Battery life expectancy ?

How long should a battery last ? I have mine for 4....... maybe 5 years and just firing the beast up on Friday after not riding for a few days there did not seem to be much available juice. Rode the bike Friday evening and charged up the battery and then did'nt ride again until this afternoon (Sunday) and again it felt like not a lot of juice when I hit the starter button.

I removed the battery negative lead and connected the multimeter between the terminal and the lead and with the meter setting at amps the reading was 0. So....does not look like I have any current draw.

Am thinking it's the battery getting old ........like myself

Bike batteries are subjected to more vibration that car batteries. The voltage is less controlled (spikes,surges)and their capacity is a lot less due to size of the package and how much space is allowed by the engineers designing the motorcycle.

Never totally discharge or run down the battery because if you do it will never return to 100% no matter how much you recharge it.

Keep the fluid level up(using distilled water) if is not a sealed battery and some time on a trickle charger when your not riding will help for a long life.

As for life expectancy so many variables come into play to give a good answer.

If a bike battery lasts me more than two years, I feel blessed

steell wrote:

If a bike battery lasts me more than two years, I feel blessed

The original battery on my 750 and the next two lasted about 12 months each. I got sick of paying out that much money.... Now, the batteries last about 5 years each. The difference is I changed the wiring so that a relay disconnects all the electrical devices except the ignition when the starter is cranking.

Lead acid batteries actually "wear out" corresponding to depth of discharge and cranking the starter is worst load of all. Having the lights on at the same time REALLY kills batteries double quick. If your bike has the lights on as it cranks the starter, the batteries will have a short life span.

JR wrote:

How long should a battery last ? I have mine for 4....... maybe 5 years and just firing the beast up on Friday after not riding for a few days there did not seem to be much available juice. ////

Am thinking it's the battery getting old ........like myself

Batteries are very easy to test: umplug the spark plugs, hook a voltmeter on the battery and crank the starter. If the cranking voltage stays above about 9V, it's still servicable. 8V or less, it's done.

Thanks guys. It sounds like I am lucky to have it last so long particularly since the lights are on all the time, including when starting.

There's only about a month left in the riding season here so I'll try to keep it on life support until I put the bike away and I'll buy a new one in the Spring.

i just bought a gel battery and an intelligent charger to keep it juiced up during winter .. hope this one will last me longer than the cheap one i bought in spring and that died in july ...

Besides my Kaws I also have a 95 Harley Fatboy and they are supposed to be really hard on batteries. After 8 years I changed it just because I was tired of worrying about it. I get 3-4 years out of one on the Kaws. The problem Ive had with bike batteries is one minute they work the next they are dead, no warning. Id rather spend the money then be stuck somewhere and have to get home and then go back to get it.

I've had batteries die like that too, just spinning the starter along nice as can be and all of a sudden dead. I'm not sure lights and stuff being on really effect the life of a battery. Seems to me simply more load on a weak battery will make it unable to spin the starter at speed sooner, so I guess that does make good sense. It seems batteries are like anything, some last, some don't. I've got 7 or 8 yrs out of batteries before, but now probably 5 on an average. I don't modify my electrics so the lights are always on, and I ride all winter on the KZ650 down to 10 or 15 degrees at least and sit the motorcycle in an unheated garage all winter. It hasn't really been a problem for the battery. The other batteries I keep in the house and trickle charge every 3 or 4 months. They last 5 yrs or more normally.

1 year!

mtkawboy wrote:

The problem Ive had with bike batteries is one minute they work the next they are dead, no warning.

Shorted cell. As they age, the lead comes off the plates and falls to the bottom. There is a gap down there called the "sediment tray", but if too much piles up it shorts the cell out at the base and the battery is toast.

Well, this morning there was barely enough juice in the battery to turn over the engine. Not enough to start it, so I pronounced it dead and decided not to bother with life support (charger)
Bit the bullet and bough a new one. At least I got $5 trade in at Canadian tire on the old.

Good for another few years ....I hope.