Motorcycle Batteries

ZeeOSix

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Looking on Amazon, there are a whole bunch of different 'off brand' batteries. The last battery I bought was a true Yuasa brand, but it's about $150 today. That's more than the new huge battery I just bought for my Tacoma truck.

Anyone try one of these? "Mighty Max" brand. Reviews don't seem too bad, and the price is low.

https://www.amazon.com/YTZ14S-11-2Ah-230...keywords=ytz14s
 
Originally Posted By: zzyzzx
Do they make a lithium battery as a substitute for your size?


Might Max doesn't, but this one is on Amazon for $99. I see it's smaller in size, which means I'd have to fill up the battery compartment with something to keep it from sliding around. A true YTZ14S sized battery fits perfectly.

https://www.amazon.com/Lithium-Motorcycl...lithium+battery
 
The last motorcycle battery I bought was a Motobatt...it was only around $100 and a great battery! I would buy another one in a heartbeat!
 
Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
Looking on Amazon, there are a whole bunch of different 'off brand' batteries. The last battery I bought was a true Yuasa brand, but it's about $150 today. That's more than the new huge battery I just bought for my Tacoma truck.

Anyone try one of these? "Mighty Max" brand. Reviews don't seem too bad, and the price is low.

https://www.amazon.com/YTZ14S-11-2Ah-230...keywords=ytz14s


I've never heard of them, so I have no data to share. The price is very cheap, so that makes me wonder how good they could be.

FWIW, I'm running an Antigravity Battery. I'm using one that has 480 CA. It spins over my high compression bored and stroked engine without issue. That would be overkill if your engine is stock.
 
Originally Posted By: 02SE
Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
Looking on Amazon, there are a whole bunch of different 'off brand' batteries. The last battery I bought was a true Yuasa brand, but it's about $150 today. That's more than the new huge battery I just bought for my Tacoma truck.

Anyone try one of these? "Mighty Max" brand. Reviews don't seem too bad, and the price is low.

https://www.amazon.com/YTZ14S-11-2Ah-230...keywords=ytz14s


I've never heard of them, so I have no data to share. The price is very cheap, so that makes me wonder how good they could be.

FWIW, I'm running an Antigravity Battery. I'm using one that has 480 CA. It spins over my high compression bored and stroked engine without issue. That would be overkill if your engine is stock.


I did some more research, and the "Might Max" brand is basically a re-branded battery made by "Universal Power Group", who makes the batteries that are then sold under many different brands. Of course they are Made in China, but that doesn't necessarily mean they are bad. For $40 (no tax and free shipping) I went ahead and bought one, so I guess I'll find out for myself how good or bad it is. Even if it only lasted a few years it's not a bad choice based on the price.

Went for the "YTZ14S" size (Yuasa model No.), which is an up size for the Busa which gives 230 CCA instead of 175 CCA for the OEM sized YT12A battery. The YTZ14S is the exact same width and length, but only 5 mm taller which still fits in the battery box with no problems. Something I found out way back on the Busa chat board.
 
Buy a Yuasa on ebay for less then $100 shipped to your door. 4 left

Actually the battery you bought, as long as the CCA is true, how can you go wrong for $40?
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
Looking on Amazon, there are a whole bunch of different 'off brand' batteries. The last battery I bought was a true Yuasa brand, but it's about $150 today. That's more than the new huge battery I just bought for my Tacoma truck.

Anyone try one of these? "Mighty Max" brand. Reviews don't seem too bad, and the price is low.

https://www.amazon.com/YTZ14S-11-2Ah-230...keywords=ytz14s


I know several people using generic AGM batteries and they all have only good things to say about them. What's not to like when they cost 1/3rd the price of a premium battery. If they only last 2 or 3 years they are a good buy. In practice they seem to last 3 to 5 years or more. I have a 2 year old 20AH Ultramax that cost £31 and it still performs like new.
 
Originally Posted By: alarmguy
Buy a Yuasa on ebay for less then $100 shipped to your door. 4 left

Actually the battery you bought, as long as the CCA is true, how can you go wrong for $40?


That battery on eBay doesn't really indicate that it's truly a Yuasa brand battery. Maybe it's made by Yuasa and re-branded? But it is made in Japan which might mean it's pretty good quality.

Here's a branded Yuasa ... $150.
Yuasa Link on eBay
 
Would the battery in the OP's link work in an application where it mounts on its side. (Keyboard bad, cannot type a question mark.)
 
I bought a genuine Yuasa battery for my Yamaha atv and it was made in Taiwan anyways!
The battery that came in the atv when I bought it used was a "Parts Unlimited" made in Taiwan unit and it actually held up pretty well.
 
Originally Posted By: grampi
The last motorcycle battery I bought was a Motobatt...it was only around $100 and a great battery! I would buy another one in a heartbeat!


I'm using a Motobatt, great, apart from the colour, but I hear they are available in black now. I've fitted them to a few bikes - I like the multi fit terminals, and they supply a spacer block too.
 
Originally Posted By: Jarlaxle
Would the battery in the OP's link work in an application where it mounts on its side. (Keyboard bad, cannot type a question mark.)


Yes, it's an AGM (Absorbed Glass Mat) design and totally sealed. I received it today and I'm betting it was in every orientation known to man while being shipped across the entire USA, and there was no sign of any leakage.

Battery looks pretty nice, and it was at 12.98 volts when I checked it out of the box.
 
I buy alot of batteries on eBay. I had good luck with Deka little batteries and terrible luck with the big ones. I ve had excellent luck with Chrome batteries and Zip batteries. Iam trying some Sigma Tek batteries now. I can tell you not all Chinese batteries are good or bad. I had a cool orange dragon battery that lasted a month. Forget about warranty, most of these Chinese companies make, sell and re- locate. So your wasting your time returning it. Yuasa and Motobatt are good but too much $$$.
 
Almost 5 years ago but wondering if those Mighty Max batteries are worth a shot, since I'm in the market for a new battery. My bike takes a YTZ12S but a YTZ14S has exactly the same dimensions. Looking at Motocross by Yuasa or BatteryPlus Xtreme at about $100 but I would rather pay half for a Mighty Max or Chrome battery if they are reliable. My original Yuasa YTZ12S started giving me issues after about 5 riding seasons.
 
I have an 18 amp hour, 11.1 LB mightmax AGM battery. Marketed to the stereo boom boom cowd as a '600 watt' battery

I am not convinced it is any different than the generic UPG/UB12180.

MM did tell me to use the charging specs for the Ub12180 when I asked.

When this battery was new, It was ( just barely) able to start my 2 week cold, 5.2 liter v8 engine, by itself, in warm ambeint temperatures
It was close to 1800 watts of load, from a 1.4KW( output) starter. Voltage dropped to the mid 7s
1800 watts divided by 7.5 volts is 240 amps.

Nowhere gives a CCA spec for this battery, I estimate it is around 160 to 180.

It is 2+ years old now. I kind of doubt it could start the v8 at this point, despite keeping it fully charged between uses

for a 35$ battery, I have gotten my money's worth from it, and it is not dead yet.

I drained it to 7.66v under an average ~ 4 amp load applied for 2.5 hours last night, then charged it on a 40 amp adjustable voltage power supply set to 14.7v.
It peaked at 35 amps, then held steady accepting 30 amps for much longer than expected.

i was monitoring temperature rise closely, and one cell in the middle was heating more significantly than the others. i lowered voltage until only 20 amps was flowing and within 25 more minutes hour it was accepting under 5.4 amps, its supposed max charging rate.

The battery had gone from 71f to 94f. during this charge rate which exceeded the maximum listed on the PDF above by a factor of 4 to 6.

At that point I lowered voltage to 13.6v and went to bed. Some 12 hours later it was accepting 0.05 amps @13.6v, and when I boosted voltage to 14.7 iamps rose to 0.47, then dropped to 0.32 in about 15 minutes, then started rising again at which point I removed it from the charging source.

The YTZ12s is about the same size and weight as the UB12120, but it is hard to find a UB12120 with T3 terminals, not the common f1 or f2 on this size battery.



I had a Ub12120 in a schumacher mitymite jump box, with the fatter T3 terminals, and it was a capable jumpstarter, but I just used it for parts rather than replacing the battery within when it could not longer jumpstart an engine with a weak main battery.

All lead acid batteries Flooded/AGM/GEL, ideally want to be truly fully charged held up at high states of charge, and never overdischarged and not exposed to hot temperatures. A long slow parasitic drain to low states of charge, followed by an incomplete recharge, will quickly degrade any battery, no matter its price point.

If you can find a cheapo AGM battery which fits and has acceptable terminals to easily attach to your bike, get yourself some sort of charging source which can bring it upto 14.5 to 14.9v, until amps taper to very low levels or start rising, then disconnect the parasitic loads if the bike is to sit, recharge monthly, at a minimum, and you can likely get good to excellent service from it.
 
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