How long did your stock battery last?

[DG Rider]

My OEM battery will be 5 years this summer. It's still starting fine...though it might be dimming the lights a bit more during startup. I don't have any electrical accessories at all. I haven't load tested it...yet.

My experience with AGM batteries is that they fail suddenly with little warning. Both my wife's car, and her friends failed unexpectedly this last year. Literally, went from stating fine to barley cutting the dash lights on over the course of a workday. A co workers motorcycle was ridden to work, and his failed so badly by quitting time that it wouldn't even stay running without a jump pack.

I ask because of that last scenario. I always have a booster with me...but definitely don't want to have to drive back to the truck with the booster connected.

I also want an excuse to do the Group 20 conversion. I suspect the EPS will work noticably better (not that it's not working now...). Probably a Yuasa, as they are hard to beat, quality wise.

 

[Admin]

 

[DG Rider]

Also...tell me about the lithium jobs that seem to be getting popular?

 

[Buggyman]

My OEM battery will be 5 years this summer. It's still starting fine...though it might be dimming the lights a bit more during startup. I don't have any electrical accessories at all. I haven't load tested it...yet.

My experience with AGM batteries is that they fail suddenly with little warning. Both my wife's car, and her friends failed unexpectedly this last year. Literally, went from stating fine to barley cutting the dash lights on over the course of a workday. A co workers motorcycle was ridden to work, and his failed so badly by quitting time that it wouldn't even stay running without a jump pack.

I ask because of that last scenario. I always have a booster with me...but definitely don't want to have to drive back to the truck with the booster connected.

I also want an excuse to do the Group 20 conversion. I suspect the EPS will work noticably better (not that it's not working now...). Probably a Yuasa, as they are hard to beat, quality wise.

Got a little over 7 years out of the original. was working fine then shut it off to talk to neighbor and would not start. replaced with one from O'Reillys because they were the only place open and have had no problems. 2 light bars, winch, turn signal kit, 12v fan, windshield wiper all hooked direct to battery, and it sits for months without being started but fires right up every time.

 

[Neohio]

16 P1K, as of end of the month, it will be 8 years old. It sat the last 3 weeks outside, no tender. Started right up.
Now it is in the garage, plow on. Tender hooked up. It hasn't given me a lick of trouble.

 

[DRZRon1]

My OEM battery will be 5 years this summer. It's still starting fine...though it might be dimming the lights a bit more during startup. I don't have any electrical accessories at all. I haven't load tested it...yet.

My experience with AGM batteries is that they fail suddenly with little warning. Both my wife's car, and her friends failed unexpectedly this last year. Literally, went from stating fine to barley cutting the dash lights on over the course of a workday. A co workers motorcycle was ridden to work, and his failed so badly by quitting time that it wouldn't even stay running without a jump pack.

I ask because of that last scenario. I always have a booster with me...but definitely don't want to have to drive back to the truck with the booster connected.

I also want an excuse to do the Group 20 conversion. I suspect the EPS will work noticably better (not that it's not working now...). Probably a Yuasa, as they are hard to beat, quality wise.

IMO - don’t turn this into an engineering project or fix something that isn’t broken. sounds like the OEM battery is serving you well and would continue to do so if that is what you choose.

Please use the search bar up top as this topic has been discussed to naseum from folks like me who is a simpleton or those who will spend endless money on the supposed best LI battery on the market - to each their own and good luck.

 

[Jerryg]

8 years.

 

[CID]

Long ago, a friend told me - replace the damn thing, it's cheap compared to a walk out - you and I both ride alone.

fwiw: many modern jump packs won't run a vehicle, the high charge rate of a stator/alternator will kill them, so they have an auto disconnect circuit - when the vehicle starts, they shut off.

I agree the Yuasa is hard to beat, I've had good luck with them for decades.

Somewhat off topic but - my relatively new RV house batteries let me down on this last trip. I got very little warning - they had been holding voltage, reading 12.3 at bedtime, the lowest they get. At the very end of the spring trip, I was seeing 12.1 and disappointed because I thought they would last longer.

An OCD friend decided he needed a solar power thingie, like a Jackery but made by Anker. He did all the homework/internet research so I bought one on a whim, an Anker Solix C1000. When the RV batteries failed within days on this last trip, I relied on the Anker almost completely, powering everything for a month, except the water pump and a dome light.

The single 100 watt solar panel was able to keep up with my frugal usage, barely. I'll add a second panel before my next trip which will include new house batteries (two 6 volt golf cart batteries, an RV standard). There are too many complexities to adding lithium for me to screw with.

 

[silvertrd09]

I think I replaced my OEM battery around 5 years time ish. I kept thinking this thing is fixing to take a dump and like CID said replacing it is cheap insurance against walking back to camp which is the reason I ended up with a p5. My 18 year old Yamaha Timberwolf broke down (mechanically) over a mile from camp. Not a fun walk at night.

 

[Dirtstiffs-1000]

Yuasa x 2 -
Still strong 6 + years
Trickle chargers..

 

[DRZRon1]

Yuasa x 2 -
Still strong 6 + years
Trickle chargers..

It’s like poker, u just never know - I’ve had batteries drop dead in 3-4 years, drop dead at 5 years, and then many at 5+ years and still going strong

 

[Dirtstiffs-1000]

It’s like poker, u just never know - I’ve had batteries drop dead in 3-4 years, drop dead at 5 years, and then many at 5+ years and still going strong

I routinely measure static voltage (voltage at rest with no load). They still measure 12.6 plus volts.
I don't load test.
When they're done, they are done.
No parasitic draw, all my accessories are switched, too.
Pretty easy to jump main with aux if a problem.

 

[Jason W]

3 months, my stock yusa in my pioneer died that quick, never seen a yusa die that fast. I'm betting factory flawed. Far from normal

 

[Mopower58]

6 years, no battery tender, or trickle charger ever.

 

[DG Rider]

IMO - don’t turn this into an engineering project or fix something that isn’t broken. sounds like the OEM battery is serving you well and would continue to do so if that is what you choose.

Please use the search bar up top as this topic has been discussed to naseum from folks like me who is a simpleton or those who will spend endless money on the supposed best LI battery on the market - to each their own and good luck.

I love search bar Nazis.

Battery technology evolves very quickly in some cases. I'm not interested in what was true 5 years ago. And despite all that, you still managed not to answer the question. You should sit this one out, I think.

 

[Scoop]

My two Honda SXSs aren't old enough to warrant a comment on those, but I generally replace vehicle batteries at ~5 years as a matter of preventive maintenance - most notably those that take me far from places that would warrant a long walk/wait for help.

However, my 2014 Grizzly has the factory battery and it's just fine 10+ years.

I do run battery maintainers on all my vehicles, especially in the colder months.

 

[DG Rider]

3 months, my stock yusa in my pioneer died that quick, never seen a yusa die that fast. I'm betting factory flawed. Far from normal

I suspect you're right.

I had a 2002 Foreman battery that failed in 3 months. I was waiting while they prepped the machine, and I suspect it just didn't get a good prep or deep charge to start. That's the only Yuasa I've ever had anything but great service from. They replaced it under warranty.

 

[DG Rider]

I had forgotten about simply checking voltage until @Dirtstiffs-1000 mentioned it.
Checking after sitting since Friday got me 12.5, which charts show as 80% charged, less than 48hrs after running it all day. Cutting on the ignition and lights drop this to the low 11's (the fuel pump prime takes a noticable change in tone much more so than it used to, if I hit the lights while it is running). Starting drops it into the low 10's...still above the magic number we were taught (9.6), but this was on a fully warmed up machine on a 70 degree day.

I think it's time to head this off before it strands me somewhere out in the desert.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[Red500]

Bought the p5 in January of 16, it still has the original battery. I do keep it on a maintainer as much as I can.

 

[CID]

fwiw: for the guys who use a maintainer all the time - I think it will mask an aging battery. You'll leave on a ride not knowing the battery only started the buggy with a surface charge, you'll get miles away from the trailer and it'll fail suddenly. Or so you'll think, when in reality, it had been failing for quite a while.

I know maintainers have the reputation of prolonging battery life but I'd rather know the battery can hold a charge from week to week without artificial support, that way the battery will fail in camp instead of miles out. If you have a high parasitic draw, a maintainer will hide that too.

Just my humble opinion, as you were -

 

[ChadD]

16 P1K, as of end of the month, it will be 8 years old. It sat the last 3 weeks outside, no tender. Started right up.
Now it is in the garage, plow on. Tender hooked up. It hasn't given me a lick of trouble.

Until you ran your big mouth 🙄🤦‍♂️.


#NTC