Out with the Old, In with the New

The battery I've had in my bike was a conventional lead-acid battery which usually requires replacement every riding season. I've been looking into getting something that hopefully will turn out to be a good investment. It's a Iron-Phosphate battery which is totally sealed and dry so it can be mounted in any position as well as not having to worry about leaks and it quite a bit lighter.

Here is my old battery weighing in at just over 10 pounds!

Here is my new battery from Ballistic Performance weighing in at just over 1 pound!

Front view side by side

Side view

from the top

The Ballistic battery has a special charging port between the terminals if you want to use their charger which allows you to charge each individual cell equally. They also have a three year guarantee this small battery has 270 cold cranking amps and doesn't run out of juice the more you crank like lead acid batteries tend to do. It doesn't seem to crank the engine over any faster than a new well charged lead acid but it keeps cranking and doesn't slow down which is a big difference. Some of the draw backs of this battery is that it cost a good bit more but if it lasts for several years then it equals out. Also, if it is run down to less than 20% of it total capacity then it can kill the battery permanently which is not covered by the manufacturer and over charging can do this as well. So, make sure that you regulator is working properly and that you have no parasitic loss anywhere.and you should be good to go. So far I've been very happy with the purchase. I have plans to build a new battery box in order to fit different suspension under the bike which will make the battery side mounted. I'll post on any new news of this battery good or bad...