Battery Quality

[jerry]

I have a Yuasa in my M750 it is now 6 years old and still hold FULL charge and full amps ...thats real quality remeber it sometimes sits unused for up to 5 months whent he bike is in storage and then gets heavily used when i am around average 3000miles in 4-5 months use . I get my dad to give it top up charges every month when off the bike.

My 750ss has a Varta battery only 2 years old but not in the same league it needs regular top ups of charge even after heavy use and does not hold full charge as long as the yuasa.

The gel battery on the S4 is a GS battery it seems to hold charge well and full amps it now 3 years old it also gets top ups monthly when off the bike .the Yuasa that was on it before lasted 6 years .

[Capo]

My GS is the same, 6 years old never had a problem, is on a optimate during down time.

[utopia]

I put a new Yuasa on my M750 a few weeks ago. I'd been having an overcharging problem which had been steadily worsening over 4 or 5000 miles, with a steadily increasing drip of electolyte from the battery vent. The old battery,which was an MIGM made by Huitong (???) had been fitted by a former owner 150miles (one year !!!) before I bought the bike. I had done every conceiveable test on the charging system and was still unable to pin down the fault precisely, so I replaced the reg/rec at the same time rather than risk frying my nice new battery.
Problem solved. No more acid drips. No more filler caps blowing off the battery !!!
When I saw this thread I got out my old battery to check the brand and discovered to my surprise that it had continued to bubble and overflow during the month or so that it had been sat doing nothing, fully charged, pronounced fit by my maximiser and connected to nothing at all.
I can't be certain that the battery WAS the cause of the original problem, but the bike had only done a couple of thousand miles from new when I bought it, so the reg/rec unit hadn't exactly had a long and hard life.
I reckon that cheapsh.t battery actually cost me about £250 by the time I'd paid out for the new one, the reg/rec, and a blast and relaquer job on the alternator case where dripping acid (vent pipe missing when I got the bike) had dissolved the original finish.
I never buy cheap batteries. I reckon its more than worth the extra £20 if only for the piece of mind, particularly on an electric start only bike.