fun with battery (ride, bike, motor, fuel)

[Nepenthe]

Monday the 10th of December was a cold one here in the DFW area. The temperature didn't get much above 36 all day. I rode in, at 26 degrees. My bike sits in my garage which never gets below mid 50s. So it started right up that morning. I enjoy getting all bundled up, and my commute is pretty slow and short. I commuted most of last winter.

But when I came out at about 5:30pm to start my bike (2009 Yamaha FZ6R) and ride home that day, it would not start. The battery and starter would try, but just couldn't spark the engine to life. I tried applying little bits of throttle -- probably useless on an FI bike. Didn't work. I was on the second floor so I tried rolling it down the ramp and bump starting it. Didn't work.

Then I got the bright idea to bring it into the building. I talked to security. I explained that I wanted to see if the oil could thin a bit and the battery could get into its best operating temperature. They're pretty casual. I work in a large office campus, but they said it was okay. So I rolled it all the way down the path and put it inside our front foyer. Security said it was worth it to watch all the people on camera leaving late as they did triple-takes at my bike.

Anyway, waited about an hour, rolled it back out just outside, and it started right up. When I got home I ordered a "gel" battery. My old battery was three years old and although it started the bike fine on subsequent warmer days, I figured it was time to replace it. I installed the new battery today, no charging, and it started the bike up with an immediacy I'm not used to. The little chirping sound is much higher pitched and quicker.

1. can a battery be too powerful?
2. this may be my imagination, but I would swear the bike felt chippier on my test ride! It just seemed to have some advantage, but this couldn't be, could it?
3. any similar fun with battery stories?

[flynavyj]

Shouldn't make a difference. After the bike is running the charging system will be providing power back to the battery, and providing the spark. More powerful batteries can be beneficial for initial cranking though, and allow you to get a bike started up quicker. I know i've ridden bikes that had an essentially dead battery, but I was able to either bump start it, or kick start it. On one bike, I did notice that the headlight was very very dim with the dead battery, and if the charging system was using up all it's energy just to keep the bike running, there may not have been a lot of extra juice left for charging the battery...especially at low RPM...but this was also a very old motorcycle, with an original charging system.

[Brian_M]

There ARE some bikes that won't run with a poor battery... doesn't matter if you can get it started off jumpers, bumping, etc.. And some bikes run poor with a bad battery as it's the link between the charging system (which should be pushing 13.5~14.2vdc to the battery) and the rest of the bike. I've seen enough bikes that had a good charging system run poor because the ignition system was only receiving 11.x vdc (battery was soaking the charge). Hence you might actually be feeling a little difference.

You can have too powerful of a battery... just don't buy a 24 or 36 volt battery. I know, you mean amps... that's about like taking a motorcycle with a stock 4 gallon fuel tank and replacing it with a 7 gallon fuel tank, it just contains more potential.

If you do only short trips (less than 30 miles) most of the time you should consider 2 things. A battery maintainer (Noco and Ctek are the top brands, ~$50, pick one that's 1amp hour or less) that you connect overnight one time a week. And to take the bike out for an hour ride once every 2 to 3 weeks to get the oil up to temp and cook off condensation/neutralize acids.