Battery selection for 2009 ST1300 PA?

[electrostatic]

My '09 ST1300 PA needs a new battery and I'm trying to decide what to get. Please see the attached pics. I am surprised to find that the existing AGM is mounted on its side.
Anyone using a Lithium battery instead of the conventional sealed AGM? What are the pros and cons of lithium other than the weight savings?
Also what size is best? From what I've found, a YTZ14 or 14 is the size .
Cheers.

 

[forgitaboutut]

had this in for over 3 years! don't ride much and jumped it alot after siting for months at a time. If it only last 1 year,it's still cheaper than anything else out there! https://www.batterysharks.com/SearchResults.asp?Search=honda+ST1300&Submit=

 

[Gertjan]

Battery should not be mounted on its side. Cons for Lithium: too expensive. Is weight an issue on such a heavy bike?

 

[leonides]

My '09 ST1300 PA needs a new battery and I'm trying to decide what to get. Please see the attached pics. I am surprised to find that the existing AGM is mounted on its side.
Anyone using a Lithium battery instead of the conventional sealed AGM? What are the pros and cons of lithium other than the weight savings?
Also what size is best? From what I've found, a YTZ14 or 14 is the size .
Cheers.

In the 3rd pic I notice that the cap of the brake fluid is not properly set.

 

[SMSW]

Battery should not be mounted on its side. Cons for Lithium: too expensive. Is weight an issue on such a heavy bike?

That's what I thought too, but evidently, the P bikes do that and orientation is not an issue for AGM batteries. This came up in another thread. Better check w/ your battery's mfr regarding installing it on its side - something that is not possible when buying it on ebay or Amazon. Personally, I shy away from off brands. Depending how the battery fails, jumping might not be possible (say an internal short).

W/ regard to Lithium batts, the advantages are obviously lighter weight, supposedly longer life. Corollaries to that are the bike will be lighter to pick up when you drop it, and it will accelerate faster . Disadvantages are you might want/need a special charger for your battery that is comparatively expensive (and might be dedicated to that brand of battery), long term storage requires that you discharge the battery to about 60% charge (done by the special charger), cold weather starting might need you to turn the lights on for 30 sec to warm up the battery before it will turn the bike over. Better check w/ the mfr to verify that orientation is not an issue. I got a Shorai for my regular ole ST (along w/ their charger) and am happy with it. I have not had it for 5 years yet.

Check out batteryuniversity.com. This should make you a go to person on this website. Quiz tomorrow at 3 PM.

 

[electrostatic]

In the 3rd pic I notice that the cap of the brake fluid is not properly set.

Thanks for being thorough! Actually, I unscrewed it as I am doing the rear brakes.

 

[electrostatic]

That's what I thought too, but evidently, the P bikes do that and orientation is not an issue for AGM batteries. This came up in another thread. Better check w/ your battery's mfr regarding installing it on its side - something that is not possible when buying it on ebay or Amazon. Personally, I shy away from off brands. Depending how the battery fails, jumping might not be possible (say an internal short).

W/ regard to Lithium batts, the advantages are obviously lighter weight, supposedly longer life. Corollaries to that are the bike will be lighter to pick up when you drop it, and it will accelerate faster . Disadvantages are you might want/need a special charger for your battery that is comparatively expensive (and might be dedicated to that brand of battery), long term storage requires that you discharge the battery to about 60% charge (done by the special charger), cold weather starting might need you to turn the lights on for 30 sec to warm up the battery before it will turn the bike over. Better check w/ the mfr to verify that orientation is not an issue. I got a Shorai for my regular ole ST (along w/ their charger) and am happy with it. I have not had it for 5 years yet.

Check out batteryuniversity.com. This should make you a go to person on this website. Quiz tomorrow at 3 PM.

Thanks, I am leaning towards lithium. Trying to shave off any unnecessary weight including the crash bars, unused police bits, etc -reducing weight is in my "track blood". Lithiums have a higher CCA, too.

 

[ST Gui]

Battery should not be mounted on its side.

Why.

If the battery is mounted on its side it's probably a mod by a SoCal dealer (Huntington Beach Honda?) that sets up police bikes. Their mod along with a special battery tray allows for a larger battery than the weak sauce Honda provides. I believe the 1300's battery is smaller than the 1100's. Not enough of a reason to goto an 1100 but there it is.

The factory AGM can probably be mounted in other than the traditional position. I don't recall if the HH mod for PDs uses AGM or Li but it's probably subject to the PD's spec.

 

[Igofar]

In the 3rd pic I notice that the cap of the brake fluid is not properly set.

In all 3 pictures the cap on the rear master cylinder is not on correctly

 

[electrostatic]

Why.

If the battery is mounted on its side it's probably a mod by a SoCal dealer (Huntington Beach Honda?) that sets up police bikes. Their mod along with a special battery tray allows for a larger battery than the weak sauce Honda provides. I believe the 1300's battery is smaller than the 1100's. Not enough of a reason to goto an 1100 but there it is.

The factory AGM can probably be mounted in other than the traditional position. I don't recall if the HH mod for PDs uses AGM or Li but it's probably subject to the PD's spec.

This ST was serviced by HBH. That explains the narrow battery tray.

 

[Ken Valkyrie]

Hopefully my input won't be too late to help with info about lithium batteries.

My Shorai lithium battery is 7 years old, I installed it in my 2010 ST1300 December 9, 2012.
Currently my bike has 69,300 miles on it. I took it for a short ride the other day, it was 40 degrees here in MA, but I even saw another crazy guy riding his bike. It still starts great. I never expected it to last 7 years.
FYI: I have the Shorai LFX18A1-BS12, I paid $169.95 from Amazon (12/2012)

 

[AV8R]

I have a Huntington Beach PD bike that was refitted and serviced by HBH and still is to this day.

Heres the original battery HBH used that eventually lost power capacity



then I replaced it with this Scorpion LiFe



good so far, one year later.

SSTZ14S-FP Scorpion Stinger 12v 387 CCA LiFePo4 Extreme High Output Battery

Lithium Batteries are discharged to 30% of capacity for shipping requirements. When you receive the battery it will need to be charged prior to use. This is the battery charger we recommend for this battery: OptiMATE Lithium TM-471.

www.batterystuff.com

PS, @electrostatic
looks like your rear brake fluid reservoir is getting low