Good batteries are hard to come by nowadays. Most of the cheaper ones dont seem to last long. Even if they do , you'd be lucky to get 2 years of service from hem.

My dominar is on its 3rd battery (ytx 9) the stocker lasted an astounding 4 years and it was still working when I swapped it out as a precaution to protect the rectifier. The green Tokio battery lasted barely 6 months (80). Now running a yuasa battery (130). Hopefully it does better.

On the NK , I just bought a ytx14zt lithium battery as the stock battery is on its last legs, dropping to 9v on startup if left unused over the weekend. Best to have a standby battery. Got it cheap from 6.6 shopee sale and some coin redemption. Paid 309 for it.

It is comically light though... But I bought it to offset some of the weight from my racks and panniers. My battery is mounted high in the tail so should help with bike balance going with a lighter battery.

If you are considering a lithium battery, bear in mind it does have pros and cons so it may not be suitable for all situations. Glad to explain if you guys want to know why.





This post has been edited by jaycee1: Jun 9 2025, 09:06 AM

Motorcycle Lithium batteries are built with BMS that is specifically designed with a bike charging system. That said, here are the pros and cons.

Pros
Very light weight, often smaller formfactor, doesnt leak, can be mounted every which way, even upsidedown.
BMS will cut off the battery if it falls below minimum voltage, protecting the cells (for L/A and AGM, once the battery discharges, sulfication occurs and damages the battery)
Low self discharge rate
Excellent amp draw

Cons
Equivalent Lithiums typically only have 1/2 the reserve capacity of same "sized" AGM. This is because lithium battery manufacturers follow the CCA of regular AGM to "size" the battery. My new lithium ytx14zt is 76whr, while the factory AGM is at 144whr. So read the specs carefully.
Not good in cold weather (does not apply to us, see below)
Can explode and catch fire spontaneously (hehehehehe.... especially charged when very cold) Lithiums need a short warm up to wake up (by turning on ACC and lights) before operating below freezing temperature.

So depending on your needs, if you got an infrequently used bike with inherent high standby draw (pretty much any new modern bike especially those with keyless, always on gps, security systems), Lithiums may not be suitable, but if you have a very old bike with no electronics, the low self discharge rate of lithium will be better. And all bikes will benefit from the much lighter weight.



If you have an infrequently used bike, in order to protect the L/A AGM battery, you have to invest in a trickle charger anyway. Any full discharge damage may be irreversible....as it may not charge up to full capacity anymore and it would only get worst over time. My cheap tokio Ytx9 has one full discharge and it turned into a paperweight, even using a pulse charger didn't bring it back alive. More expensive AGMs may be more resistant, but chemistry is chemistry.

Im still hoping Lithium battery manufacturers will put in a USB type C charging port so i can just stick a power bank and charge it. Sure they need a more complex dual input BMS...but I can dream.

This post has been edited by jaycee1: Jun 9 2025, 10:16 AM

Pretty sure something like the dynavolt battery will have a BMS. At least it says in its spec. Plus with the battery display, im sure its driven by the BMS.

Will keep the teardown in mind when its done for...if not just to humour you. Hahahaha

This post has been edited by jaycee1: Jun 9 2025, 11:02 AM

so its user problem . hahahahahahahahaha


I would do what madmen suggests. Install an inline cut off switch. But then again you will loose the alarm.

This post has been edited by jaycee1: Jun 9 2025, 02:31 PM

Man...you paid 200 for that green turd. My tokio was 90.

That starting issue is a weird one. Notice if the crank speed is lower than previously? On my ytx9, it cranks slow, then fails to crank at all. Like not pushing enough amps.

Not difficult at all. The easiest way (but not the best) is just to wire up direct to battery.

The proper way, is to use a relay, to a switched power, so the charger is only on when the bike is running. I personally use a relay/aux fusebox on my bikes, either custom, or bought from shopee. A few of us here are running this compact little unit. Good enough for accessories and smaller fog lights. Under 50rm usually with discounts.



For switched power source, usually i will tap a less important circuit like the tail light. Some bikes may have a switched fuse, or an accessories power port somewhere in the fairing. Depends on the bike.


I prefer a switched source, in case some itchy finger turns on your USB charger and you end up with a flat battery. I also prefer the aux fusebox route, for the fact, all my accesories are running on an independent circuit and easy to trouble shoot. I do my own wiring loom for my accesories and all terminated with waterproof automotive connecters so everything is plug and play if i needed to replace anything.

FWIW, dont charge a big phone or anything big, without the bike running. a big device like my 13200mah phone can drain a moto battery real quick.

This post has been edited by jaycee1: Jun 21 2025, 11:25 AM

its one of those big battery china ruggud phone. Mine is the ulefone Power armour 13. And yes, it does reverse charging, both wired and wireless. unbreakable. coming up to 4 years now.

If it doesnt say its either GEL or AGM, most likely it isn't. Those AGMs can cost twice as much or more than a normal battery...even so called "MF" ones, especially for a big bike battery like your YTX12.

readings look normal.


Just check the voltage when you crank it. If it drops a lot it will indicating a weak battery. I still prefer a normal fast responding multimeter for this through.

Even if you have full voltage on the battery, an older battery might not give you enough amps to start the bike.

My garbage green tokiohama battery reads full but refuses to crank the bike after a few days of sitting. Im using a yuasa battery now and it cranks fine even after 2-3 weeks of sitting.


Also monitor the readings when riding. Sometimes a flaky rectifier might stop charging when it gets too hot.

This post has been edited by jaycee1: Oct 3 2025, 10:45 AM

Just an update on my Dynavolt LFP battery. Started to see some voltage drop on start up. Still cranks good. Let's see how much longer this lasts. It's been like what? Only 6 months?

The NK seems to eat battery. No one can get batteries to last over 2 years. Too much active always on electronics I think.