The New And Improved Unofficial R65 Forum V2
Technical Discussion => BMW Technical Q&A, Primarily R65 => Topic started by: Bob_Roller on November 02, 2011, 03:57:36 PM
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Thought I'd post my experience with this particular battery .
Justin, our website administrator, posted about this battery about three years ago, or so .
http://www.staabbattery.com/product/UB12220-V.html
I've got four of them .
My first one which was installed in my'81 R65 the last week of June '09 .
It spent six months in the R65, then was installed in my oilhead in December'09 .
It started giving me problems about two weeks ago, the Harbor Freight battery maintainer started charging in a quite different way than it has in the last two years, it's got three LED's, the yellow charge LED would go out in about 4-5 minutes after I placed it on charge after coming home from work, the last two weeks, the yellow charge LED would not go out, even after 14 hours .
http://www.harborfreight.com/automotive-motorcycle/battery/15-amp-three-stage-onboard-battery-charger-maintainer-99857.html
Last night, after an hour ride, I stopped to pick up three lottery tickets at the corner fuel station, I thought I was going to have to push the bike home, but it finally got the engine started .
So from my first experience with this battery, looks like about two and a half year service life in probably one of the more extreme environments that our bikes are operated in .
My previous batteries, were Odyssey AGM batteries and would get 3-4 year service life on them, at about three times the cost .
The oilhead is running great wouldn't start right, or idle right with the faulty battery, these oilheads don't like batteries that are on the edge of their service life, I had similar problems when the Odyssey battery called it quits .
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Coming up on three years with the Staab AGM in my '81. Same battery in the '83 but it's about two years old. I believe that when the AGM-style batteries reach their "best by" date, they go quickly. I keep a Battery Tender® rotating through all the bikes (4). So far, it's all good.
Monte
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[size=16]Hi guys[/size] - I bought a Toplite sealed battery in Sept 2003 which has never given me any trouble. At that time a standard but generic replacement that would need refilling cost about $80 aussie. This one cost $140 aussie. I bought it primarily 'cos I'm too lazy to keep lifting the seat and checking the levels (lol) but also because I had heard that it wouldn't go flat even if I only used the bike for lots of short journeys.
[size=16]I hard [/size]wired my lights to be permanently on when I had to replace my ignition switch with a 3 position unit back in 1997 when my 4 position unit went bust. Compared to my last unsealed battery it has so far lasted twice the time and still going strong and never once needed recharging except when the bike is laid up for any reason.
I run a sealed battery in my 40 year old car as well - it seems to be the way to go with older vehicles. 8-)
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There are differences in design with an AGM -Absorbed Glass Mat- battery and a "sealed" wet battery. I have sealed batteries in three autos but run the AGM's in the BMWs.