Whats best battery for A4 04 st1300?

[970mike]

The bike came with an AGM and I've had no reason to consider another formulation. BUT– I am curious about the AntiGravity battery Mike has. Cold weather is more of a concern for me than the battery so Li doesn't give me any pause. That it can be shoehorned into the bike without much modification (as with the Huntington Beach Honda mod for bigger AGMs in the STP bikes) and give the 1300 comparable starting grunt to the 1100 strikes me as a plus.

A question @970mike – how long would your battery last with IGN On and engine Off - ballpark? I ask because the 1300 in that scenario is noted for draining a battery in ~10min depending on who you talk to. That's been my experience as well. Not that I make it a practice of doing so but I'm curious as to whether you notice a longer "idle" time. That being the time between IGN On and engine On. Again not that it is or would be a practice.

But were I stuck somewhere at night and felt the need to leave a light on till Tom Bodett showed up or a St. Bernard showed up I'd figure 10min max and count myself lucky for anything beyond that. I do have an LED bicycle safety light just for such a purpose so I know there are alternatives. Just wondering.

I have never tried to leave the ignition on without the bike running for anything over two minutes. Cold weather has never been a problem for me and I camp at some high elevations where the temps drop down fast at night. I am most impressed with the longevity of this battery as it has been installed now for almost 10 years now.

 

[Sadlsor]

I was reading this thread earlier this morning - after coffee - and was feeling glad I've not had a battery problem with my ST...
Rode 100 miles north today to fix an offline register, and I'll be damned if I didn't run my battery down in their stinking parking lot!!!
I arrive onsite, and my routine is to turn off the bike with the engine cutoff switch, key on. That's so I can take off my helmet, unzip my jacket, remove my gloves, unlock the Givi trunk, and record my time and mileage in my planner.
I ride plenty of interstate miles, so I don't worry over a couple minutes when I stop.
Today, though, it was almost lunch and that's a BAD time to work on restaurant gear, so I didn't do the mileage routine until I was ready to leave. Only I was finishing a root beer float as well, so I overdid it maybe, with leaving the key on. .
Right I could roll- start it down a slight incline but it was slighter than I thought. The second car I asked leaving the parking lot had jumper cables, and he wouldn't even let me pay for his chicken sandwich.
No further problems today.

 

[970mike]

I was reading this thread earlier this morning - after coffee - and was feeling glad I've not had a battery problem with my ST...
Rode 100 miles north today to fix an offline register, and I'll be damned if I didn't run my battery down in their stinking parking lot!!!
I arrive onsite, and my routine is to turn off the bike with the engine cutoff switch, key on. That's so I can take off my helmet, unzip my jacket, remove my gloves, unlock the Givi trunk, and record my time and mileage in my planner.
I ride plenty of interstate miles, so I don't worry over a couple minutes when I stop.
Today, though, it was almost lunch and that's a BAD time to work on restaurant gear, so I didn't do the mileage routine until I was ready to leave. Only I was finishing a root beer float as well, so I overdid it maybe, with leaving the key on. .
Right I could roll- start it down a slight incline but it was slighter than I thought. The second car I asked leaving the parking lot had bumper cables, and he wouldn't even let me pay for his chicken sandwich.
No further problems today.

That rear tire is causing all the problems!!!

 

[ST Gui]

That rear tire is causing all the problems!!!

I'd blame the root beer float yet fully understand its siren's call.

 

[Sadlsor]

That rear tire is causing all the problems!!!

I bet you're right.
I mean, in my four years of ownership, I never had a battery problem, ever, until I went Darkside. And I'll beat @Obo to the punchline here: of course Dark means no light, eh? No surprise there.
And we all know a new battery always lasts at least 12 years, right? (Laughing emoticon goes here.)

 

[MaxPete]

I wonder if the folks in the hotter climates would comment on battery life..

One of my XS650 buddies lives in Phoenix and he says that 1-2 years is all he can get out of a battery due to the ambient temperatures in which he lives. Colder climates are also harder on batteries (the Canadian govt has measured EV range in winter up here and it can be as much as 40% less than in summer depending on whether you need to run the defroster etc.).

I would guess that a temperate place like the Carolinas would be about ideal for battery longevity - but ti would be interesting to know.

 

[jfheath]

I find that a fully charged battery always works best. I've tried all sorts, but came to that conclusion after a number of trials and failures.

Actually, I'm not being as flippant as I intended that to sound. After 5-6 years, with bikes in the garage over winter each year, I've had a number that have suddenly (ie it took 5-6 years to suddenly develop a fault) the starter would sound a bit sluggish. After that, it would get harder and harder to start each morning. Just enough time to locate and order a brand new one.

In recent years I have been using an intelligent battery tender. 'Intelligent' because it flashes red green and yellow lights in order to communicate what it is doing, and I haven't bothered to remember what the codes are. So it knows what it is doing, and I don't. I just know that if two lights are on green or one is on green and the other is flashing green then it is in tip top condition - it has a good charge and it is holding it. (I have the instruction at hand to decipher it if there is a problem).

I was recently left 'stranded' on holiday with a flat battery. Zero sign of a problem beforehand, but the following morning the battery was dead. Dodo.

Fortunately, we were staying in one place for the week and touring out when the weather and the mood permitted. So 'stranded' meant that we had to spend about 4 hours in our apartment room or the cafe looking out onto the N Wales coast, or north to the Snowden mountain range, waiting for someone in an RAC van to help sort us out. Anyone with jump leads could have helped us, but why inflict our problem onto someone else who was on holiday ? This was a 5 star 'strand'. We had intended to put our feet up on one or two days. This turned out to be one of them.

RAC came out and got me going again with jump leads. They monitored the charge going into the battery by some clever gizmo clamped to the insulation of the positive cable, and kept it charging for about half an hour- to ensure that it wasn't going to die again. And also waited another half hour after turning the engine off, packing stuff away and letting the engine cool off a bit to ensure that it would start by itself.

I had recently fitted an Innovv K3 camera. It has a recorder under the seat that is permanently attached to the battery - except I permanently attached it with a 2 pole connector - the one that I use to attach the tyre inflater. The drain on the battery is negligable - something I tested over an increasing number of nights while the bike was in the garage.
After the battery failure I replaced it with brand new, but the old one is still there on the bench, being charged and monitored every couple of months and it is charging and holidng its charge just fine.

So what caused the sudden battery failure ? I 'knew' that it wasn't the camera. But I could find nothing else.

A few months later, I spotted something. The camera unit is supposed to cut the main power feed to itself when the ignition is turned off. And it takes maybe 30 seconds to power itself up - when the ignition is turned on, and maybe a minute to shut itself down when the ignition is turned off. It has one earth and two power leads. One lead is the main power feed that is connected direct to the battery (fused). One is a trigger feed which come on with accessories - and this wakes the unit up when positive, and triggers it to shut down when it drops to zero.

Except it turns out that if you turn the ignition on, and then turn it off again before the camera unit has fully woken up, it does not then recognise that the voltage has been removed from the trigger, and it does not shut down. Neither does it record anything - but it is alive and it is draining the battery. Very slowly. But even half an amp over 24 hours is 12 AH = flat battery.

And that is what I think must have happened. I was parked facing uphill on a slope. Once we had got unpacked and unloaded, I realised that I need to be a bit further up the slope for the security chain to reach the post. Fired up the engine, moved it about 2 yards. About 10 seconds. Turned off, and left it.

Flat battery the following morning.

 

[RobbieAG]

I would guess that a temperate place like the Carolinas would be about ideal for battery longevity - but ti would be interesting to know.

I'm in the Carolinas and my ST's battery (in the bike when I bought it) is still good after 8 years. On the other hand, the original battery in my 2012 Toyota Rav4 (garaged) went after 3 years. Conflicting anecdotal data to be sure.

 

[Larry Fine]

Anyone with jump leads could have helped us, but why inflict our problem onto someone else who was on holiday ?

That's why I carry one of these:

 

[ASPC]

What I like about this battery is the BMS, it can detect a voltage problem and turn off the supply to save enough power to start the bike. A camera or other accessory would be prevented from killing the battery. There are other lithium batteries with this restart function. Which is basically a built in jump start activated by a button on the battery.

ATZ10-RS Lithium Motorsports Battery

Hi-Power lightweight ATZ10 lithium motorcycle/powersports battery with RE-START Technology (built-in jump-starting). Replace YTZ10S, YTX9, more. 360 CA

antigravitybatteries.com

 

[Stevea4117]

Any pictures? I run an Antigravity in my ST, a Lead in my GS and Rebel, just picked up an AGM for the Vespa. They all seem to work well (AGM TBD).

 

[Stevea4117]

Done all the passes in Switzerland