Odyssey PC310 battery for a KTM 640

[ChrisC]

Originally Posted by StokelyVanCamp

I have a Odyssey in my Dr. Big and love it, but another thing to consider is that apparently you cannot trickle charge the Odysseys. I haven't tried a trickle charger, but did buy a nice charger I found on sale that can throw a little more current at it. But it may factor in to the overall cost, if you have to get a charger as well. But for the record, it is still worth it in my books. I haven't had an issue starting the Dr. Big since I got it, even if it is really cool out and the bike has been sitting, and before I had hassles all the time, even with a brand new Yuasa

I had heard the same thing about battery chargers and the Odyssey battery, particularly with regards to the Deltran float chargers. It appears to be a bit of a myth, at least when using them as "maintainers" rather than "rechargers". From the Odyssey site:

There is another class of chargers that is designed specifically to maintain the battery in a high state of charge. These chargers, such as the 1.25 amp Battery Tender® from Deltran are not capable of charging a deeply discharged ODYSSEY® battery. This is due to the fact that these chargers have very low output power. They should only be used either to continuously compensate for parasitic losses or to maintain a trickle charge on a fully charged stored battery.

Oh, and Stokely.... ya need an avatar

[meat popsicle]

I never heard of anyone recharging ANY deeply discharged battery with a trickle charger... sure, I have been told to set the 'normal' charger to low output if you want a better charge on the battery (I guess high output charging does not condition the battery as well? ). Is that what they mean about charging? They can't mean trickle charging a nearly discharged battery...

ps - nice of you to give him an avitar!

pps - i worry about the extra 8mm of height being a problem... stuff above the battery is pretty crammed in there. Awaiting an install report

[StokelyVanCamp]

Thanks Chris.
That is truly fantastic.

[Gale B.T.]

Originally Posted by KTM640Dakar

Has anyone tried the dry cell Odyssey PC310 battery in their KTM 640 Adventure? It is supposed to be vibration resistant and last ten years. They also recommend a special charger instead of a battery tender. Does anyone have any experience with these batties? Are they worth $118?

KTM640, I cannot answer your question about the PC 310, but I can tell you I have used Odyssey batteries for many years, the best was in my R80 RT which was still good after 7 years of 20K miles per year of running. They are , as far as I am concerned, bullet proof, sealed, powder rather than gel, can be installed on it's side, back , what ever and can stand a ton of vibrations. Had one in my Honda XR400 R for 3 years before trading for my own Adv. R. I will install an Odyssey the moment the present battery even hints of being down.

I use the Battery Tender junior on all my sealed gel or powder batteries and have had nothing but success, not a single problem yet, this going on for at least ten to twelve years!!!!

The Westco may be a battery site to check out, they are , from my sources, made by Odyssey and may be a little less, so check 'em out. Also some shopping around may find you the one you need for some what less.

Contact me if you need more praise, I have had great success. Gale

[meat popsicle]

Anyone? I may be in the market for a battery, and the Yuasa YTX9-BS (not a direct link) is "fine", but I do appreciate progress so I am looking at the following:

Odyssey PC310 which is 8mm taller than the Yuasa (but a bit narrower)

WestCo 12V9-B that claims to be a direct replacement for the Yuasa.

Didn't find a replacement for the Yuasa made by the recommended Optima brand, but that just may require digging

[BlitzBike]

Originally Posted by meat popsicle

Anyone? I may be in the market for a battery, and the Yuasa YTX9-BS (not a direct link) is "fine", but I do appreciate progress so I am looking at the following:

Odyssey PC310 which is 8mm taller than the Yuasa (but a bit narrower)

WestCo 12V9-B that claims to be a direct replacement for the Yuasa.

Didn't find a replacement for the Yuasa made by the recommended Optima brand, but that just may require digging

PC310 fits just fine and is a bit over a pound lighter. The guy who sells them claims you can run them flat 400 times without a problem since its a totally dry cell unlike standard batteries. Personnally I found this untrue as the mechanic working on my bike managed to kill mine by leaving it sit too long(says it won't recharge) Now I am on my second one but, since I'm having as-of-yet undiagnosed electric starting issues, I can't really give a good review of the battery performance since it it appears the problem originates else where.
Also keep in mind that oddysea claims you need a special charger if you run the battery down because standard trickle chargers don't deliver enough juice to recharge them properly. So this could add to your cost.
Otherwise it fits great and is lighter but, I'm dissapointed on the claimed run flat aspect but, then again, I may be having other issues with my charging system for all I know ( battery discharges hugely on starting attempts and just gives that silenced machingun sound). And I don't suppose they intended for the battery to STAY flat as long as the mechanic let it go (months).--I have a really bad track record with mechanics doing this to my batteries. I guess they all missed battery maintenace class.

[meat popsicle]

Did you take your old one to a garage and let them hook it up to their mega-charger? They always have one for zapping car batteries. But yeah, if your bike is having charging issues then it would be difficut to blame the battery... if you are going to repair your charging system, perhaps you should be our guinea pig, and try the charging system upgrade that Earthscape posted?

Thanks for the fittment information! I will probably go with the PC310 as well.

[BlitzBike]

Originally Posted by meat popsicle

Did you take your old one to a garage and let them hook it up to their mega-charger? They always have one for zapping car batteries. But yeah, if your bike is having charging issues then it would be difficut to blame the battery... if you are going to repair your charging system, perhaps you should be our guinea pig, and try the charging system upgrade that Earthscape posted?

Thanks for the fittment information! I will probably go with the PC310 as well.

I would love to do Earthscapes charging system upgrade but, not having a suitable works space puts a damper on all but the most necessary maintnenance and I don't wanna throw any monkey wrenches at my mechanic as he is already glacially slow as is. I would gladly pay double if I could find a single mechanic in this county that did work in a TIMELY manner (weeks!--- not months or quarterly)

[meat popsicle]

Originally Posted by BlitzBike

I would love to do Earthscapes charging system upgrade but, not having a suitable works space puts a damper on all but the most necessary maintnenance and I don't wanna throw any monkey wrenches at my mechanic as he is already glacially slow as is. I would gladly pay double if I could find a single mechanic in this county that did work in a TIMELY manner (weeks!--- not months or quarterly)

You should read up on Odyssey's charging specs - they require a very HD charger to recover from deep discharges. Hopefully you won't have to deal with the issue in the future - meaning no shop time.

Just one last check on the fitting - electrical components that bolt into the battery box, essentially holding the stock Yuasa down seem to be a tight fit. When you put the Odyssey PC310 in there, with it's 8mm taller height, you could easily bolt the stuff down?

[BlitzBike]

Originally Posted by meat popsicle

You should read up on Odyssey's charging specs - they require a very HD charger to recover from deep discharges. Hopefully you won't have to deal with the issue in the future - meaning no shop time.

Just one last check on the fitting - electrical components that bolt into the battery box, essentially holding the stock Yuasa down seem to be a tight fit. When you put the Odyssey PC310 in there, with it's 8mm taller height, you could easily bolt the stuff down?

Yeah I know about the charging deal...he claims he maxed out his garbage can sized charger to no avail.

As far as the battery fitment, If I recollect properly, the clamp that holds the battery down appears that its going to be an awkward fit but, once the battery is properly oriented front to back and the clamp is tightened, there are no worries...The clamp is a litle less form fitting to the oddysea than the yausa but it all works out fine with no clearance issues although stuffing a little "filler" in the side to side dimension probably wouldn't be a bad idea since its smaller in that dimension (in case you drop the bike hard).
The other thing that takes some getting used to is there is a slight delay when you push the start button while the battery cycles.

[meat popsicle]

Originally Posted by BlitzBike

Yeah I know about the charging deal...he claims he maxed out his garbage can sized charger to no avail.

As far as the battery fitment, If I recollect properly, the clamp that holds the battery down appears that its going to be an awkward fit but, once the battery is properly oriented front to back and the clamp is tightened, there are no worries...The clamp is a litle less form fitting to the oddysea than the yausa but it all works out fine with no clearance issues although stuffing a little "filler" in the side to side dimension probably wouldn't be a bad idea since its smaller in that dimension (in case you drop the bike hard).
The other thing that takes some getting used to is there is a slight delay when you push the start button while the battery cycles.

Thanks again Blitzy!

Did you have to figure out the battery cycling delay yourself? I can just imagine how fun that would be... WTF is wrong now!?! I wouldn't have known that so thanks for the FYI.

[Ruffus]

Originally Posted by KTM640Dakar

They seem to be less expensive than the little one that they put in it.

I just installed a voltage meter to watch the charging voltage of my bike and it would only charge 13.7 volts when running 5000 rpm. I figured a larger battery might help if there is room.

anything from 13 to 15 volts is a good chargeing voltage

[BlitzBike]

Originally Posted by meat popsicle

Thanks again Blitzy!

Did you have to figure out the battery cycling delay yourself? I can just imagine how fun that would be... WTF is wrong now!?! I wouldn't have known that so thanks for the FYI.

I think it even says in the instructions ( I never read those) something about pushing the start button twice to direct the battery to deliver the
310 CCA. Otherwise, I think you get 100 CCA.
BTW how many CCA is the Yuasa? I forget...

[meat popsicle]

Originally Posted by BlitzBike

I think it even says in the instructions ( I never read those) something about pushing the start button twice to direct the battery to deliver the 310 CCA. Otherwise, I think you get 100 CCA.

BTW how many CCA is the Yuasa? I forget...

The KTM's starter doesn't take kindly to rapid firing the button, even says so in the Owner's Manual, so that might not be a good idea. Is that something that you do every time you start with the Odyssey? Or do you just use the 100 CCA single-fire, whatever that is Issues Blitzy?

RallyBug posted 120 CCA for the Yuasa earlier in this thread. So the Odyssey's 100 CCA low end is a bit lower than the Yuasa. Hopefully the 310 CCA doesn't require us to kill our starter systems. Guess I have more questions for Odyssey before comitting...

[BlitzBike]

Originally Posted by meat popsicle

The KTM's starter doesn't take kindly to rapid firing the button, even says so in the Owner's Manual, so that might not be a good idea. Is that something that you do every time you start with the Odyssey? Or do you just use the 100 CCA single-fire, whatever that is Issues Blitzy?

RallyBug posted 120 CCA for the Yuasa earlier in this thread. So the Odyssey's 100 CCA low end is a bit lower than the Yuasa. Hopefully the 310 CCA doesn't require us to kill our starter systems. Guess I have more questions for Odyssey before comitting...

I generally just push and hold and its starts immediately but, even if you hit it twice rapid fire, nothing happens the first time (because of the delay) so its not like you are roasting the starter like these mechanics that have crotch rockets on their minds think they can.