the starter motor up from another vehicle, ie another car using jumper leads to the starter terminal or tow start or downhill jump start.

Don't know what the odds of this happening to me were, or if the battery god's are going to punish me again in the future, but if there is a work around for this on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere to get running again without the bikes battery working, I would be grateful for any suggestions. Very reluctant to call the wife to pick me up again. o_O
Click to expand...
Good questions, to which I have no answer. I wonder if you got 2 bad batteries from 1 manufacturing batch but likely there's no way to tell. It might help to know what ignition system you have on each of the bikes.
Cheers,

bazzee
 
My team fitted one of those digital voltage indicators a while back and I suddenly discovered my bike was hitting 15 volts and more when on expressways. It ended up being a regulator issue. Now with the new regulator, it's 14.5 at 4k and less with lower revs. It's exactly like having high blood pressure, you don't know till the shit hits the fan. Just my ignorant guess. But on 2 different bikes, that's bloody odd
 
Even if the battery doesn't start the bike it can still likely have sufficient voltage to run everything but the starter motor. But if a cell drops out and it is no longer anywhere near 12V I doubt anything will work. Good question about a direct connection - I guess the risk is burning everything out.

Alternators and gennies operate with the battery differently, don't they? Someone with knowledge can chime in here.

I'm putting a tiny 550CCA SSB LiFePo into the SFQ - it's called a 'starting battery' because all it does is start the engine - no capacity to run things without the feed from the alternator - which is why you couldn't use one with a std SF (mine is converted to ND Kwaka alternator).
 
Modern batteries (like many products) are built to much closer tolerances than in the olden days. This seems to me to make them work a lot better for longer but then collapse suddenly, instead of slowly going downhill and giving plenty of warning.
So an old flat battery might still have a little erg left to work with a push start or jump start, but not so with a new battery.
Also points will still give you a weak spark from a flat battery, while electronic ignition will switch off.
In your case though, it definitely sounds like you bought a couple of duds. A good reason to use a trusted supplier who honours their warranty like they have 👍
 
Am guessing I was sold 2 faulty batteries from the same batch, both internal failure, purchased 5 months apart, failed 4 days apart.
There is no answer to that, just bad luck hopefully. The replacement one I have now in the SF was manufactured in July this year. The one that failed in the SF was manufactured in March this year, didn't get to read the date stamp on the Jota one unfortunately, but it was before April this year. possibly in March.:eek:
 
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Your bikes won't run without batteries.
The SF2 will run on near 0 volts if it has points, if it has been upgraded to electronic ignition, it will have become unreliable.

Paul
 
More information needed. But what I would say is that in both cases, when you install your charged replacement batteries, the first thing you need to do is check that the charging systems are operating correctly and that there is no problem with the rest of the looms either. If you are not capable of doing this, get the bikes to someone who is, otherwise you are in danger of throwing money down the drain. If you are semi-competent and own a good multimeter, Electrex do a decent trouble shooting guide. Good luck.

Oh. One last question. You mention a voltmeter in both cases. Is this an aftermarket fitting? Did you fit them? Did you put a fuse in series with them?
 
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Matt H said:
Well. I bow to your expertise, but that device is a perfect example of something I would *not* fit on a motorcycle.
Click to expand...
Take Aceton and eleminate the white letters, then mount the black "button" discreetly in the area of the instruments . Nobody will notice.
Better than calling your wife the third time for help. 😜
If you hide the voltage indicator behind a side cover, for example, you won't see if there are problems.

Thomas aus LAU
 
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I've had the same battery fail a couple of years ago. Running fine until it went dead. Put a new one in and all good. Have 2 other bikes with same brand. no problems there. Anecdotally, it happens occasionally.
 
It's not what it looks like that would trouble me... Even the sh1t connectors scream "run away" to me! Put the money towards some breakdown insurance.
 
BlackJota said:
3) Would each bike run off it's charging system, 13.5V with no battery, but a wire from the voltage regulator straight to the coil, If I could directly power the starter motor up from another vehicle, ie another car using jumper leads to the starter terminal or tow start or downhill jump start.
Click to expand...
That runs the risk of frying various electrical components. Regulators "read" battery voltage, and a battery is a resistor. I know of people who have just fitted a resistor (wouldn't tell me the rating) in place of the battery on kickstart alternator bikes, and just lived with the pulsing and the weak light at low revs.
A nifty little voltmeter is not a recipe for disaster, if that is what you are referring to Matt. Of course it could be fused, and usually is connected to switched power, so that as soon as you turn on the ignition you can see what is going on. My digital speedo has one inbuilt. As Vince has said, it saved him from wrecking components from overcharging.
 
I have had two AGM batteries die within months of purchase, one on the 1200 which may have been caused by a dying regulator and one in my Zane for no apparent reason. Both were Motobatt brand.
 
Connecting a voltmeter into the system should pose no risk, and i see no reason why it should be fused.
I have used a nifty combination clock/voltmeter from Jaycar in the past, very handy on longer trips where arrival time at a destination was important. Or just to understand the passing of time.

Cheers,

bazzee
 
I see you have checked manufacture date but for interest I will post a little anecdote below......
I was approached a number of years ago by an interstate supplier who offered to supply me batteries (same brand) I was selling at a far cheaper rate with very little freight involved (batteries were for mobility scooters).
This was a known reputable battery supplier so I gave them a go and suddenly I had batteries failing early at a regular rate.
(The company always just replaced them without question!!)
It turns out they were obtaining shipments of old stock batteries cheap and onselling at a discount to market knowing they would just cover the warranty claims as they arose. I switched back to my local (relatively) supplier who always ensured fresh batteries supplied and have hardly had a warranty since.
These were all premium brand AGM's and only dates on them were usually put on by wholesaler.
Since then I have always been wary of discounted batteries..............
I have no idea if the Lithium batteries can have the same issue, ...............?
(BTW - I will stick with voltmeters as a useful early warning sign. Break down recovery is not exactly something I would rely on (or phone reception) in a lot of places I ride:rolleyes:)
 
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