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Where's a good place to get a motorcycle battery??

malbojah

Golden Member
Joy...

I go to start up the bike this morning to go onto work only to find out that the battery is dead. Do a quick jump with a jump-starter and off I go. I get out of work about 12 hours later only to find out the battery is dead again. So I jump is with a delivery car (both batteries are 12 volt) and off I go to my house. I pull out the battery to find almost no liquid of any kind left.

So where's a good place to get a battery early in the morning for relatively cheap??
 
Originally posted by: burnedout
Believe it or not, I've purchased two batteries for my Harley-Davidson Sportster at K-Mart over the years.

Off the top of your head, do you remember how much they went for?? And if I was to get one at my local Kmart, how would I properly dispose of the old one??
 
Originally posted by: sward666
What kind of bike?

My beloved 1994 Honda CBR 1000F

I've decided that all my repair money will go into the bike and I'll let my car just rot in the driveway
 
Originally posted by: malbojah
Originally posted by: burnedout
Believe it or not, I've purchased two batteries for my Harley-Davidson Sportster at K-Mart over the years.

Off the top of your head, do you remember how much they went for?? And if I was to get one at my local Kmart, how would I properly dispose of the old one??
Last one I got was at the K-Mart in Killeen, TX about 4.5 years ago. I think that I paid $45-$50 plus tax or so. They didn't ask for the old one as a core. I took the old one to Hazmat on Ft. Hood and disposed of it.

The battery and acid were packaged seperately. Just be careful cutting the hose on the acid. Maybe wear some eye protection.

They may take your old one if your K-mart has an automotive dept. If not, try Walmart.
 
Originally posted by: burnedout
Originally posted by: malbojah
Originally posted by: burnedout
Believe it or not, I've purchased two batteries for my Harley-Davidson Sportster at K-Mart over the years.

Off the top of your head, do you remember how much they went for?? And if I was to get one at my local Kmart, how would I properly dispose of the old one??
Last one I got was at the K-Mart in Killeen, TX about 4.5 years ago. I think that I paid $45-$50 plus tax or so. They didn't ask for the old one as a core. I took the old one to Hazmat on Ft. Hood and disposed of it.

The battery and acid were packaged seperately. Just be careful cutting the hose on the acid. Maybe wear some eye protection.

They may take your old one if your K-mart has an automotive dept. If not, try Walmart.

Ok, I'm trying to find a place that will just take the old one right away so I can just put the new one in and ride off into the sunset (or is it sunrise?? :confused😉
 
Originally posted by: malbojah
Originally posted by: sward666
What kind of bike?

My beloved 1994 Honda CBR 1000F

I've decided that all my repair money will go into the bike and I'll let my car just rot in the driveway
A lot of Hondas take some pretty specialized batteries. Weird case shapes and things like that. You don't happen to know what model the battery is, do you?

And was the delivery car running when you jumped the bike off of it?

 
Originally posted by: sward666
Originally posted by: malbojah
Originally posted by: sward666
What kind of bike?

My beloved 1994 Honda CBR 1000F

I've decided that all my repair money will go into the bike and I'll let my car just rot in the driveway
A lot of Hondas take some pretty specialized batteries. Weird case shapes and things like that. You don't happen to know what model the battery is, do you?

And was the delivery car running when you jumped the bike off of it?


It's a no-name battery, and yes the car was running and had a nice warm engine (if it dies, my boss will have to buy a new car [please die car, please die car])
 
The battery should have some alpha-numeric designation on it.

And you really do not want to jump a bike off of a running car.
 
Just keep in mind that an '88 Sporty uses a fairly standard battery. But they should have a book for cross reference. A friend of mine purchased a battery for his scoot at Walmart.

Maybe take some measurements of it before you go inside. Like distance from post to post, LxWxH and types of connectors on the posts.

Some stores take old cores, I know that.
 
Originally posted by: burnedout
Just keep in mind that an '88 Sporty uses a fairly standard battery. But they should have a book for cross reference. A friend of mine purchased a battery for his scoot at Walmart.

Maybe take some measurements of it before you go inside. Like distance from post to post, LxWxH and types of connectors on the posts.

Some stores take old cores, I know that.

Hold on a sec...(pulls out Honda service manual...be back in a sec)
 
Looks like it should be a YB14L-B2. A YB14L-A2 would be no problem (super common), B2 not as much, but it looks like the only difference is the vent location. Case size is definitely the same, and it looks like the terminals are the same also. And you might get lucky and find a B2 on the shelf at Wally World. If you can work around the vent, the A2 should be okay, but you don't want the vent dumping acid on your chain or something.

Seriously, don't jump a bike off a running car.
 
Originally posted by: sward666
Looks like it should be a YB14L-B2. A YB14L-A2 would be no problem (super common), B2 not as much, but it looks like the only difference is the vent location. Case size is definitely the same, and it looks like the terminals are the same also. And you might get lucky and find a B2 on the shelf at Wally World. If you can work around the vent, the A2 should be okay, but you don't want the vent dumping acid on your chain or something.

Seriously, don't jump a bike off a running car.
Yeah, I forgot about the vent hose.

Save your old vent hose because the new one may be too short. Also fill each cell slowly with acid.

 
Originally posted by: malbojah
Originally posted by: sward666

Seriously, don't jump a bike off a running car.

Too late 🙁
If the car is as big a POS as you say it is, maybe you got lucky and the charging system isn't putting out any more juice than your bike. I think if you were really screwed by it, you would know by now, but maybe not. If you stick a new battery in there, and it boils the electrolyte out, you have a problem.

And when I say that some Hondas have goofy batteries, I'm talking like T-shaped cases (Shadow).


 
Originally posted by: sward666
Originally posted by: malbojah
Originally posted by: sward666

Seriously, don't jump a bike off a running car.

Too late 🙁
If the car is as big a POS as you say it is, maybe you got lucky and the charging system isn't putting out any more juice than your bike. I think if you were really screwed by it, you would know by now, but maybe not. If you stick a new battery in there, and it boils the electrolyte out, you have a problem.

And when I say that some Hondas have goofy batteries, I'm talking like T-shaped cases (Shadow).

1) the delivery car is a 92 Ford Festiva (the ultimate POS)
2) the bike battery is a small double sized brick
 
One last thing - I know you're in a bind here, but you really want a full charge on these things before you put them in service.
 
Not much of a bind as my job is only a mile away and I should be doing some excercise at some point in my life 🙂
 
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