battery type question

[jch364]

I bought a 230cca yuasa batteries early last year. didnt get to ride much cause of the engine rebuild but over the winter i had it on a battery tender i got from walmart. when i broke it out yesterday the battery had no real power to start the bike if it was hot. The whole point i bought the bigger one was due to the need for a bigger cca to start the 1397 when its hot. Anyway im going to assume i screwed myself because i got a cheap battery tender from walmart instead of buying a more expensive one. get what you pay for kind of thing i guess. I dont know if i am going to have to replace the battery yet or not but if i do does anyone have any experience with the new gel batteries? How do they hold up? and also what is a good quality battery tender so i dont have to revisit this $200 mistake again. ..
thanks in advance

 

[Rollin20z]

Really haven't gotten caught up in the $100-200 batteries are that much better myself. I have used this style TMS I guess most would call them generic batteries in quite a few bikes and never had a problem yet.(knock on wood) Less than $40 shipped to your door ready to go, just stick in and it's charged up and running. I personally still have 3 bikes with them in them and 2 have been in over 2-3 years and still start strong and I can slip time to time about putting them on a tender in the winter when not riding.

I'm sure it'll be the same as anything else you will end up with all sorts of opinions though. Not specifically this seller but I wouldn't see a difference as they probably all come from the same factory in china. ???

AGM YT12A-BS GSF1250S Bandit GSX1300R Hayabusa BATTERY (610373878887) | eBay

 

[Rollin20z]

Also I have a couple of these tender from Advanced or Auto Zone, they also sell extra pigtails for the battery for like $5 if you use for more than 1 bike/vehicle so you can just plug in and forget it. 1.5amp 6/12 volt, peaks up your battery and trickle/maintains it. I even put the pigtails on all my vehicles since they don't all get driven on a regular basis and I can just plug them in and peak the battery up without having to take out a drive it around to do the same.

I'm sure there are others cheaper for less & better for more $ but these work for me so why try to fix it if it's not broke. ???

Buy Schumacher SpeedCharge 1.5-Amp Maintainer SEM-1562A at Advance Auto Parts

 

[dadofthree]

Have the battery tested. It might be good.

 

[Turbo-Torch]

Cheap charger may have cooked the battery.

I replaced my factory battery with a Motobatt years ago. I no longer bother with any type of charger. I simply push the start button in the spring and go.

 

[Poppy]

I have just as good of luck with the wal-mart/battery-mart units as OEM. Not sure if riding everyday helps or not. I used to commute 5 to 6 days a week when in Florida, not so much in the west though. I do have a deltran tender and try to utilize that, switching every few days (two bikes).