Battery

Joined
Apr 13, 2015
Messages
18
I need to replace my bikes battery as it's no longer holding a full charge, even on an optimate charger. Is there a specific battery the bike needs? I can't find the info in the Norton booklet

Thanks
 
In the 3 years I had my 961 I replaced the original Yuasa after 9 months then that one after a year then gave up with expensive Yuasa's and fitted a cheap Lucas I think it was which worked just as well. Batteries on 961's have to be tip top otherwise the engine will crank over but not fire.
Regards
 
snakehips said:
In the 3 years I had my 961 I replaced the original Yuasa after 9 months then that one after a year then gave up with expensive Yuasa's and fitted a cheap Lucas I think it was which worked just as well. Batteries on 961's have to be tip top otherwise the engine will crank over but not fire.
Regards

Do you keep the battery on a charger when the bike is not in use?
 
I keep the battery on a trickle charger but it still takes 4 or 5 attempts to get it started. Once it starts, a ten minute ride charges the battery again and it starts fine. I plug it in overnight and its drained again by the morning and takes another 4 or 5 attempts. I think the battery is on it's way out
 
BritTwit said:
snakehips said:
In the 3 years I had my 961 I replaced the original Yuasa after 9 months then that one after a year then gave up with expensive Yuasa's and fitted a cheap Lucas I think it was which worked just as well. Batteries on 961's have to be tip top otherwise the engine will crank over but not fire.
Regards

Do you keep the battery on a charger when the bike is not in use?
No, and neither do I on my 09 Bonneville and that has just sat all winter and started no problem, 6 years old and on its second battery. I think 961's eat batteries.
 
The starting drill seems to be the pretty much the same for many owners. I have to hit the button 3 or 4 times to get it started also.
When you put the battery on the charger, does the charger indicate that the battery has been topped off the next day?
My Battery Tender charger has a solid green light once the battery has reached full charge.
After an afternoon ride, it takes about 10 minutes for my charger to go from flashing green when the bike is plugged it, to solid green light.

My thinking is that if your battery is healthy enough that the starter turns the engine, it certainly has sufficient charge to fire the plugs.
Are you sure the charger wires are connected to the battery terminals under the tank?
 
I put the leads on the battery myself.

The first 3 or 4 times I press the ignition the bike actually starts, struggles to get to 1k revs and then dies. 4th or 5th time it settles at 1200rpm ish and is fine. After ten mins riding it starts fine the first time.

The charger says the battery is fully charged but after trying to start the bike a few times it says the battery needs topping up again
 
spartanheed said:
I put the leads on the battery myself.

The first 3 or 4 times I press the ignition the bike actually starts, struggles to get to 1k revs and then dies. 4th or 5th time it settles at 1200rpm ish and is fine. After ten mins riding it starts fine the first time.

The charger says the battery is fully charged but after trying to start the bike a few times it says the battery needs topping up again

Funny you should mention that. My bike started up well today, held the throttle at around 2 grand for 30 seconds and it stayed. I rode about 30 miles, talked to some bikers for around a half hour, and then the same thing happened. It would fire and die a few times. Then I just started it, revved it up and rode right away. After that, it started fine. Wondering if I should pop for a new battery too. I kept it on a 1.25 amp tender all winter and hook it up after every ride. What gives? Could be that its a 2013, got it in 2014 and havent gotten to ride it much while it was four months at the dealer a three to four more in my garage during the winter. This really pisses me off. Had a really great ride today, so I'll remain grateful.
 
I think its time to do a starter battery voltage drop test . Just hook up a voltmeter across the battery and monitor the voltage . When you hit the starter the voltage will drop to some value during cranking lets say 11 volts. The ECU/Ignition system will stop working at some lower level. We need to know what that level is. Dimitri stated the same thing , he is in the Netherlands I think. Anyway , at some value under 12 V the bike does not fire but it will crank over. So , This value we need to know . I will perform this test on my bike and I will report back the value of the voltage drop at the battery during cranking. Also , If the battery cables are gauged too small this will worsen the issues. And lets not forget bad or corroded connections will do the same thing. Tony
 
My bike will fire and idle on the first touch of the button even in 30 degree weather. Hot it starts and idles even better. It would not do this before I fiddled with the idle screw and really didn't get to this level before 1000 miles. I learned the hard way that after about 3 weeks the battery does not have enough to turn over the bike, common issue on newer cars and bikes. Since then I keep the 961 on a tender/ conditioner and have not had any issues! :mrgreen:

PS. Pumping the throttle 2 or 3 times really helps the cold start on my bike, these bikes do not act like they are fuel injected!
 
TonyA said:
I think its time to do a starter battery voltage drop test . Just hook up a voltmeter across the battery and monitor the voltage . When you hit the starter the voltage will drop to some value during cranking lets say 11 volts. The ECU/Ignition system will stop working at some lower level. We need to know what that level is. Dimitri stated the same thing , he is in the Netherlands I think. Anyway , at some value under 12 V the bike does not fire but it will crank over. So , This value we need to know . I will perform this test on my bike and I will report back the value of the voltage drop at the battery during cranking. Also , If the battery cables are gauged too small this will worsen the issues. And lets not forget bad or corroded connections will do the same thing. Tony


Belgium, but close to the border of the Netherlands ;-)

With the original battery i experienced the same thing when the bike was not used for a couple of days. The bike fired up, but stalled immediately. 4 to 5 times. It got worse and at the end the bike would not fire anymore. Funny thing is, it always cranked as if the battery was new. Hard to diagnose the battery that way. After i replaced the original battery, the old one went in another of my bikes. It still is actually. So it looks like a specific need of the Norton's ECU preventing it to fire.
When replacing the battery and telling my story to a local (non Norton) dealership, they recommended me a plain lead acid type battery (non factory activated). Cheaper and it would hold it's charge better. I tried it and for me it did the trick. I think it is now in the bike for maybe 1,5 or 2 years. The bike never did the stalling thing again and it will fire up immediately, even after weeks of storage. And my bike idles at 1100rpm. I never touched the idle screw.
 
That is very interesting information. Could you tell us what part number battery is the lead acid replacement for the Norton Battery ? Thanks for the information and the reply .
 
I'd be interested too. It's pointless me buying a new factory activated battery if it's going to do the same thing
 
Spartanhead, as you have an early bike it will be worth you checking the charge voltage to the battery. Norton had issues with the early regulators and replaced with a different type. If you press the button between the clocks a couple of times it'll bring up the charge voltage in the display, with the bike running it should read around 14v. My 2012 bike was reading 17v when it went back for it's 500mile service and was replaced with the new style regulator before it fried the battery.
 
Honestly, I've had a change of heart on the bike and I'm moving it on already. When I spend this much money on a relatively new bike I expect to be able to ride it every day without fear that the gear box is going to blow up, the battery is going to fry etc. even the mechanic at Norton when I spoke to him told me it's not the type of bike you want to make a long journey on!

A local garage is buying it off me so I just want the battery to start the bike up. They can investigate the reg/rec etc if needed
 
spartanheed said:
Honestly, I've had a change of heart on the bike and I'm moving it on already. When I spend this much money on a relatively new bike I expect to be able to ride it every day without fear that the gear box is going to blow up, the battery is going to fry etc. even the mechanic at Norton when I spoke to him told me it's not the type of bike you want to make a long journey on!

A local garage is buying it off me so I just want the battery to start the bike up. They can investigate the reg/rec etc if needed


My dad is on his second long journey. The bike has been great.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/one07/set ... 982520942/
 
Battery
Day 10 WEST - Vancouver by ONE-07, on Flickr
 
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