Shelf life of Yuasa YTZ14S battery

STRider

STRider

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Joined
Mar 17, 2020
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1,213
Age
65
Location
Oregon
Bike
2012 ST1300A
So... I recently ordered new batteries for both my ST1100 and 1300.

Of course this was nothing new for me with my 1100, I've replaced several and with the exception of the most recent one, all were delivered dry and I filled them with acid just before putting them in service.

The experienced 1300 owners know where I'm going with this.

That battery - a Yuasa YTZ14S - arrived "Factory Activated, Maintenance Free". I did not expect this. The 1300 doesn't need a battery yet, but just wanted one on the shelf for when that day came and I didn't need to panic order and wait for delivery.

So what kind of shelf/service life can I expect from this thing? Is there any maintenance I need to do while it sits on my shelf waiting for action?
 
There’s no telling how the battery was treated before you received it so any guess as to shelf/service life is speculative. Going forward I would fully charge it with a 3 step charger and repeat every couple of weeks until it is put in service.
 
Larry Fine said:
That seems like too much too often for an uninstalled battery.
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It will self-discharge so little in two weeks it will only use a float charge when plugged in but I think that's healthier than leaving it on a tender all the time. You could probably get by with a longer interval between charging but every two weeks is what Yuasa recommends and what I remember from selling marine batteries for 10 years.

What advice do you have?

 
STRider said:
So... I recently ordered new batteries for both my ST1100 and 1300.

Of course this was nothing new for me with my 1100, I've replaced several and with the exception of the most recent one, all were delivered dry and I filled them with acid just before putting them in service.

The experienced 1300 owners know where I'm going with this.

That battery - a Yuasa YTZ14S - arrived "Factory Activated, Maintenance Free". I did not expect this. The 1300 doesn't need a battery yet, but just wanted one on the shelf for when that day came and I didn't need to panic order and wait for delivery.

So what kind of shelf/service life can I expect from this thing? Is there any maintenance I need to do while it sits on my shelf waiting for action?
Click to expand...
Here is some info from Yuasa regarding storage of batteries:

www.yuasa.co.uk

Battery information guide, all you need to know about batteries

Information guide to automotive and motorcycle batteries by Yuasa, including storage, maintenance, charging and performance.
www.yuasa.co.uk www.yuasa.co.uk
 
I usually get 5-7 years out of cheap ( Chromebattery.com) AGM batteries. I rotate my BatteryMinder among the two bikes, on a timer, usually charging them one hour, two times a day. Once the battery is charged , the BatteryMinder goes into a "desulphation" mode, which seems to help them last longer. I cannot vouch for the unit itself, except to say that it works - I got 10 years out of my scooter battery.
I had a Battery Tender, but it went south, and the warranty process was pretty useless.
 
STRider said:
So what kind of shelf/service life can I expect from this thing? Is there any maintenance I need to do while it sits on my shelf waiting for action?
Click to expand...
I'm not by any means an expert on batteries or electrons or things like that, but I am going to hazard a guess (speculation, for sure) that a battery that has never been used - meaning, one that is new in the box - might have a different shelf life than one that has been used and thus has been subject to charge & discharge cycles.

In other words, the manufacturer (Yuasa) might know more than we do about shelf life of new batteries.

Does the battery or the box that it came in have any markings indicating a date of manufacture or a "best before" date?

Michael
 
@jrp's and @Andrew Shadow's links spell it all out. The big problem, as mentioned in the second link, with wet lead acid batteries is sulfation. This happens slowly, and while using a charger with an anti sulfation cycle can help, the depositing of sulfate crystals on the lead plates decreases the batteries capacity and therefore life.

It's been my understanding that smart chargers/maintainers like Accumate and Battery Tender will charge your battery unil it is fully charged, then lie dormant while checking the voltage. When it drops due to self discharging, the charger kicks on to top off the battery. Thus, you can leave these things connected for a long time.

Thanks to those links I learned that even a dry charge battery has a 2 year shelf life from date of manufacture. Of course, the mfr's code this info so the consumer has no way of knowing how old the battery he is buying is when cash hits the counter.
 
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