Batteries.. The Bain Of My Life

I've not seen anything about gel batteries giving poor cranking and don't have issues myself with mine. Maybe they put a cheaper, low cca battery on the bike, I go for the highest cca I can find, 200 cca (amps) or more and a high amp/hour rating, 12 ah or so. If you look at prices you can buy a new battery from as low as £30 or so, these obviously are not as powerful or reliable as a premium one.

 

Personally, I'd always go with an AGM battery in preference to a GEL in a vehicle as they are more robust/resistant to vibration, can provide consistent performance over a wider temperature range and are better for repeated cold starts. Having said that, as sprintdave has said, a cheap version of either will probably let you down at some point.

 

What is your battery voltage immediately prior to switch on?
If you are only doing short runs then the cranking drain may be higher than the charge returned plus do you keep it on a battery maintainer (optomiser etc)?

My 765, which normally sits on a Optimate, was parked awkward in the workshop due to other bikes for around a month. I was shocked to find the dash didn't even light up when switched on and tthe headlights flashed in some crazy fashion yet this was from a previously good battery. The voltage measured was 5.8 volts but fortunately the Optimate recovered it and fingers crossed I appear to have got away with it.

 

13.5 v sounds a little high, presumably that's with the engine running so isn't the true battery voltage. If it was immediately after running with the engine off, then this would also be a false reading as it won't have normalised.
A 12 v battery is nominally 2.2 v per cell x 6 cells so has a theoretical maximum of 13.2 v.

Somewhere around 12.8 v would be a good number.

 

You can stil get over 12.5v across the terminals from a "fully charged" knackered battery.
To test the condition of the battery you need to drop test it or check the voltage drop under load. The voltage at the battery should not drop much below 10v when cranking the engine, 9.5v absolute minimum.

 

You will be hard pushed to better an Odyssey AGM battery for performance and longevity, but not cheap.

 

are you sure it isnt a relay or earthing/wiring fault first?
I always replace my bateries with Lithium not hada problem on any bike so far and my Bonnie one has been in for 3yrs with intermittent use. I just boost it every 3 months they dont like being trickle charged.

 

Are you charging your battery.....if so what sort of charger.....with a bike its most important to use a low amp charger designed for a bike.

Not much more than 1 amp 12v is all that's req.

if by any change your using a normal car charger it will kill your battery.

 

Are you charging your battery.....if so what sort of charger.....with a bike its most important to use a low amp charger designed for a bike.

Not much more than 1 amp 12v is all that's req.

if by any change your using a normal car charger it will kill your battery.

 

Ok great....

Ok Great.....so is that hooked up 24/7.

If yes.....sound like you may have another prob.

Check all confections are good and clean on the starter sys....inc the earth/ground.

If all good....its possible your starter motor is getting lazy....worth considering.

Never had a prob with gel batts myself.

 

Well I guess they are the experts on that score but it is a little low. I'm sure if you look online you could find a battery that will fit with a higher cca.

 

I've had no problems with Varta batteries over the years.. I have 2 x 830cca/95Ah on the SUV and also replaced the batteries on the ZZR and Berg with them. Not sure what Triumph fit as OEM but if/when the SS needs one it'll be getting a Varta.

 

Triumph use Yuasa as original equipment. Very happy with the 12Ah battery on my current 2019 Speed Triple 1050RS and my last 2011 1050 Speed Triple. Last one was still serviceable when I sold the bike at 8 years old and this one is still going strong after 5 years. However the 10 Ah batteries fitted as original equipment on my previously owned older Speed Triples were inadequate and the bike struggled to start if stood for more than 2 weeks without being charged. My current bike never fails to start on the button even if stood for a month.