Birthday battery woes

[racurley]

I ordered a Odyssey PC680 to replace my Westco that's been acting up. Used the adapter kit. At first, I put the adapter brackets to each side but, when I went to put the tank on, I noticed it was rubbing the battery terminals. So, I repositioned the brackets to face toward the rear of the bike and connected it up. The PO had put a spacer in the battery box to raise the battery a little. The Odyssey is the same size as the Westco that I removed so I used the same spacer. I used a piece of cardboard to wedge against the front of the battery to fit it snugly. Tank went on fine this time. I got everything put back on correctly (more hassle than it should be) again. Of course, I noticed that the strap to hold the battery in was laying on the floor.

Put battery in Friday afternoon. Yesterday, I rode for a couple of hours in the 74 degree weather. No problems.

Went back out this afternoon, on my birthday, for a short run. Started fine. Stopped close to home to fill up. Started up fine. Drove about 200 yards and it died. Everything out on the dash. Pulled over. Lights came back on a couple of times and it even started then died again. No power. Pushed it into a parking lot. Removed the seat and looked at the battery. The negative lead felt pretty hot. Also, there was a slight wisp of smoke. I tried turning the key on a couple of more times. Heard a crackling sound and another wisp of smoke. It seemed like the battery terminals are contacting the gas tank where the little bridge runs across. Got my son to come get me so we could put it on the trailer and bring it home. Not exactly what I had in mind for my birthday but I suppose it could have been worse.

I'm guessing I managed to short out the battery. Going to go pull the tank off again and take a look.

So, a few questions...
a. how do people typically mount the adapters for these Odyssey batteries?
b. what have I done if I did manage to connect both terminals?

Andy

[WhiteDog]

I'm no battery expert, but I suspect the new battery is now toast. The wisp of smoke could have come from overheated wiring/burned insulation, so check that out carefully. You are lucky the arcing did not cause an explosion being the battery is so close to the gas tank. Maybe you should question the need to have the cardboard spacer under the battery.

I am considering replacing the battery in my R1100RT. It already has the side mounted terminals which I had planned to use again. Now, I know what to look for, as I do this job. My repair manual talks about removing the battery from the left side and leaving the tank as is. Of course, there are 15 screws holding the plastic in place but its removal gives me a reason to follow a "mysterious wire" that is mounted underneath the plastic but is not connected to anything. Maybe it was a lead or ground wire for an accessory?

[racurley]

Yeah. I think it's toast. I'm thinking the battery slid over a little when I went over a couple of speed bumps after I got gas. Put the terminal in contact with the tank support. The top of the battery looks like stuff boiled out of it (or something like that). Looks like I just destroyed a $100 battery.

Should I be worried about the battery cables?

[racurley]

Right now, nothing is working. I'm going to put the old battery back in and see if things at least light up. Might have more issues than I realize.

[WhiteDog]

Well, obviously, the terminals will need cleaning up. If it were me, I'd look at the cables as far down as I could to be sure they are not melted. I'd also check the fuses. They are pretty quick to blow, but that is good, as it eliminates damage to whatever is on those circuits.

Oh, yeah, that battery strap serves a good purpose.

[kirby]

I have seen this happen when someone replaced the battery with one that is just a small bit taller than the stock battery and then did not tie it down. A short ensued as your picture indicates 'cause the battery shorted against the fuel tank! Everything went normal ops till he hit a good bump and it shorted out causing a momentary engine cut out.
It didn't do any damage to the battery but in order to use the new battery he insulated the terminals with rubber strips fastened over the terminals until he got the battery tied down so it would not bounce up and hit the tank.
There is not much clearance under the tank!

[racurley]

I swapped the old battery back in and everything lit up as normal. So, that seems good.

Need to figure out if the odyssey is toast or not. It was probably shorting out for more than just a moment.

[Buckster]

I would bend that terminal bracket down flat so it wasn't pointing up and reattach terminal from the top. I remember rigging mine but not exactly sure what I did. That was seven years ago when I went to an Odyssey. I just bought a replacement to have on hand.

[towerworker]

I've had a few Odyssey batteries over the years in my R(s). Never a problem with leads grounding out. There was always a bit more room (depth) than needed and always had to make a pad(spacer) between top of battery and rubber strap as the Odyssey is a bit shorter and slightly thinner than the OEM. Took cardboard and stacked it and then wrapped the cardboard with duct tape.

[racurley]

Yeah. There was some cardboard on the bottom from the PO to get it to fit properly. I was thinking it would probably be better to put the spacer on top to keep the leads lower.

[WhiteDog]

My current Odyssey battery was installed by a BMW shop and has the side mount brackets bolted to the top of the battery but the angle of the brackets is down, not up and facing the rear of the cycle. Thus, easy access to terminal brackets. Plenty of room to attach small clip-on charging cables, rather than using the side auxiliary plug. My 900Ma Yuasa charger only brings the battery up to about 13.7 volts before switching to maintenance mode. Shouldn't it be more like 14.5 volts? That's where it switches when using it on my Goldwing. For kicks, I'm gonna hook up my big charger on 2 amps and see if the battery will charge higher.

Last night, after using the Yuasa, I hooked a volt meter up to the battery. It showed 12.7 volts but when I hit the starter, it dropped to just below 10 volts, but the cycle cranked okay. The starter turns slower than I think it should, or is that the nature of the R1100 starters?

[racurley]

Hmm. Will look at the brackets facing down. That might be very handy.

I put the battery on a charger for a few hours. Got 6.2 volts when I tested it with the multimeter. I'm thinking I fried it. Going to call Odyssey and see what they have to say.

[towerworker]

Yeah I think it's shot. If it was 10+ you might have a chance. But charge it and see if it will take it and hold. I'd take me a while to trust it though.

[racurley]

I put it on the fullsize charger running 10amps. Called Odyssey who were very helpful. She thought I could maybe recover the battery. As long as it didn't get hot enough to melt the lead inside and it allows current to pass through. It vented a little diluted acid as it is designed to do. She said this is ok for a single event. Suggested that i take it to a garage to get the CCA tested if it recovers.

I went out to check it a little while ago (working from home today) and it looks like it is actually taking a charge now. Once it gets to 100%, I'll put it back in the bike, turn on the lights for 2 minutes, and then check voltage. If it get 12.84, I'm good I think. May go check the CCA then.

Procedure to Recover Deeply Discharged Battery (when you are an idiot when installing it)...
http://www.odysseybattery.com/documents ... DYSSEY.pdf

Battery Reconditioning Charge Procedure
http://www.odysseybattery.com/documents ... cedure.pdf

[Tundra Dweller]

Has anyone tried the Motobatt #MB51814?
Mine will need a new Battery before next season. I've heard good reports and installed one in the Sertao.
http://www.m.motobatt.com/catalog/view/ ... del_id=160

[WhiteDog]

Having trouble finding a local dealer. While browsing their website, many locations in Europe sell under the Continental Battery name.

[WhiteDog]

As follow up to an earlier post, I charged my 1 yr old PC680 battery today with a full size charger set at 2 amps. Once the battery voltage reached 14.4, I turned off the charger but continued to monitor the voltage with my volt meter. The voltage immediately began dropping and leveled out at 12.6. So, is this normal or is my battery going south on me? Yesterday, after charging with a Yuasa 900Ma charger to 14.4, the voltage also dropped to 12.7. I kept my volt meter connected and when I hit the starter, the voltage dropped to less than 10 but the engine fired right up. Not being an electrical engineer, I am at a loss. With the charger voltage going well past what the alternator would provide how come the battery voltage drops so quickly?

[Tundra Dweller]

Having trouble finding a local dealer. While browsing their website, many locations in Europe sell under the Continental Battery name.

https://www.amazon.com/MotoBatt-MB51814 ... %23MB51814

[WhiteDog]

Which way do you mount this battery? The positive terminal is on the left side above the writing on the side. This coincides with the verbage in the Clymer manual which also have the pics showing the positive post on the left (BMW OEM). My PC680 is just the reverse--negative is on the left, positive on the right. The pics shown on the internet show the PC680 with negative on driver left . Clymer also dictates removal of the gas tank to install the battery. Somewhere I read the battery can be removed by first removing the left side cover then unfastening the mounting strap, slide the battery to the left, disconnect the negative cable (on the left), then slide the battery again and disconnect the positive cable and remove the battery. The Motobatt battery pics referenced in the link above show the negative post on the right side. I believe my cables are long enough to connect, but Amazon does not show a Motobatt battery to fit my '96 R1100RT. I like the idea of higher cranking amps but the search goes on.

[racurley]

Negative is on the left, rear on my bike.

So, I charged the battery and it went back to full charge. Yay. Took it to Advance Auto and had them test CCA and charge. All good. Yay. Had them test my 3 year old WestCo it's replacing and it was confirmed bad.

So, back in bike with spacer on top and well strapped down. All good. Only took me 4 attempts to get the left oil cooler cover back on

Now, I just need to ensure the connection to the tank didn't damage it. It was against the actual tank and not the support as I had thought. There may actually be a tiny hole. I will inspect it the morning. Have a paper towel near the hole. May look at a pre-emptive sealing just to be on safe side. Probably means removing the tank for the third time in 4 days.