Original YUASA YTZ14S - Finally Quit

[GlobalRider]

My shortest lived battery at 7 years and 4+ months. Maybe its because I always connected it to the BMW Advanced Battery Charging System when the vehicle was parked; a first for me because typically I spot charge my batteries when the voltage is reduced. The BMW dealer I bought my 2016 R1200 GSA from included the charger/maintainer at no extra cost.

Noted it Charged to 14.38V (advertized safe for FLA, GEL and AGM battery) and then switched to Maintenance Mode at about 13.7V.
A safe charge voltage but a bit high for a GEL and a bit low for an AGM.
BMW Advanced Battery Charging System.jpg

Battery was quite dead. All I could hear is a relay clicking. Checked the on-bike voltage and with the ignition on ~8V. Removed the battery and charged it to be sure, but when you see the low voltage creaping up to 14.4V FAST, you know the battery has no capacity. Did a load test and it decreased from 12.98V to 4V in 6 seconds. This is my first AGM battery in any of my vehicles. So much for high tech because my conventional FLA batteries last much longer.

YUASA YTZ14S AGM Battery - 2 - 900 x 600 - Text.jpg

Anyway, if you are going for a ride with a friend who is coming over, start the motorcycle the day before to make sure. I did luckily; topped up my tires and hit the start button to get me to the gas station to fill up. Never got there! Don't you hate it when riders come over and they then all need to fill up before heading out.

Drove out early and picked up a new YUASA battery before he came over.

[Omega Man]

Removed the battery and charged it to be sure, but when you see the low voltage creaping up to 14.4V FAST, you know the battery has no capacity.

This is an important clue to a bad battery that isn’t mentioned very often.

OM

[GlobalRider]

This is an important clue to a bad battery that isn’t mentioned very often.

OM

OM, I worked in a battery lab in the defense department testing batteries, battery chargers/maintainers and battery test equipment. The first test on vehicle by it going to 8V was all it really needed when I switch the ignition on, considering it just came off the BMW charger/maintainer that I assumed worked. But there must be some Scottish in me, so I had to double check.

[GlobalRider]

I like spending money on tools and test equipment and although I did not need the latest tool I just bought due to some simple testing (more on that at the bottom), I gave it a try on a fully charged "failed" YUASA YTZ14S battery that I replaced last week.

Now having worked in a battery lab, I never gave much credit to fast 'n easy conductance testers that we tested. Why? Because when I did a REAL capacity test and a REAL load test, the conductance testers were close at best.

I bought the TOPDON BT200. It was on sale at Amazon and only $5 more then the BT100, the same tester, but only does 12V instead of 12V/24V, not that I can see much use for the 24V system.

Topdon BT200 Battery Tester - SM.jpg

And the readings from my original and failed R1200 GS Adventure battery that I fully charged...
BMW R1200 GSA - Failed Battery.jpg

I have no idea how they calculate Health at 2% and 32A when you have a 230A SAE rating.

As you can see the "state of charge" of the battery is at 100% and 12.90V which really is meaningless without further info. It is the open circuit voltage with no load (starter, headlights, ignition-on) applied when using a Digital Multi Meter on the battery.

The Internal R (reisitance) tells it all and that is basically what you are doing with a REAL load tester, where you'd be looking at the voltage drop to a minimum over a 15 second period while cranking the starter (the highest load in any vehicle, especially on a very cold morning). And 76.92 m Ohm is a very done battery when it comes to internal resistance.

So how did I know my battery was done before buying my tester?
1) seeing that the battery voltage dropped from about 12.6V to 8V, then 7V when I just tried to start it and then just with the ignition on. No capacity!
2) charging the battery and noted that it went from a relatively dead battery to 14.4V in a few minutes using a 1A battery charger.

[Omega Man]

I have a small, inexpensive version of that type of tester. It’s testing starts at 500 CCA so only good for larger batteries. I’m still learning it’s usefulness and have pretty much have come to the conclusion that it is something that I can use to observe/check an older battery that I’m not really having any trouble with.

Before any scientific testing equipment my two main testing was, along with age, were as you stated-

1) seeing that the battery voltage dropped from about 12.6V to 8V, then 7V when I just tried to start it and then just with the ignition on. No capacity!
2) charging the battery and noted that it went from a relatively dead battery to 14.4V in a few minutes using a 1A battery charger.

For those with an iPhone, there is an internal device that will help a user keep tabs on the phones battery health.

OM

[GlobalRider]

In comparison to the reading in post #4 above of 76.92 mOhm for the Internal Resistance, I took two measurements of the new battery today using the SAE and EN settings in the TOPDON battery tester. 230A SAE & 150A EN2 as listed on my new YUASA battery. I have to look up the difference between EN and EN2.

BMW R1200 GSA - SAE - SM.jpg

BMW R1200 GSA - EN - SM.jpg