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Hi all,

OK, been out of late on bike, sometimes when I wheel it out and pull clutch in as usual and press start button, it kicks in once or twice then stops It seems to "stick," then and press again and it whirres as usual then springs into life. The dash doesn't reset.

So, what checks do I do to identify the fault Battery on optimate, forgot to give you the volt reading on start-up sorry. I fitted the yamaha relay. Have a big oddyssey battery in there. Maybe the starter motor if sticky... When I first got the bike, it broke down. The lovely AA van came, sent a van and a man that hadn't a clue about bikes. Sent a second van, he came, and he put his jump start thing on my starter motor and it fired into life!

Never thought about it till now, some 3/4 years later....

Any thoughts my amigo's

P.S. Thought about doing the wiring mod sometime...

Which Oddyssey battery are you using?

When I replaced my battery recently I considered one of these and discovered that on;ly one would actually fit in the space on the Falco (but you may have found a way round that).

I saw that this battery was listed as suitable for the Falco but wasn't convinced by the Ah rating .... so I contacted the company ..... and they replied to say that they wouldn't recommend it .... so I went with a Yuassa.

Would be jumping to a bit of a conclusion to pin it on the battery alone at this stage .... but it's in the list of suspects ...

Hi all,

Hi D-Rider, I had to shave the fins on the battery, so accomodate it in my battery housing. A tad bit tall as well, so cut two holes in my seat, and fitted duct tape, so foam won't crumble. Side-effect of the battery touching my seat is I have a heated seat

I am getting the "Pierre," syndrome, lateral thinking with weird tools But, Pete (Pierre) is a good electrician, so might get him to look at it sometime....

LOL - you've obviously got one of the more suitable Oddysseys installed - I did think about trying to modify things to fit one when I was in the process of changing but needed to sort it quickly. My Scottoiler reservoir fitted above my battery was an additional complication.

Yuasa YTX14-BS

Is that the right part no.
Can anyone confirm

try this - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Yuasa-YTZ14S-Batt ... 1c11b39d47

Higher CCA than OEM. Slightly shorter than OEM, so will need a bit of packing. Works a treat on the Fut, especially with the new starter solenoid; no problems at all on cold mornings.

Got mine from this seller - good service. And I doubt yiou'll find one any cheaper

MartDude wrote:try this - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Yuasa-YTZ14S-Batt ... 1c11b39d47

Higher CCA than OEM. Slightly shorter than OEM, so will need a bit of packing. Works a treat on the Fut, especially with the new starter solenoid; no problems at all on cold mornings.

Got mine from this seller - good service. And I doubt yiou'll find one any cheaper

Same as I'm using .... seems good so far .... but any new battery would seem good when this new

sound like the battery has not got enough cranking power , might start the bike just now but not in colder weather , i have a exite etx14bs 14 ah seem to work fine on my bike , but in colder weather if it does not start it will turn over , but its ither flooded , or thers not enough power to produce a spark , but overall it works fine

The problem with these batteries is what is referred to as their internal resistance. As they deliver current, voltage gets dropped across the internal resistance and their terminal voltage drops.
The greater the current the greater the voltage drop (remember Ohms law).
As batteries age, their internal resistance increases and the effect gets worse.
In cold weather the internal resistance increases - that and thicker oil in the cold makes cold weather starting difficult.

If you just stick a meter across the terminals of a battery, virtually no current flows and so no voltage is dropped across the internal resistance - so you just see a nicely charged battery. This is why a meaningful assessment of the battery condition can only be determined when it is under load.

http://www.mdsbattery.co.uk/shop/produc ... roupID=839

slighty cheaper

Indeed ... although that is a different battery (though quite suitable for the Falco - think it's the Falco standard fit)

They do the one that Mart posted up but they're asking a lot more for that one:
http://www.mdsbattery.co.uk/shop/produc ... oupID=2048

wierd tools pfffff. I'll have you know I couldnt have managed without my genuine vauxhall 4ft scaffold pole to remove the axle nut on my van

Bare in mind I have spare starter motors somewhere in the junkpile if needed

Hi all,

Cheers Pierre, I bow to your superior tool box As for the Delux "Pole," no doubt it is a one off special my friend

Catch you soon, when the weather is better....