I am having starting problems and I have realised that a new battery might be the solution. The bike has been unused for about 6 months but has been on charge using an Optimate 4. The battery was new about 2 years ago, replaced by Newcombe Bros when they serviced it.
I took the bike for a longish run (well for me anyway about 30 miles) two weeks ago and it started on the return trip. It starts after being charged but will not start again if I turn the bike off straight away without a run. It starts easily when I use jump leads from the car.
The dash says the battery voltage is 12V. Today I cleaned all battery leads and refitted them but it didn’t make any difference. So what should I replace the battery with?
I had a look at the click no start fix for the Norge click here and bought the components, however the Stelvio does not have the electrical connectors that are used on this fix and I am a little shy of cutting into the loom unless I am sure it is the correct wire and the right thing to do.
Not that I’m an expert but I would say that you have a dud battery. It should be in the region of 12.6v , not 12v to start your bike. I’m unsure if replacing it with a lithium battery is wise…due to the risk of fire but that’s because, in my dotage I’ve turned into an old woman ( no insults to old women intended)
I have a pair of these small ones i used with a spotlight, and I once had a bank of them wired in parallel hooked up to solar panels. they do a range of sizes, up to big beasts for motorhome use, running tvs and whatever. also used in rally cars because in a rollover they won’t spill/leak.
This sounds odd, but it could be the fact that you left it permanently hooked up to the Optimate. I had three gel batteries (MotoBatts) all die within three weeks of each other. There was one on each of my K100s and one on the Royal Enfield. One was five years old, one was four years old and one was just eighteen months old. The only common factor was that they were all permanently hooked up to Optimates - one Mk1 and two ‘Anniversary’ types. I mentioned this on the K100-Forum and a few of the guys there said they’d also had gel batteries die for no reason when left for long periods on smart chargers. So I did some further digging around (Adventure Bike forum etc.) and it seems that it genuinely is a ‘thing’. That was a really expensive lesson to learn. What I do now is hook the bikes up for a couple of days, then leave them for a month before rinse and repeat. So far, so good…
When my dearly departed G5 was in daily use for commuting, a Lucas gel battery lasted ten years before giving up.
I have bought a new gel battery 18Ah 270A (cca) which matches the one that is in the bike. I will use the Optimate less in future and ride the bike more often!
May be different for the NTX but I found that only the YUASA YTX20CH-BS fit my 2008 Stelvio properly. Tried a few others first and the battery top clamp wouldn’t fit well - obviously could fashion something to make it work, just an FYI
It is an 18Ah JMT Gel Battery (also reference YTX20CH-BS) and is an exact match to the new battery fitted by Newcomb Brothers of Chelmsford 2-3 years ago, so I know it will fit physically.
As for the 270 cold cranking amps, I am hoping that as long as I look after this one better it will do the job for longer.
It arrives here Thursday and I will let you know if it cures my starting issues.
I am still temped to have a go at the click no start issue click here and will try and trace the correct wire to splice the capacitor and diode into. From Carl Allison’s wiring diagrams it looks like a blue/orange wire connected to the ECU contact 4 on the blue side. I will check the wire colours on a factory wiring diagram if I can source them as sometimes Carl Allison’s wire colours can be different.
New battery arrived today, charged it, fitted and she started first time. I’ve taken off the Optimate wires so I’m not tempted to plug it in.
All ready for a raft of hospital visits next week which will make parking a doddle.
Happy days!
