ODYSSEY® Technical Alerts
Short Service Life Experience with ODYSSEY Batteries
It has come to the attention of ODYSSEY
Drycell™ Batteries that two dominant powersport vehicles are sometimes
experiencing short battery life. These are V-Twin large cubic-inch custom
motorcycles and SeaDoo personal watercraft
V-Twin Custom Motorcycles – with the introduction of large
cubic-inch engines, i.e., 108-120+, required starting energy is at minimum
double that of stock smaller cubic-inch V-twin engines. The old rule of
thumb is that it takes 20 minutes of highway riding to recharge the
battery for a single start. These larger engines require at least 40
minutes. These custom bikes generally are ridden more in town; short
distances and doesn’t receive the required ride time to get a full
recharge on the battery. This sets up the scenario for the battery
to be discharged more than it is charged and after a short time,
sometimes-just days, the battery no longer starts the bike. Typical
run-down battery voltages are less than 12 volts. Full charge battery
voltage is 12.84 volts.
Solution – purchase a 12V, 6A or 12V, 12A Optimizer (Xenotronix
(407)331-4793, ext 100) or a Accumate Pro 12V, 7A charger P/N
12V-7A-S from Motion Pro (650)594-9600. Always disconnect the
charger AC power before connecting or disconnecting from the battery. Use
the charger at the end of the riding day and it can be left connected and
operating until the next ride.
SeaDoo Personal Watercraft – this brand of watercraft experiences
an electrical load on the battery during storage, caused by a control
module monitoring the lanyard socket. If the lanyard is left installed the
electrical drain is 18 ma after 10 minutes of shutting down the engine. If
the lanyard is removed, the electrical drain is 7 ma. These electrical
loads are continuous and can accumulate to be significant over time. At 18
milli amps, the battery will lose 1 amp/hour of capacity in 55.5 hours or
10 amp/hours (Ah) in 23 days. On a PC 625, 10 Ah is 59% of battery
capacity.
Solution – for Sea-Doo watercraft always disconnect the lanyard
from its socket when not riding the watercraft. Install a waterproof
disconnect switch in the negative battery cable, so the battery can be
disconnected after riding. Use switch P/N 37307 from Overton’s Marine
Catalog or use the Xenotronix or AccuMate charger suggested above.
In both cases, check ODYSSEY battery voltage periodically for full charge,
which is 12.84V. Recharge whenever below 12.65V.