12v battery replacement...big price differences!

[Data]

Right, so there I am all geared up, helmet on, & bike on the drive ready to be started. Then I turn the key & press the button. And hey ho...a big nothing! Battery completely flat. A familiar story to many of us over the years I'm sure. The bike had been garaged for about a week but I thought I'd try a charge to see what happened. Absolutely nothing. Battery wouldn't charge. Completely sulphated. Thinking I'd phone dealer for a new battery. It's a Yuasa 12v 10.5amp. So gets on the phone to local Vespa dealer who has the battery. Conversation goes like this; "have you a replacement Yuasa battery ***** (part number) please & how much"? "Yes sir, we have that in stock & it's £95.89 plus £10 if you want it charged"! My response: "crikey, that's a lot of money for such a small battery". "Yes it is sir but it's a good battery". " So do you have anything slightly less money". "Yes sir, it'll cost you just under a £100 and is already charged"! "It's a genuine Kawasaki battery". "Right" I said, "leave it with me thanks". Thinking I'll try around a bit as I was astounded at the price. It's been a while since I last fitted a new battery to any bike, mine or a customers.

So got on the computer and surfed around, and bingo, Halfords had the exact battery on the shelf & already charged. But the price was errr.....a staggering £45. Yes that's £45 for a genuine brand new Yuasa battery with the exact part number as the original in my Vespa GTS! I shot down to the store and picked one up right away. BUT the other good news was that the guy on the till joined me to the motoring club and reduced the price by another £5 to £40!! This was all good news eh.

When I got the battery home I checked to battery voltage state. It was showing 12.6v. The label across the top of the battery said to charge it before use if the voltage was under 12.8v. So did that and the voltage went up to 13.2v & two hours after the charge had settled at 13.1v. So fitted it & off I went. Since then the battery has performed faultlessly and is always above 12.9v. So I'm a happy bunny.

The moral of the story is...don't just accept a price from a dealer, just shop around a bit first. Glad I did.

PS. You might be wondering why my battery failed in the first place. At first I thought well it's a 7 years old battery and that can happen. But I spent a short time playing with my meters on the bike etc and couldn't initially find any parasitic leak. Nothing showing whatsoever, & my meters are very sensitive! So I was thinking it's definitely just a failed battery. That was...until I switched on my heated grips. I noticed that after I turned them off that the grips were still very hot 20mins later! That shouldn't be of course. The Oxfords that I run should turn off automatically after 2mins from stopping the engine or at anytime if the bike returns to idle speed, say at traffic lights so as not to drain the battery. I also noticed that one or two of the led lights on the controller had stopped working. So this is a controller failure that caused it. At least I know and can sort it out at my leisure. The grips still work but not all the heat settings are available. I also have to be careful to switch them off manually, which I thought I had done but didn't know the led light showing the grips were still powered on wasn't working.

[MrGrumpy]

Interesting - I never associate Halfords with being cheap, let alone having scooter parts! Snag is, a battery is normally a 'distress' purchase as you are in a rush to get mobile again!
My Oxford heated grips controller seems to have failed - I get lots of random lights when I switch the grips on, but no heat - though fortunately without draining the battery.

[Data]

Yes, I think these controllers all have a limited life. After all, they handle a lot of current. The good news is, you can buy the Oxford controllers separately. I don't know the cost yet. But fitting a new one will take some time on the Vespa as the headstock has to be removed along with the legshield glovebox & floor panel. It's a morning's work. Not sure about your Tmax Grumpy. Depends how they have been fitted & wired. I'd always encourage folks to avoid wiring them directly into the bikes wiring loom. This often causes more issues when a controller goes west! But that aside I've seen many problems caused by dodgy controller wiring. Go straight to the battery is my advice, simpler & easy to disconnect should you be out when an issue arises.
PS. just found out a new controllers from Oxford will cost £34.99 plus delivery but might escape the delivery charge if I order through a dealer.

[Dave Weller]

Yuasa must give good discounts on their products to get established on the market, I brought a Yuasa car battery from Kent batteries and a Bike battery from Halfords they were very cheap and longlasting. Mottobatt from Wemotto (yellow) are good, I brought a Silverwing that had been sitting around for months with one fitted and that fired up straight away, so I also use them. Some people put USB transformer adapters in 12v perminant live sockets and leave them in circult on switch off, they will drain the battery over time.

[DTO]

No surprise with that dealer , charging twice the price is normal

Anything over 5 years for battery life is good , after that I plan ahead for replacement.

[knight2]

Last Friday I had to get some batteries for my daughters mobility scooter, again!. She soon gets through them, mind she uses it alot. Went to the place I usually get them to be told they didn't supply them any more but told me where to get them a proper battery place, they just sell batteries and battery related stuff. Asked the man at the desk if he could test them he said yes but not till next week, 4.45 friday afternoon. So I said have you got any in stock expecting him to say we'll have to order some, he said yes, 87, right I'll have two, £83 he said, not too bad for two 20amp 12 volt batteries.
I know where I'm going for my bike batteries from now on.

[Pukmeister]

Sounds like your local Vespa dealer is a greedy bugger.

I've had similar issues years ago with an Oxford heated grip controller that stayed live.

On my Tmax I have wired all my accessories to a "Fuzeblock" distribution/fuse unit I had kicking around in the garage from my old BMW GS. It is triggered by the headlight feed to switch my accesories on/off with the ignition. (The fuzeblock has the option of permanent or switched fused outputs which is handy, my heated seat, grips and Garmin GPS cradle circuits all lose power the instant my ignition is off.)

Perhaps you should wire your heated grips via a relay to stop the problem from reocuring in future ?

For batteries I always use Tayna Batteries online as their service has been excellent with next day delivery and whilst not the cheapest they are customer focussed. I almost had my fingers burnt once with a dodgy battery seller in Stockport trying to pass off VRLA batteries as AGM.

I usually buy Motobatt AGM batteries for my bikes for their price/performance.

[dogwheel]

Over the last few years I have found the Battery Shop excellent, they are in Swindon and have a really quick "mail-order" service.
01793 421509
sales@thebatteryshop.co.uk
No connection, just a happy customer.
Robin.

[Data]

Thanks dogwheel. Nice to know..

[capitano]

I usually buy Motobatt AGM batteries for my bikes for their price/performance.

Me too, and it helps having Wemoto half a mile from my house.