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AGM Batteries

mvalenti

mvalenti

Forum Mentor
Anyone here running them? what is your experience with their life? I got 3 yrs out of mine, last season, I didnt run the bike much and didnt put it on any maintainer... This year its having a hard time cranking over..
 
mvalenti said:
.................. ............... I didnt run the bike much and didnt put it on any maintainer... ... ... ..
Click to expand...

Regular lead-acid flooded battery might last 2 seasons under those conditions, but you got 3 out of the AGM.
One of the worse things to do to a battery is to let it sit uncharged for long time (months).
I have expereinced 5 years out of AGMs (on maintiainer over the winter).

One thing you didnt say is how well your charging system is working.
 
even I like the one I have, though the wet batteries I have are all hangin' in there too, I'll probably replace them as they fail with AGMs
 
Yep, usually 5-6 years if used regularly (assuming healthy stator & R/R) and placed on a maintainer when inactive for more than a month or so.

Notice I said "maintainer", not "trickle charger". They are different, and quite often you have to read the package or ad closely to make sure you're getting a maintainer.

An automatic battery maintainer has a little control chip that only feeds electrons into the battery when the battery is hungry. "Battery Tender" is the most well-known brand, but there are many others.

A "trickle" or "float" charger drools a constant small amount of current. I'm skipping over some subtleties here, but an uncontrolled trickle charger can easily destroy a motorcycle battery in a month or so.
 
bwringer said:
A "trickle" or "float" charger drools a constant small amount of current. I'm skipping over some subtleties here, but an uncontrolled trickle charger can easily destroy a motorcycle battery in a month or so.
Click to expand...

Yep. When forcing charge into a full battery the extra power has to go somewhere, so it heats up the battery and causes the electrolyte to evaporate. Less electrolyte, less capacity.

The "memory effect" many people experienced with Nicad batteries years ago was often electrolyte loss. Most rechargeable devices came with a 16 hour charger, which wasn't meant to be connected all the time. But people left them hooked up whenever the device wasn't being used, and it cooked away the electrolyte.
 
Bought the cheapest one I could find. Don't remember but I think I only paid $40 or so. Third season no probs. Occasionally hook to maintainer in winter but charges up quickly.
 
The cheaper AGM's like Scorpion et al usually go for about 3 years. The better ones like MotoBatt or Deka usually go for 5 in my experience. :)
 
I'm on year #7 with mine.... no issues. I charge it up every other month over its winter hiatus
 
You can look em up but I think AGMs are voltage-sensitive...(and thereby current-sensitive), so a failed or "insensitive"? voltage regulator ("R/R") will ruin them quickly. Likewise a primitive charger can do them in as mentioned above .

On the other hand, a wet-cell will boil off the water and if you notice the water loss in time, you can struggle alongby adding water until you fix the regulation.
 
Thank you all for the responses. I have upgraded all of my electrics/ charging and ignition system ssh reg/rec, stator, dyna ignition, etc.. sounds like i left it too long and the angry pixies escaped...
 
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