• Ciao Guest - You’ve landed at the ultimate Guzzi site. NEW FORUM REGISTRATIONS REQUIRE EMAIL ACTIVATION - CHECK YOUR SPAM FOLDER - Use the CONTACT above if you need help. New to the forum? For all new members, we require ONE post in the Introductions section at the bottom, in order to post in most of the other sections. ALWAYS TRY A SEARCH BEFORE STARTING A NEW TOPIC - Most questions you may have, have likely been already answered. DON'T BE A DRIVE-BY POSTER: As a common courtesy, check back in and reply within 24 hours, or your post will be deleted. Note there's decades of heavily experienced Guzzi professionals on this site, all whom happily give endless amounts of their VALUABLE time for free; BE COURTEOUS AND RESPECTFUL!
  • There is ZERO tolerance on personal attacks and ANY HYPERLINKS to PRODUCT(S) or other competing website(s), including personal pages, social media or other Forums. This ALSO INCLUDES ECU DIAGnostic software, questions and mapping. We work very hard to offer commercially supported products and to keep info relevant here. First offense is a note, second is a warning, third time will get you banned from the site. We don't have the time to chase repeat (and ignorant) offenders. This is NOT a social media platform; It's an ad-free, privately funded website, in small help with user donations. Be sure to see the GTM STORE link above; ALL product purchases help support the site, or you can upgrade your Forum profile or DONATE via the link above.
  • Be sure to see the GTM STORE link also above for our 700+ product inventory, including OEM parts and many of our 100% Made-in-SoCal-USA GTM products and engine kits. In SoCal? Click the SERVICE tab above for the best in service, tires, tuning and installation of our products or custom work, and don't miss our GT MotoCycles® (not) art on the BUILDS tab above. WE'RE HERE ONLINE ONLY - NO PHONE CALLS MADE OR RECEIVED - DO NOT EMAIL AND ASK QUESTIONS OR ASK TO CALL YOU.
  • Like the new V100, GuzziTech is full throttle into the future! We're now running on an all-new server and we've updated our Forum software. The visual differences are obvious, but hopefully you'll notice the super-fast speed. If you notice any glitches or have any issues, please post on the Site Support section at the bottom. If you haven't yet, please upgrade your account which is covered in the Site Support section or via the DONATE tab above, which gives you full site access including the DOWNLOADS section. We really appreciate every $ and your support to keep this site ad-free. Create an account, sign in, upgrade your account, and enjoy. See you on the road in 2024.

What's the Best Battery for Stelvio 8V (OEM is leaking)

Bonaventure

Bonaventure

Cruisin' Guzzisti
Joined
Jul 30, 2017
Messages
181
Location
USA
So my OEM Yuasa battery in my Stelvio starting to leak. Should have checked on it sooner but being a new bike w/ 2 miles on it three months ago I just wasn't eyeballing the battery. Anyhow, spent few hours today cleaning corrosion from both terminals, using the baking soda method and ultra fine emery paper. Bike is under warranty but nearest dealership is a ways away and don't want another Yuasa of the same part number, I'm inclined to replace it out of my own pocket. Needs to happen sooner than later since I don't want to clean the terminals again, it was tedious and frankly it p!ssed me off that a new bike would suffer the level of corrosion that set in. Wasn't looking bad from above while connected but upon removing them there was a lot of corrosion on undersides.

I"m looking for who likes what battery type in the Stelvio and what's been proven to work well and keep the terminals clean.

I'm leaning toward AGM sealed maintenance-free for it's tolerance of being angle mounted, as is the setup in the Stelvio but Lithium is "interesting" and light weight. I think there are some lead acid gel types out there but read where they vent gases a lot.
 
Bonaventure said:
Which type have you had good luck with?
Click to expand...

I tried a 12 cell since it stated enough CCA (different brand than Todd sells) and it wouldn't even turn the bike over so I returned it and went back to the stock battery. So if you get one, go with the 16 cell. Do note you should use the special charger to keep the cells balanced if you go lithium. If you decide not to go lithium, just do a web search on the battery size. There are other makes beside Yuasa that will fit. The key with lead acid, is to prep the battery correctly before installation so I stay away from pre-filled and fill them myself. Many ship with acid containers to do this.
 
john zibell said:
I tried a 12 cell since it stated enough CCA (different brand than Todd sells) and it wouldn't even turn the bike over so I returned it and went back to the stock battery. So if you get one, go with the 16 cell. Do note you should use the special charger to keep the cells balanced if you go lithium. If you decide not to go lithium, just do a web search on the battery size. There are other makes beside Yuasa that will fit. The key with lead acid, is to prep the battery correctly before installation so I stay away from pre-filled and fill them myself. Many ship with acid containers to do this.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I like Lithium but the investment will be well north of $300 after getting the right charger/maintainer. I really like that 16 cell Lithium job, but I have to think on it partially on account of the concept of that outlay for fixing something out of my own pocket on a new bike.

Finding the exact sizing fitment with left hand positive terminal so far seem to really restrict choices other than the oem yuasa YTX20CH-BS. Apparently yuasa is making them in Mexico and China since about 2013 if my research is sound. So if THAT is true, and it seems likely then short of Deka (Eastern Penn Manufacturing USA) there are no other US made choices for VLRA AGM sealed lead-acid batteries. And so far it looks like Deka is not making one in the right size form factor with left hand positive terminal.

I found Chrome battery, who do not manufacture they're a distributor/re-labeler. They state upfront on their newegg store about "Our overseas manufacturers..." so they're likely Chinese made. Their offering looks externally like an exact yuasa clone. So the question arises if yuasa is now having theirs made to spec in Mexico or China then is a Chrome that's also overseas made going to be similar quality expectation.

I don't think the leaking is necessarily a yuasa fault. As I understand it, the batteries are shipped with the bike in the crate dry with an acid pack to be added as part of the new bike setup by dealer. From what I'm learning, if the person doing the battery activation (add acid and charge) doesn't follow the procedure to the letter, the battery may be prone to early leakage if tilt mounted. I'm thinking this may be part of the problem with the OEM yuasa batteries leaking in our Stelvios. Not the design or quality of the battery but shortcuts taken or instructions not followed right during initial bike setup prior to delivery.

What do you think?
 
Posting again as my posts seemed to go ignored. Most always.

This topic has been very well covered here. Yuasa has stated that their AGM batteries are not designed to be mounted like they are on the ‘12+ Stelvio. Lead acid battery life is extraordinarily short these days (months to weeks lately) when I've prepped them properly. I actually think Yuasa prepped may be best bet.
Lithium is the future due to the lead laws. The ones I sell here (AG) have been the best in the past (I have a AG 16-cell in my Stelvio that has surpassed 4.5 years, which I've never touched including putting a charger to it, ever). That said some of them have suffered some issues this last year, so I’m actually going into the lithium battery business soon.
The newest in lith-i technology have enormous CCA (1600+), and the 12-cell is adequate on most bikes that aren’t heavy electric users like Stelvio owners can tend to be, so as John stated above, 16-cell is best. Most current/cheaper brands aren’t very good at all, including the more well known brands that are getting into the lith-i business, so caveat emptor on those.
I still recommend the AG versions I sell here on the site (for now).
 
Thanks for the info Todd. Clears up a number of questions that I had floating around in my noggin.
 
Bonaventure said:
So my OEM Yuasa battery in my Stelvio starting to leak. Should have checked on it sooner but being a new bike w/ 2 miles on it three months ago I just wasn't eyeballing the battery. Anyhow, spent few hours today cleaning corrosion from both terminals, using the baking soda method and ultra fine emery paper. Bike is under warranty but nearest dealership is a ways away and don't want another Yuasa of the same part number, I'm inclined to replace it out of my own pocket. Needs to happen sooner than later since I don't want to clean the terminals again, it was tedious and frankly it p!ssed me off that a new bike would suffer the level of corrosion that set in. Wasn't looking bad from above while connected but upon removing them there was a lot of corrosion on undersides.

I"m looking for who likes what battery type in the Stelvio and what's been proven to work well and keep the terminals clean.

I'm leaning toward AGM sealed maintenance-free for it's tolerance of being angle mounted, as is the setup in the Stelvio but Lithium is "interesting" and light weight. I think there are some lead acid gel types out there but read where they vent gases a lot.
Click to expand...

A lot of Stelvio owners (including myself) have gone with Motobatt MBTX16U for AGM with good success. Reasonably priced and come with 4 terminals. On my second one. 1st one lasted about 4 years.
 
canuck1969 said:
A lot of Stelvio owners (including myself) have gone with Motobatt MBTX16U for AGM with good success. Reasonably priced and come with 4 terminals. On my second one. 1st one lasted about 4 years.
Click to expand...

Interesting. I was looking at the MBTX16U last night, but specs said CCA was 250 vs. oem supplied Yuasa @ 270. Obviously it works fine though or you guys wouldn't be using it.
 
GT-Rx® said:
Posting again as my posts seemed to go ignored. Most always.

This topic has been very well covered here. Yuasa has stated that their AGM batteries are not designed to be mounted like they are on the ‘12+ Stelvio. Lead acid battery life is extraordinarily short these days (months to weeks lately) when I've prepped them properly. I actually think Yuasa prepped may be best bet.
Lithium is the future due to the lead laws. The ones I sell here (AG) have been the best in the past (I have a AG 16-cell in my Stelvio that has surpassed 4.5 years, which I've never touched including putting a charger to it, ever). That said some of them have suffered some issues this last year, so I’m actually going into the lithium battery business soon.
The newest in lith-i technology have enormous CCA (1600+), and the 12-cell is adequate on most bikes that aren’t heavy electric users like Stelvio owners can tend to be, so as John stated above, 16-cell is best. Most current/cheaper brands aren’t very good at all, including the more well known brands that are getting into the lith-i business, so caveat emptor on those.
I still recommend the AG versions I sell here on the site (for now).
Click to expand...

Certainly didn't ignore what I wasn't aware of :)

It's not that I don't like the 16 cell Antigravity Lithium Iron battery, if my bike was a few yrs old I'd be all over it. But please understand Todd, I just bought the bike August 29th with 2 miles on the odometer, delivered (literally, on a Haulbikes truck) brand new. Was confident I'd done my Due Diligence before buying, and expected to be my own warranty at least on the smaller stuff and knew I'd be doing routine services myself as well. Missed the info about the oem battery being prone to leak and corrode the terminals. Just didn't see it. So the prospect of putting north of $300 into the bike, not on a farkle, not on a piece of gear I want, but simply to correct something that should be good right out of the box, well that's the sort of thing that can bring your day down a click or two. That's all it is or was.

I realize the sealed AGM Yuasa is a problem, but I also thought ability to tolerate tilt mounting was something most valve regulated sealed AGM's were made to withstand.
 
Bonaventure said:
Certainly didn't ignore what I wasn't aware of
Click to expand...
I deleted and reposted the same post above your post quoting John Z., so it seemed you ignored my advice.
So this is not directly at you, but...
I’ve stated this numerous times on this Forum that I’ve had five (5) new bikes for my rental fleet in the last 1.5 years. ALL of them had batteries fail in as little as 1-2 weeks to 1-2 months. The first two that failed, I warranty replaced, and prepped them myself at my shop. They both failed again in a very short amount of time, so I replaced them all with Lithium.
Even though your bike is brand new, the battery may have been (improperly) prepped when the bike was pulled from the crate. That and that Yuasa has clearly stated it is not the correct battery for the aplication.
So I understand the frustration, but I’m just presenting the documented facts.

This is my very last post on this topic from here on out.

Best to you with it.
 
Bonaventure said:
Interesting. I was looking at the MBTX16U last night, but specs said CCA was 250 vs. oem supplied Yuasa @ 270. Obviously it works fine though or you guys wouldn't be using it.
Click to expand...

You won’t notice any difference due to the reduction of CCA even at freezing temps.

The issue with the Yuasa has more to do with how it was prepped vs the lean of the battery. MG even issued a TSB stating the correct method but it was ignore by a lot of dealers leading to failure. At that point I suspect Yuasa said screw it and just said it was not suited for the Stelvio. Many Yuasa batteries did not leak including my own because they were preped properly. Yuasa is still a good battery if done right but the Motobatt with the 4 terminals is a better setup in my opinion.
 
Good timing with this thread as I am currently researching battery replacement for my 2012 Stelvio NTX.
I have looked into the AG lithiums but not sold on them yet. I guess it now comes down to the Yuasa or Motobatt.
All of these batteries are available here in Oz. But which is best, and are the Motobatt terminals compatible with the existing Stelvio cable connectors?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top