As I posted the other day, I used the bike for the work commute and after 12 hours of being stood it wouldn't start, a few lazy turns of the starter but no vroom vroom.. The battery is less than a year old and I have a Datatool 4 red alarm fitted. The previous battery was a Motobatt, that also let me down in almost exactly the same way...12 hours stood in the works car park. Now I know the Datatool has a popular reputation for being a battery killer..but 12 hours !! Anyway, I bought a new starter motor this week as part of the process of elimination, this I fitted today. So tonight the bike gets left off the Optimate ad tomorrow I'll see if it wants to play ball after about 16-18 hrs of being stood. If it's dead in the water then the Datatool is getting taken out and reused as a garage alarm, permanent 12v supply with battery backup What other alarm/immobiliser have people fitted and what can folk recommend ? I'm not really looking for anything fancy, just something that is reliable and won't leave me bump starting the damn bike after a day at work. As for batteries...looking at the choice on offer, they are all pretty similar in Ah and CCA all apart from the Lithium ones. They certainly pack some punch reading the spec sheets and are obviously very light. This one in particular looks very good SHIDO LITHIUM ION LIGHTWEIGHT MOTORCYCLE BATTERY REPLACES LTZ10S | eBay Searching the posts on here I see that a few have taken the Lithium route and I would like to know your opinions and which ones you went for, also did you have to buy any other pieces of electrickery to make it work with the bikes charging system, was it plug and play ? My bike is an RR7 for those that don't already know..
had an SPS lithium on my 2009 for a year now, zero complains. NEVER needed to top it up. Got a tracker and HISS and never failed on me. If I know I will not use it for a number of weeks Ie holidays I just disconnect it.
Well..went and tried starting the bike this morning after almost 20 hours off the charger..and...flat battery. So it's going to be out with the Datatool alarm as that's obviously the culprit. So the search is on for it's replacement although the old alarm will be staying put till the new one is here, don't want to be pulling the loom out twice.
I use Dynavolt Batteries. Had one in my old R1 5pw with a Meta 357 alarm and it lasted 4 years without a problem. If you go down the lithium battery route you also need a lithium specific charger, a good few quid but if you keep the bike for a fair while it may well pay for itself in the long run.
I'm not a big alarm fan either, often think they're far more trouble than they're worth and have ripped them out in the past, that said it's probably got nothing to do with your battery, looks like you've got a drain of some sort if it goes flat that quick. I think you're assuming way too quick that it's the alarm, you should get checking exactly what the drain is before you rip it out. I can start my RR7 with a Datatool 4 after two weeks just about. One day is way too quick to go flat, gotta be something else unless the alarm is faulty. http://1000rr.co.uk/maintenance/20112.htm I emailed Datatool in my case to check what the drain should be and received the figures below. Average current (sampling 10mins ) Voltage S4 Red and Green Disarm 2.85mA 12.0 V IGN ON 118.2mA 12.0 V Arm 2.897mA 12.0 V Sleep mode level 1 2.233mA 11.5 V Sleep mode level 2 2.218mA 10.5 V Sleep mode level 3 2.216mA 9.8 V Winter mode 131µA 12.0 V
I've got a 20th anniversary model with the same alarm as you and no problems whatsoever. Left the bike fully alarmed and off the charger for 2 weeks in the summer when on holiday and it started no bother.
The first thing to do is check the health of the charging system particularly the RR, that's the main issue in the charging cct, and a fault with that can then damage both the genny and battery. If you have a meter, check the readings straight after riding it, and see if it is anywhere near where you expect the static voltage to be. The other to check is when the bike is alarmed what is the current draw, and the same when it is in service mode. It could be any number of things including the alarm, but your cheapest option is some basic diagnosis before costly process of elimination.
Had a SkyRich Li-ion battery on my 08. Resolved all previous battery related and starting issues. Also bought the Optimate Lithium trickle charger, but may not be needed as they shouldn't lose much charge at all.
I have an 06 and went for this battery CBR 1000 RR Fireblade 2007 Lithium-Ion Motorcycle Battery | eBay Its very powerful and seems to crank the bike faster than a standard one. I went through 2 standard battery's in the last 4 years.. presuming due to the cold in my garage during the winter but so far - so good for my weekly start-up this winter.. weight is unbelievable.. I think from memory it weighed about 1 kg and the standard one was about 4kg
Well I've bought a lithium battery and charger for the bike, they should be here Monday. Tried starting the bike today, 48 hrs after taking alarm off and not on optimate, result...flat battery...soo...!! Looks like there's another parasite sucking the life out of the battery. Got the battery back on charge now and will do some diagnosis with the meter when it's fully charged. Thing is with the datatool is that it was hard wired into the loom, so not easily disconnected when trying to find out whats doing the draining. Other stuff, lights etc are a simple unplug and test.
