Hey guys, reckon its time for a new battery, and wanna get it installed before we try our first Saddle Sore 1000 in December. Is there one 'holy grail' of Tiger batteries or should I just go to the dealer and get OEM?
While I'm at it, what is the electrical output on an 02? I have heard 35W and 40w... 5W is kind of a big deal. I wanna power heated liner and gloves, and aux lights if I can. Maybe GPS if I have extra power.
Cheers
Funny you should ask. Normally, I wouldn't have had an opinoin, having had good and bad batteries from pretty much all the manufacturers over the years. Yuasa is generally a good bet, but I'm on my 3rd battery in my dirtbike in the last year; the first 2 batteries were Yuasas.
Back before the engine blew up on my old 885cc Tiger, I thought I had a battery issue (turned out to be the weak charging system we all know and love, but I was unfamiliar with it at the time), so I replaced the battery. I had bought the bike used, so had no idea how old the battery was. Anyway, I set the relaced battery aside in the garage, where it generally got kicked around, used as a door stop, and last summer (2007), I used it to run my lawnmower for a while after that battery died. Since then, it's just been kicking around the garage, gathering dust and cobwebs, hanging out with a few other "dead" batteries that I haven't disposed of. In other words, the battery really hasn't been used at all (other than a month or two that one summer in my riding lawnmower) since, oh, sometime in late 2004, early 2005.
Recently, the battery on my ZZR1200 gave up the ghost. It's a Champion battery, just 2 years old. Like all my bikes, it sat on a tender anytime it wasn't being ridden. Seven bikes in the garage and six tenders -- I'm pretty religious about keeping everything except what I'm riding hooked up. Anyway, I needed to jump start the ZZR, so I just grabbed what was handy -- that old Tiger battery. Hooked it up with jumper cables and the ZZR fired right up. I rode the bike for 20 or 30 miles, hoping that would solve the ZZR's battery woes. No luck. Time for a new battery.
Just so happens, the ZZR and the Tiger use the same size battery. So I figured, what the hell, before spending the money for a new battery, I'd drop the old Tiger battery into the ZZR and see how it did. I really wasn't expecting much, figuring the bike had only jump started because I'd had two batteries in parallel -- I really wasn't expecting the old Tiger battery to be up to the task after sitting around for years. However, the ZZR fired right up and has been running fine on that old battery for the last 3 weeks.
The battery is a Westco.
YMMV.
The heat in Florida usually kills a battery in less than 2 yrs. I've been using AGM batteries that are now 4 yrs old and still going.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VRLA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VRLA)
See ya in ANF
Flooded lead/acid batteries are all pretty much the same, but you can spend $100 for an Interstate and it might be a little better. For $60 the dry battery at Checkers is a "good enough" choice. It is sealed so a hot climate might not evap the water as much as in others. Take it home, pour in the acid they give you in a bottle, insert the seals, charge it up. I've had no problems now for two years, but remember to give it a complete charge occasionally during the season, and keep it warm and fully charged for the winter. Just as with tires, a battery will go flat without maintenance.
I've never used an AGM or gel MC battery, but the specs are about the same as flooded cell, cost more. Of course, they are sealed so water loss is not an issue. Depending on your battery charger and charging system, you may not be able to utilize the advantages they claim to have. I use AGM in my diesel pickup and camper with good results.