General topics » Dodgy old battery.

Hi all , hope you are all keeping safe. My bike is a March 2018 model , a demonstrator that I bought in July 2019 with 2600 miles on the clock . In August this year the low voltage warning light came on occasionally , indicating the voltage had dropped to 12 volts . To be honest ,if the warning hadn't lit up I would never have known , the bike started first time , every time , and the battery was under two and a half years old . Better safe than sorry though so a new one fitted.
Now, here's the thing . The old battery is clearly marked BMW and is the correct battery , but it is marked as made in Brazil for the East Penn Manufacturing Co .PA . USA . It's also dated 2015 which puts it 3 years older than the bike.
Just out of interest has anyone else come across this type of thing?
My thoughts are that someone at the dealership swapped the battery as they needed a nice new one . I was 45 years in the motor trade , nothing would surprise me.

I just changed my original battery (March 2016 registered) battery yesterday, it was a BMW branded Yuasa battery, made in Japan.
I will take a look later for the year of manufacture, I think it was 2015 but that would not be surprising as I guess my bike would be a late 2015 build.

I took out the polystyrene base (filler) and fitted a larger battery, but I’m not unhappy with 41/2 years service life given that I only ride approx 3,000miles / year.

I am just considering fitting a lithium battery to my brand new bike. Lithium tends to last about 3 times as long as standard batteries as well as being a fifth of the weight and having more cranking amps. The other plus is that, as long as your bike has no parasitic drain, no top up charger is needed.
Okay they do cost a bit more, but if I had wanted cheap then I would have bought a Yamaha in the first place.

Just installed this Yuasa. Very happy with it. https://www.yuasabatteries.com/battery/g...ehicle_id=31015
The Shoria lithium battery I installed 2 months ago gave issues right from the start: very weak, unsuccessful "first" starts, even in moderate temps. After 6 of these episodes within the first 3 weeks of ownership I had lost confidence in the battery and returned it, to purchase the AGM type battery in the link. Could have been a fluke, since I've experienced great performance and longevity from the Shoria in my Ducati. Your experience may differ.

Zitat von duccrazydave im Beitrag #4

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Just installed this Yuasa. Very happy with it.
The Shoria lithium battery I installed 2 months ago gave issues right from the start: very weak, unsuccessful "first" starts, even in moderate temps. After 6 of these episodes within the first 3 weeks of ownership I had lost confidence in the battery and returned it, to purchase the AGM type battery in the link. Could have been a fluke, since I've experienced great performance and longevity from the Shoria in my Ducati. Your experience may differ.

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Get a new battery

FWIW I just replaced my original battery (bike on the road may 2015) while is still worked fine as a prudent precaution. Also the dealer gave me a choice of BMW or Yuasaa. Went with the Yuasa with his blessing.
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A caution to those thinking about Li batteries. Yep, light, lots of power etc but they have different charge specs than lead acid...not sure our old 2015 design is optimum! Second they do not conduct well when cold, need to get some current flowing before big current draw is possible. For those in cold climate turn on the head light for a while before you push the starter button.

Zitat von Vtbob im Beitrag #7

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A caution to those thinking about Li batteries. Yep, light, lots of power etc but they have different charge specs than lead acid...not sure our old 2015 design is optimum! Second they do not conduct well when cold, need to get some current flowing before big current draw is possible. For those in cold climate turn on the head light for a while before you push the starter button.

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Zitat von crossthread im Beitrag #1

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Hi all , hope you are all keeping safe. My bike is a March 2018 model , a demonstrator that I bought in July 2019 with 2600 miles on the clock . In August this year the low voltage warning light came on occasionally , indicating the voltage had dropped to 12 volts . To be honest ,if the warning hadn't lit up I would never have known , the bike started first time , every time , and the battery was under two and a half years old . Better safe than sorry though so a new one fitted.
Now, here's the thing . The old battery is clearly marked BMW and is the correct battery , but it is marked as made in Brazil for the East Penn Manufacturing Co .PA . USA . It's also dated 2015 which puts it 3 years older than the bike.
Just out of interest has anyone else come across this type of thing?
My thoughts are that someone at the dealership swapped the battery as they needed a nice new one . I was 45 years in the motor trade , nothing would surprise me.

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I replaced my RS's original BMW-brand battery and a gel battery that I was using in my F650GS with lithium batteries about a year ago and both are working very well. They really spin the starters over fast under all conditions and both bike's charging systems keep them fully charged during a ride. I even have a lithium battery in my Royal Enfield Bullet and it works well too, although its charging system isn't quite up to the task of fully charging the battery and it needs about 30 minutes on a small Battery Tender lithium battery charger to top off the battery after a ride. That little battery has been in the bike for the past 8 years. Definitely no parasitic load on that lump, of course.

Zitat von Boxerboy im Beitrag #2

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I just changed my original battery (March 2016 registered) battery yesterday, it was a BMW branded Yuasa battery, made in Japan.
I will take a look later for the year of manufacture, I think it was 2015 but that would not be surprising as I guess my bike would be a late 2015 build.

I took out the polystyrene base (filler) and fitted a larger battery, but I’m not unhappy with 41/2 years service life given that I only ride approx 3,000miles / year.

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Yes let’s see - it’s my assumption that Enduroline is a Tanya own brand.

You are correct the bike does not know what type of battery is fitted, that is why it is up to the owner to make the call.

A few underly details for my previous caution. LI batteries can be explosive, their electrolytic is extremely flammable. Unlike lead acid. They are sensitive to charging parameters and discharge parameters so circuits designed to charge them are unique from lead acid and have a couple od safeguards to prevent catastrophic failure. Yes some LI batteries have safeguard built in, some do not. Yes many people are sucessfully using LI. So just my caution so all are better informed.

FWIW I would be surprise if BMW would warrantee any failure related LI battery usage. Does BMS install LI as OEM equipment?

LI is great technology, just a bit different than our bikes know.

Ducati fit lithium and the charging systems are identical to the bikes that have conventional batteries fitted.
Don't worry about a lithium battery being explosive, it is very rare as in your phone, toothbrush, laptop and many other things have lithium and that have not yet exploded, besides you have up to 18 litres of petrol between your legs and that really is explosive.