BMW R1200R R1150R/T F800 K1200R R1100R/T R1250R RnineT Message Board

Are there any replacement batteries that seem to be better than others? Mine is beginning to give me trouble and needs to be replaced........

Odyssey PC680. Or go for some lightweight LiFePo battery if you do not primarily live in Alaska.

Brgds
Oliver

+1

Odyssey PC680

and don't forget the L Adaptors.

I did a preemptive strike by replacing my 4-year old Westco with a new Odyssey PC680. It is probably one of the best out there. Luckily, I found it locally for the same as the on-line price.

wncbmw wrote:I did a preemptive strike by replacing my 4-year old Westco with a new Odyssey PC680. It is probably one of the best out there. Luckily, I found it locally for the same as the on-line price.

+1 PC680

I just got a Westco from Beemerboneyard. I like the fact that it's a direct replacement and it's an exact fit.

What is the advantage of the Odyssey over a direct replacement like the Westco?

more cranking amps with the pc680. i got mine at batteries plus here locally for $150. it rocks!

billbeemer wrote:more cranking amps with the pc680. i got mine at batteries plus here locally for $150. it rocks!

Does this translate to faster cranking speed? The Westco seems to crank at more than reasonable speed. Actually being so impressed with the Motolectric kit when I installed it on my Ducati 900SS, I got a kit for my R1150R. I have not installed it as I didn't realize the battery cables were so neatly bundled up into a tight cocoon made of elecric tape from the factory. I'm not sure I want to take apart that bundle and unlike the 900SS my Oilhead cranks fairly fast.

Odyssey pc680. I have had an Odyssey in the R1150R for seven years. I know it'll quit soon. I have an Odyssey in my F650GS and one in my Chevy truck.

So,

I installed a new Odyssey last year in my 04 R1150R... and it died last week. The Westco before that lasted two years.

Interesting though, is that it seemed like my starter was trying to die on me. So, I am not sure if it was the dying starter took the battery with it. I am not sure if the starter sounded like it did because the battery was dying...

On the other hand, am I the only one whose batteris die so young? I keep them on the tender to feed them all the time....

Any expert opinions?

Sanjay

I have a 2003 R1150R. Purchased January 2003 from BMW of San Jose, CA. Replaced stock battery two weeks ago with another BMW gel cell. Two months shy of 10 years!

WOW...that's really good! I have an '03 and although I didn't buy it new, I bought it in '06, I believe the battery was original. Mine pooed out in January of '09. So that was 6 years of service...and I thought that was very good! The old battery was a "BMW" battery and almost any writing on it had been rubbed off. I believe it was actully made by Exide for BMW.
I bought the Odyssey over three years ago and it has held up nicely so far.

Thanks for the helpfull advice.....Maybe I will go with whatever Max BMW recommends.

My 13 year old factory battery is starting to go. Has anyone tried the new Shorai battery on the R yet?

rvb1019 wrote:My 13 year old factory battery is starting to go. Has anyone tried the new Shorai battery on the R yet?

13? 1999?
there are threads on the Shorai here and on r1200 section. Many have been tempted, but few bit, and there are some criticisms after. imho, the jury is out on them, but the "jury" likes the odyssey.

+1 on odyssey.
Look for cheapest price delivered. Some contributors had NOT had good luck with the westports, and have gone back to pc680.
I've used them for years. With good luck. Do not order the MJ one (metal jacket), not needed and the Metal Jacket makes for a VERY tight fit.

John

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zv3pQxcaP2I

Seems they're typical of many cheap batteries.
I'll stick with the excellent OEM.

rvb1019 wrote:My 13 year old factory battery is starting to go

That's quite impressive. My 2004 CBR600RR's battery will be 9 years old soon and still going strong. But considering the CBR starts instantaneously while the Oilhead has to crank for a full second or two, the battery lives a much easier life inside the Honda than the BMW.

My bad- my R is 2002 so that makes the battery 10 years old. Must have been high on turkey!

Yes, zombie thread resurrection.

I just replaced my 2004 R1150R's 3rd OEM gel cell with a Yuasa YT19BL-BS. According to 2014 press releases from Yuasa this new battery is designed to be a direct replacement for the OEM BMW battery, but it uses AGM technology rather than Gel. http://www.cycleworld.com/2014/11/18/yu ... nt-battery

It comes with 6-chambered bottle of electrolyte that you must install when you are ready to place it into service. It is a very simple procedure that is extremely well documented in the instructions. Then you put it on the charger (I used my standard 2/10/50 Schumacher charger) on 2 amps for 10 hours (in my case the charger is "automatic"), so I left it on for about 9 hours, but the charger indicated it was fully charged.

My feedback is that it is an EXACT REPLACEMENT in terms of size, terminal placement, terminal covers, capacity, etc. The only differences being the AGM tech (not Gel), and the case is molded black plastic instead of grey. It looks like the tooling is exactly the same as the OEM battery, because all of the external dimensions are identical.

I have read an excellent, thorough, lengthy thread on advrider (from rogerrt4, I think) about how our bikes' voltage regulators do not provide adequate voltage to keep the Odyssey PC680 properly charged, as it requires 14.7V. As the Odyssey is also AGM, I am slightly concerned about the issue with respect to my new YT19BL-BS, so I checked out Yuasa's recommendations online. Yuasa states that as long as your charging voltage is between 14.0 and 14.5 volts, then your bike will work well with this battery. I hope so.

I have tested my bike with fully charged battery a day after initializing it, at steady state it was showing 12.77V, when idling with BATT light lit, it showed 11.98V. When throttle blipped and BATT light went out, it went up to 13.85V. When revved between 3000RPM and 4000RPM charging voltage increases to 14.1V. So, per Yuasa, this should be pretty good for keeping this battery in good shape.

I sure hope they are correct, because I have no intention of tearing the whole bike apart to add a diode to the stock regulator or change the voltage regulator to the Hella: 5DR 004 242-051 in order to get 14.5V at this time. I have heard of people riding for years with AGM batteries on R1150Rs with no battery problems, so I remain hopeful.

My old gel battery still registers 12.32 V fully charged, but just didn't stick it out until the engine would start after standing for 2 weeks. Is there anything useful that can be done with this old battery? Anyplace give core charges for old batteries even if you didn't buy the new one from them?

Thanks,

Ed

I've had my PC680 for seven years now. I just bought another one and the old one is still working and is still in use in my bike. I do use a charger mostly in the winter months although I will hook it up one every other month for safe keeping. I know some PC680 users have not had the service life I have had, but I have been very happy with mine.