There are times when "you get what you pay for" is really appropos; this is one of them. Without having read your post I said the same thing about Jean-Pierre's constant laments relating to the "shortcomings" of the Honda motorcycle charging system. Actually $50.00 is not a bad price for a Yuasa - Honda battery. My former girlfriend paid $89 for a battery for her Honda Elite, the original having lasted over 5 years. I installed it for her and followed the procedure preparing it for installation. Theoriginal for my 250 NH lasted over 12 years. I used an Interstate to replace it, which is now 4 years old and has sat for the last two, but has been recharged a few times to keep it up. Once again, it has some preparation instructionswhich assure longer life if one follows them; further, it must meet the Honda requirements, because it has never left me stranded, but it was discharged once (someoneleft the key on), and needed to be fully charged before using the bike again. A quick charge for a few minutes didn't work. Not enough voltage from the battery. Yes, the charging system is a bit testy, but works, due to the quality put into the manufacture of the bikes where it counts. Stanley
________________________________ From: Gene Henry <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 2009 12:21:17 PM Subject: [Nighthawk Lovers] Re: Battery Without Dennis' permission, I am reposting his reply to a similar question back in October. I need to get a new battery, and the local dealership agrees with Dennis' comments. I will be replacing an under 1 year battery from Walmart, that has stranded me several times. (Anyone else carry a home-made motorcycle weight jumper cable?) I was quoted a price of $50 for the Yuasa as opposed to the $35 from Walmart. A single "no start" is worth the $15! I believe my starting problems are due to my '84 CB650SC needing full voltage to spark/fire, even though it will crank good on less. Gene ----- Original Message ----- From: Dennis Hammerl To: [email protected] Sent: Saturday, October 11, 2008 12:49 PM Subject: [Nighthawk Lovers] Re: Charging issue? OK, here goes. One time only for all to see what Honda has to say about all of this. (remember I'm one of those evil stealership people you all love to hate) The charging system is engineered around a certain set of parameters. The regulator/rectifier is set to decrease output when a predetermined battery voltage is reached. In the case of brand X batterys, this may never happen so the charging system will continue to run at high output. Over a long ride it WILL boil out the electrolete. Taken over a long time the whole system may fail due to running at such a high level. The OEM battery is a Japanese made Yuasa with a wing logo on it. This signifies the battery excedes the criteria agreed upon by Honda. A battery without the logo is good but not as. The standard is VERY high for those. The Yuasa batteries made here in the USA by Deca are not as good as the Japanese editions. Still better than any other. Now how this applies to anybody is seen in cases such as yours. The aftermarket battery may never achieve the the voltage level needed. Please do not plague me with the argument that all batteries are alike...BS. The preperation of a battery is crucial to this whole system. A battery must be filled and left to sit for at least a half hour and then charged for 45 minutes at 1/10 it's rated capacity before being put into service. Failure to do this results in a battery with only 80% of it's rated capacity and the inabilty to make the charging system perform at optimum. The battery is an essential component of the charging system and serves to complement the regulator. In short, yours does not. You cannot ever improve upon a battery that has been improperly prepared and put into service. Once the damage is done, it's done. Our facility does not sell any other brands of batteries. Just ain't fair, is it ? You have the responsibilty of your own bike, I have (effectively) the responsibilty of the several thousand that pass through our shop each year. Our reputation for customer satisfaction dictates that we use only the highest quality replacement parts...this ----- Original Message ----- From: Creative Residential Designs To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 2009 12:02 PM Subject: [Nighthawk Lovers] Re: Battery Just get a new battery. It's not worth being on the side of the road just to 'experiment" with your old one. Be sure to buy the right battery too...these 'hawks are particular and it's important with the weak charging system that they have to have the proper voltage battery. ----- Original Message ----- From: Mike Prince To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 2009 8:09 AM Subject: [Nighthawk Lovers] Battery Its seems that the battery on my 84 700S is getting tired. I have a battery tender on it for the winter but the old battery seems to be through. I have read about people recharging their old battery with some success but I know nothing about it. There is some guy on ebay selling information about how to do this. Do any of you have successful experience in doing this? What do you think - should I just go buy a new battery? If so, is there a better brand to search for? Thanks for your help! In the time I have owned my bike, you folks have helped me a lot! Mike --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nighthawk_lovers?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
