The New And Improved Unofficial R65 Forum V2
Technical Discussion => BMW Technical Q&A, Primarily R65 => Topic started by: Bob_Roller on June 28, 2010, 12:48:36 PM
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There's a local listing on Craigslist for an Odyssey PC680 battery, $40US .
Called the number, seller has no idea how old it is, he got it in a box-o'-parts from a bike that had an engine 'come-apart/done blowed up' .
Still pondering if I should get it or not .
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Unless you want it for a shop/test battery I'd leave it alone.
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Unless you want it for a shop/test battery I'd leave it alone.
Oh, yeah, fer sure! This item goes right along with the bike for sale that, "needs nothing".
Monte
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One should not make an omlette from old eggs.
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If I need another battery, I'll just get another from Staab, the year old one I have, is in my oilhead now, it had an old Odyssey installed, starter sounded like it wasn't cranking very well last January, so I swapped the Staab battery out of the R65 .
So I'm just waiting for this old Odyssey battery to quit anytime now .
The heat is back in full force, this is usually when marginal batteries give up their job for good .
If this Odyssey had been a newer one, it wouldn't have been a bad deal .
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The Odyssey's tend to fail with little notice, however the one telltale that seems to be true is if the ABS doesn't always power up.
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My oilhead doesn't have ABS, but you're right, that's one of the first tell tale signs of battery problems, is an ABS light that continuously gives you problems .
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I just had my wet cell lead acid battery die instantaneously on my Kawasaki Concours this weekend. I had ridden to a customer's office and back (180 miles) with nary a problem, and it had been cranking and starting quickly. But, the battery was 5 years old. 2 days after that trip I went to start the biek in the garage to take it for annual safety inspection - the starter relay went click and all the lights died out.
I have even kept this battery on a tender through the winter months and through much of the spring when the bike wasn't being ridden much. The electrolyte levels were good, and still it has a catastrophic failure - fortunately it failed @home!!! The battery will still measure 12.3V resting, but as soon as you try to drawn more than 30 milliAmps of current from it, the voltage drops to 3V. My battery charger won't even charge it either. So, another YUASA battery is ready for the recycling pile, and a new sealed AGM battery is on its way.
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Any idea on which battery you're going to get for your Concours ?
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the battery was 5 years old. 2 days after that trip I went to start the bike in the garage to take it for annual safety inspection - the starter relay went click and all the lights died out.
5 years was not so bad for a wet cell given that they are half the price of an Odessey.
I had the exact same thing happen with my last car battery. Fine one day and next day just click. As it was 3 weeks short of 12 years old I had no cause for complaint. I was pushing my luck in some sort of foolish challenge to see how long it would last. Like yours my battery did have the good grace to die overnight in the garage which was not too inconvenient.
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It was a difficult decision for me to go to the Odyssey on the 650 due to it's additional cost. The thing that put me over the edge was all the anecdotal evidence that was expressed from other airheads using the battery. They're main stance was the lack of maintenance and success of extended shelf life. Since I don't ride both bikes on an every day basis and they have a tendency to sit for a couple of weeks at times...I installed the PC680. I'm very happy with the Odyssey to this point. It's been in the 650 for approximately 16 months. I have always used a slosh battery in my /7 with a battery tender attached regardless of how often I ride it. I have consistently gotten 5 years out of my slosh batteries properly maintained and smart-charged. I try never to let any battery get to a dead state - it will never regain full capacity or extended life in my experience.
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I've ordered a MotoBatt sealed advanced glass mat battery MBTX20U for my Kawasaki - these batteries are a bit pricey, but in some cases cheaper than the Odyssey ones, and Motobatt has a 2-year replacement warranty now. They are somewhat new to the market, so I don't know how the quality will be, but I'm willing to give it a shot.
The motobatt batteries also have (2) positive and (2) negative terminals on them, so it can make wiring up auxiliary power outlets, batttery tender leads, etc a bit easier!