The 16 year old battery

[RainMaker]

Some of you may have read about my fun a couple of weeks ago when I took my original 16 year old battery from my workbench and put it back in the Valk as the replacement had gone bad.  Thought it would work long enough to get inspected and ride the next day.

Sunday, after the bike had not run in 8 days, I went out to change the battery and put a new battery in.  Just for fun, I flipped on the key and hit the starter.  The old battery fired the bike right up.

So, now I'm torn - should I keep the old battery in there just to see how far it will go or put the new battery in?

I know the logical answer, but now I'm curious.

RM

[Jess from VA]

I ran one of mine to 10+ years (mine are on smart chargers 24 X 7 X 365 when not riding).  I had the same thought as you... let's see how far this one will last.  I always have a new one in the box waiting (with two valks).

As the weather improved that year, and I found myself way out in Nowhere several times, I had second thoughts.  How long my battery can last vrs being stuck miles and miles from any help (or much civilization) began sounding well, stupid.

I also had one other small symptom.  My bikes with perfect tunes and proper choke have always fired up nearly instantly (not including during freezing winters).  But this bike began to take two, three, four seconds to fire (consistently), when it never had in the past.  The fact that our bikes take X amount of current for the ignition to allow the bike to fire (even if the battery is not really shot) was not lost on me.  And then there's the advice that running a less than optimal battery is hard on the alternator, and I am happily hoping to die before I have to do that little job on one of my bikes.

So I changed the battery to a new one (and ordered another).  And sure as green apples, the bike fired instantly on starter push like it always had in the past.  It's not like I got ripped off by 10+ years of good service.  I still have the old one.  I don't really know why.

[Houdini]

So, now I'm torn - should I keep the old battery in there just to see how far it will go or put the new battery in

My .02¢ RM, put the new battery in.  Otherwise put the new one, fully charged, in a saddlebag and keep it with you because the old one will fail at the most inopportune time.

Here's what happened when mine failed in heavy traffic one morning.

Most unpleasant.

[MarcusS]

Old batteries are also a load on the Alternator. Battery and alt can die at same time.

[Firefighter]

I have never had a battery last more than a few years. Cars, boat, bikes or anything else. I have read here about the battery maintainers causing long battery life so I have them on everything now except the cars. Will see how I do!

[RainMaker]

Let it sit another week and tried to start today.  Fired right up.

But I changed the battery anyway as the voltmeter was showing 14 volts continuously, which probably indicates full charging going on.   

My alternator is safe - since I have spare ready to go in my saddlebag, the chances of the alternator failing are zero.  Alternators only fail when it's difficult to find a replacement.

RM