Odyssey Battery vs BMW

[Oilhead]

Despite the bike being ridden frequently and the battery being plugged into Battery Tender Jr., my no name cheap Chinese battery died in two years. The original BMW battery lasted 4 years despite never being plugged into a charger and being drained at times during the winter. So much for saving money.

This time I want to get the best. Is the Odyssey better than the BMW battery? If so, I have a few questions about the Odyssey.

1. Can I plug it into my Battery Tender Jr.?
2. Which brackets do I need to buy to mount it on my 2002 R1150R?
3. What should I expect to pay for it?

Thank you in advance.

[frbank6]

I have the Odessey and use a plain Battery Tender Plus, not the BMW model. I think I remember asking these same questions a while ago and never have quite figured out if the Battery Tender Plus is THE model to use with the Odessey. However, I have been using this combo for about 16 months and haven't seen any problems.

For installation, I had to fabricate a couple of angled connectors out of flattened copper pipe. I believe these are available from Odessey, but these have worked just fine.

As to price, I got mine when they were available on EBay for about 80-90 shipped, but I understand from some recent posts the price is now around 115.00.

By the way, I leave my bike plugged in all the time.

[12bar1]

I just installed the odyssey battery in mine after almost 5 years of service from my original BMW battery. Mine came with the angle brackets from batteries plus and cost me $149.00.

[Hawk]

I just installed an Odyssey PC680 in my R, and have been keeping it plugged into the BMW charger.

According to the Odyssey owner's manual, a trickle charger of 2.0A will keep the battery charged, but will not charge it if it is depleted.
A full charge on the battery is listed as 12.84 volts or higher.
12.50 Volts is a 75% charge
12.18 Volts is a 50% charge
11.88 volts is a 25% charge.

The manual lists the Odyssey website url http://www.odysseyfactory.com/odycharg_c.htm
which has a list of suitable chargers, headed by Odyssey chargers of course.

During my installation the positive lead reached to the new battery o.k., the negative lead was short; I purchased a 12" extension, 2 eye loops, at Napa for about $6.

Bike starts a whole lot better now.

[Oilhead]

Thank you for your replies.

Since the Odyssey is priced quite a bit higher than other batteries with similar Amp hour & Cold Cranking Amps, what makes the Odyssey so much better?

[moshe_levy]

Thank you for your replies.

Since the Odyssey is priced quite a bit higher than other batteries with similar Amp hour & Cold Cranking Amps, what makes the Odyssey so much better?

That's a long and complicated answer if we get into the technicalities of it - here's something I just published in MCN that gives it to you in layman's terms http://www.mklsportster.com/Articles/mcnbattery.pdf We've been using Enersys products for over 15 years with our military products, and they're simply head and shoulders above anything else on the market thus far.

-MKL

PS - Due to wild fluctuations in the price of lead, battery pricing has gone through the roof as of late. Whereas we used to buy the PC680 model for $75 wholesale, we're not at around $130 each, wholesale. Expect to pay much more retail.

[MikeCam]

I have a few questions about the Odyssey.
1. Can I plug it into my Battery Tender Jr.?

The BT Jr has only a two stage charge sequence. For that reason, it is safe to use with AGM batteries such as the Odyssey (and interestingly with the BMW/Exide Gel). It takes longer to reach 80% and even longer to reach 95% and may never reach 100% but it is exceedingly safe.

[bmwdave52]

https://www.batteries4everything.com/index.html
This place has the PC680 for $107.90.

[Oilhead]

That's a long and complicated answer if we get into the technicalities of it - here's something I just published in MCN that gives it to you in layman's terms http://www.mklsportster.com/Articles/mcnbattery.pdf We've been using Enersys products for over 15 years with our military products, and they're simply head and shoulders above anything else on the market thus far.

-MKL

PS - Due to wild fluctuations in the price of lead, battery pricing has gone through the roof as of late. Whereas we used to buy the PC680 model for $75 wholesale, we're not at around $130 each, wholesale. Expect to pay much more retail.

Moshe I did read your article in MCN a little while back! I am a subscriber.

[Oilhead]

The BT Jr has only a two stage charge sequence. For that reason, it is safe to use with AGM batteries such as the Odyssey (and interestingly with the BMW/Exide Gel). It takes longer to reach 80% and even longer to reach 95% and may never reach 100% but it is exceedingly safe.

Thank you that is what I thought, despite warnings on the contrary. Due to the exact nature of the BT Jr. that you described, I could not understand why a gel battery would be harmed by it.

Regarding the BT Jr's inability to charge to 100%, is that for all batteries or just the AGM/Gel batteries?

[MikeCam]

The BT Jr uses .75 amp at around 14.1v (but maybe only 13.8v) and a slow charge stage (no feedback to switch from absorption to conditioning and vice versa) Nor does it have a true float cycle as much as a restart once battery voltage drops below a minimum (I think 12.5 but maybe 12.8v).

Since the Exide Gel requires a stage of very slow conditioning at between 14.5 and 14.9 volts and under 1.0 amps to avoid 'frying' the gel chemistry, most chargers will never achieve a true full charge on Gel. As Deltran states and BMW/Exide assert, the final stage for the BMW Gel is subject to 'special' conditions. But the BT Jr. avoids the frying issue and does an adequate job getting you above 12.5 volts (minimum Oilhead/ABS voltage required for a fault free self-test).

My research indicates that lead acid batteries will reach 95-99% of the stated full charge for that brand and model with almost any trickle charger. AGM somewhat less, more like 90-95%.

What confuses folks is that a battery manufacturer calls "full charge" anywhere between 12.5 and 14.5 volts. But it differs from one to the other and there is no industry standard. In terms of chemistry, a full charge is closer to 14.9-15v for these technologies. Something rarely if ever seen in practice.