FJR battery from Staab Battery

[Fred W]

FYI. You can find yuasa batteries being sold in the US that were manufactured in the US or in Taiwan. Never seen any marked made in japan.

These Staab batteries are not marked at all for country of origin. I suspect they are made in China based on the price.

BTW - there would be no difference in quality due to the lead being recovered/recycled. Lead isn't pure when it is mined and has to be smelted and purified even if new. If there is really a difference between Asian and American produced batteries it would have more to do with quality control than whether the lead was recycled.

 

[Constant Mesh]

Battery is manufactured by a Taiwan company.

https://www.yacht-battery.com/html/yte_01_about.html

 

[Fred W]

And sold by a US company.

Their own website says they are made in China and Vietnam.

"As our industry reputation grew along with U.S. and International sales increases, Yacht expanded with a second factory in Chang Zhou City, China. Production began in October, 2003, in our 67,500 square meter compound with over 500 workers and a plant capacity of 6,000,000 units.

In 2010, Yacht is once again growing with the addition of a third factory in Vietnam, using a similar facility design as our China factory with over 500 workers. Production will begin in June, 2011 bringing Yacht's total annual capacity for our 3 plants to 15,000,000 units. And, there is ample room for future growth!"

 

[08FJR4ME]

FYI. You can find yuasa batteries being sold in the US that were manufactured in the US or in Taiwan. Never seen any marked made in japan.
These Staab batteries are not marked at all for country of origin. I suspect they are made in China based on the price.

BTW - there would be no difference in quality due to the lead being recovered/recycled. Lead isn't pure when it is mined and has to be smelted and purified even if new. If there is really a difference between Asian and American produced batteries it would have more to do with quality control than whether the lead was recycled.

I had a recent conversation about recycled lead and pure lead with a fellow worker this week. Although it was in reference to bullets. I will tell you what his experience is that recycled lead will shatter into pieces when hitting a target versus pure lead just expanding and folding back. He's been sport shooting guns and repairing them longer than I have been alive so I will take his word on it.

FWIW

Dave

 

[RossKean]

There is no chemical or physical difference between properly recycled lead and "pure" lead. In fact, lead refineries producing pure lead from mined, upgraded concentrate often include recycled lead from batteries and other sources. If the production process only included re-melting, removal of "slag" and recasting ingots to make the plates then I would agree that recycled material would be inferior for both physical reasons (brittle) and electrolytic reasons. Battery manufacturers are generally quite fussy about the quality and specification of their starting materials since impurities will ensure a short-lived product. Can't say what the lead specificctions would be for ammunition. From the Yuasa website:

Made in America.
Yuasa Battery, Inc. has been manufacturing motorcycle batteries in the U.S.A. to uncompromisingly high standards since 1979. Most of the large capacity Powersports batteries are manufactured in our Laureldale, PA plant. All other Powersports batteries are produced in a Yuasa state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in various countries throughout the world. Each Yuasa facility follows the same rigorous manufacturing processes to ensure the highest Yuasa quality standards are met.

We are the largest American manufacturer and the largest distributor of batteries for motorcycles, snowmobiles, scooters, all-terrain vehicles and personal watercraft. Click here to learn the features and benefits of Yuasa batteries.

 

[Constant Mesh]

My Westco battery was made in Vietnam.

 

[FJRay]

Most bullets I've used have been alloyed with other metals to make them harder. Pure lead bullets tend to foul the bore at much lower velocity . Straight wheel weights aren't bad up to around 900fps but if some bar solder is added it will make it harder and you can push them a bit faster. The problem is finding the wheel weights and solder in this PC world.

Sorry for the hijack ,back to betteries.

 

[bucky]

My 2005 Suzuki M50 still has its OEM battery in it and it still is going strong. Keep it on a tender when not in use which is a lot as I have 3 other bikes including the fjr, fz1 and vstar 1300.

 

[bucky]

From what I understand a smart charger (float charger) such as the battery tender will not begin to charge a completely dead battery nor a battery with less than 3 volts. Also, a "trickle charger" is not the same as a "float charger". The trickle charger does not shut off/go on once the battery is fully charged, but will continue to trickle charge a battery.

For a big battery like in a car, they can handle that overcharge from a trickle charger over fairly long periods of time but a small motorcycle battery will get fried if left on the trickle charger for long periods of time, such as over the winter.

 

[gixxerjasen]

Have not used it, but that sure is a low price! I have never bought a no maint battery that you had to activate with acid before using, so that's different.

They do exist. My last one in my Bandit 400 had one of those.

 

[HotRodZilla]

Have not used it, but that sure is a low price! I have never bought a no maint battery that you had to activate with acid before using, so that's different.

They do exist. My last one in my Bandit 400 had one of those.

Isn't that the same type battery as what's in the FJR? I had to fill mine with acid and then put the cap on. No maintenance required, but the battery was shipped dry.

 

[SoCalFJR1300]

My 2005 Suzuki M50 still has its OEM battery in it and it still is going strong. Keep it on a tender when not in use which is a lot as I have 3 other bikes including the fjr, fz1 and vstar 1300.

9 years old......Try and get that kind of life out of a replacement battery.

Anyone here get more than 3 years out of a replacement battery?

 

[SoCalFJR1300]

There is no chemical or physical difference between properly recycled lead and "pure" lead. In fact, lead refineries producing pure lead from mined, upgraded concentrate often include recycled lead from batteries and other sources. If the production process only included re-melting, removal of "slag" and recasting ingots to make the plates then I would agree that recycled material would be inferior for both physical reasons (brittle) and electrolytic reasons. Battery manufacturers are generally quite fussy about the quality and specification of their starting materials since impurities will ensure a short-lived product. Can't say what the lead specificctions would be for ammunition. From the Yuasa website:
Made in America.

Yuasa Battery, Inc. has been manufacturing motorcycle batteries in the U.S.A. to uncompromisingly high standards since 1979. Most of the large capacity Powersports batteries are manufactured in our Laureldale, PA plant. All other Powersports batteries are produced in a Yuasa state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in various countries throughout the world. Each Yuasa facility follows the same rigorous manufacturing processes to ensure the highest Yuasa quality standards are met.

We are the largest American manufacturer and the largest distributor of batteries for motorcycles, snowmobiles, scooters, all-terrain vehicles and personal watercraft. Click here to learn the features and benefits of Yuasa batteries.

The OEM Yuasa's are made in Japan.

It's not just the lead that's recycled it's the cells and everything.

 

[RossKean]

The AGM (Absorbed glass mat) battery construction consists of a plastic case which is typically smashed to get the lead out for recycling. The plastic may be recycled but is not reused as such. AGM batteries have acid-saturated glass mats which separate lead oxide positive plates from lead metal (lead-calcium) negative plates. Plastic separators between cells. The "Cells" are series of negative and positive plates sandwiched between the mats and could not be reused in any intact form. The lead is recovered and re-refined. The plastic may be recycled and combined with virgin material (polypropylene, I think) to make more battery cases and cell separators. It is quite possible that the glass mats find their way back to a lead smelter and go through the refinery process to recover lead. Not sure how the cells themselves could be recycled.

In any case, use of recycled of materials recovered from batteries is not the root cause of battery failure. Material specifications, battery design, manufacture process and quality control are the big issues for a new battery. Owner care and maintenance are huge factors - deep discharge is a killer for conventional lead-acid batteries. Not saying that batteries made in Japan are better or worse; just that the use of recycled materials is not the primary reason for failure.

 

[Fred W]

Was curious, so I did some digging into this. It appears that the OEM batteries are NOT Yuasa batteries. They are made by the Japanese company "GS Yuasa", which is a different corporation than Yuasa.

From the Yuasa History Web page:

History

In 1977, Yuasa Battery Japan formed a joint venture company with General Battery Corporation in Laureldale, PA. With the formation of Yuasa/General Battery, the new company manufactured its first battery in 1979, producing standard conventional and Yumicron 12 volt batteries.

Yuasa/General Battery engineered its first YMF14L-2 maintenance free and gas recombination battery for the powersports aftermarket in the early 1980’s. Additionally, the Company developed the first AGM, YTX14-BS specifically for ATV applications.

In 1987, Yuasa/Exide Battery Corporation evolved when General Battery sold its company to Exide Corporation. Yuasa/Exide Battery Corporation purchased Exide’s Industrial Division (Motive Power and stand by batteries) in 1991 to form Yuasa Inc.

In 2000, Yuasa Battery Inc. was established when Yuasa Inc. sold its industrial division and sealed lead acid business to Enersys.

In 2004, Yuasa Japan merged with Japan Storage Battery to form GS Yuasa Corporation.

Today, Yuasa Battery Inc. is the number one powersports battery provider, supplying more OEM's than all other competitors combined.

I doubt any difference has anything to do with recycled materials.

As for OEM vs aftermarket battery life spans, my GS Yuasa OEM battery lasted until 8/2008, just 3 1/2 years and 20k miles from new. I did not have ownership for the first year, so do not know what abuse may have occurred in that time. I replaced it with a WestCo from Bike Effects at that time, and with proper wintertime maintenance that battery is chugging along just fine 6 1/2 years and 70k miles later.

YBLMV

More digging:

GS Yuasa Model # YT14B-4

Factory Activated

12 AH

152 x 70 x 145mm

4.6 kg (10.1 lbs)

135 CCA

Yuasa USA Model # YT14B-BS

Shipped Dry

12AH

150 x 70 x 145mm

11.8 lbs

210 CCA

Bolded info indicates differences.

 

[SoCalFJR1300]

Here's my example.

I bought a replacement battery for my FJR last February.

I keep it on a Battery Tender when I'm not riding it which is usually week to week or a couple weeks between rides, but it's on the charger.

I already notice when I go to start it, it's not cranking as fast as it was when it was new......when I hook it to the tender after a ride the light isn't Green indicating a FULL charge.....it's Orange.

It takes about 5 minutes for the light to turn Green....it's already on it's way out......less than a year since new.

 

[HotRodZilla]

That means ABSOLUTELY nothing! I got 8 years out of the previous DieHard in my truck. My wife's Expo's died within 3, and I'll be very surprised if the DH currently in my truck lasts 8 years.

Sometimes we get lucky, sometimes we don't. Sometimes the battery gets a bad rap after an accidental discharge. Sometimes, they just prematurely take a dump. First time out or recycled makes absolutely no difference. It's not like a rebuilt transmission.

 

[Fred W]

Here's my example.
I bought a replacement battery for my FJR last February.

I keep it on a Battery Tender when I'm not riding it which is usually week to week or a couple weeks between rides, but it's on the charger.

I already notice when I go to start it, it's not cranking as fast as it was when it was new......when I hook it to the tender after a ride the light isn't Green indicating a FULL charge.....it's Orange.

It takes about 5 minutes for the light to turn Green....it's already on it's way out......less than a year since new.

That sounds more like your bike is not recharging the battery correctly for some reason, not that the battery is bad. What is your charging voltage at idle? Do you run with a butt load of accessory load on the alternator?

And what brand of charger are you constantly keeping on the battery? Some maintenance chargers can actually shorten the life of a battery by constant overcharging. A good maintenance charger will stop charging and go into "monitor" mode when it senses the battery is fully charged. You can tell by monitoring the voltage on the battery as it charges and what it does when the light goes green.

Oh, and you might as well tell us what brand of replacement battery you got and in what country it was made, since that is what we were discussing.

 

[RossKean]

Just a comment on battery tenders...
It is true that lead-acid batteries "like" to be kept fully charged. Deep discharge kills them; typically after a few cycles. Overcharge is at least as bad; especially for a sealed battery. A single significant overcharge "event" could kill it. A properly designed (and properly functioning) battery tender should trickle charge the battery up to the "float" (13.6 V, I think) voltage and should maintain that voltage within narrow limits. I have seen tenders that put out too much voltage at float that resulted in a cooked battery. It is very much worthwhile to check the accuracy of your tender's float level while maintaining your battery - testing after it hits the float point; not during the trickle charge phase.

Personally, I don't use a battery tender. Self-discharge rates on a modern AGM battery are not particularly high and it should be OK on the bike for several weeks as long as you don't have any parasitic draws beyond the computer and clock. I'll throw the battery on a "smart" slow charger every 4-5 weeks while the bike is in off-season storage mode. I used to disconnect the battery but haven't bothered the last couple of years. If you are not in a position to "top-off" the battery from time-to-time, it should be disconnected for extended storage. Physically remove the battery if there is any possibility of it freezing. The bike is an '07 with 105,000 miles and the OEM battery.

Regarding charging - a slow charge is preferable to a fast charge. If your battery is down, it is better to put it on a charger at 2 amps or so rather than jumping the battery to start the bike and going for a ride to charge the battery. Charge rate on the bike is higher than ideal. Don't use an old-style charger designed for car batteries. Charge rate is too high unless it can be set for slower charge. Ideal charge rate is C/10 for lead batteries i.e. one tenth of the battery capacity (measured in ampere-hours). For a 17 ampere-hour battery, it should take 10 hours to attain a full charge at 1.7 amp charge rate under ideal conditions using a constant-current charger.

 

[mcatrophy]

... For a 17 ampere-hour battery, it should take 10 hours to attain a full charge at 1.7 amp charge rate under ideal conditions using a constant-current charger.

Everything yoy said is good, except it takes more than the nominal ampere-hours to fully charge a discharged battery, possibly an extra 10 to 20%.
In practice it makes little difference, since you stick it on the tender and leave it to sort the details .