OK in the last two weeks by bike has let me down by not starting twice. Both times had extenuating circumstances,,, but bottom line is , I feel with a decent battery the bike would have started. The first time it was cold out (38 degrees, which is really not that cold), the bike sat out on the hitch carrier all night. When I got to the club grounds it would not fire. It just turned over very sluggishly. It seems like the KLX has always turned over slowly compared to other bikes. One push start from a buddy and it popped off. embarrassing. ( I do have the "choke" drilled and that has improved cold starts a lot)
Just yesterday out on the trails , I tipped it over. The bike laid upside down on the side of a hill for a minute while i wrestled it back up. (my bike always falls to the downside of a hill ) Well anytime it's over like that it gets kind of flooded and needs to be cranked a bit before it fires off. Yesterday when i picked it up, it cranked but was getting sluggish after a few tries. I think I had about 3, ten second attempts before it sounded like it was cranking too slow to pop the bike off. I had to have one of the other club members help me push it up out of a gully, and over a couple of logs, to a downhill spot on the trail where it bump started easily. embarrassing again. The battery is probably not even a year old, so I am going to take it back to batteries plus and have them test it, but I dont hold out much hope for satisfaction there.

I'm looking at the kick start option, which is expensive $305 is the best price I have found at RonAyers.com I guess it's not that much for the insurance it gives.

I'm also looking at the Shorai Li-iron batteries . My battery question is about the initial power. I want something that spins the engine over a little quicker than the stock battery has. The shorai batteries list the CCA for each battery. Does anyone know what the stock Battery's CCA is? Should I even be looking at the CCA?

ShoraiUsa - LFX09L2-BS12 135 CCA $109 on eBay

ShoraiUsa - LFX14L2-BS12 210CCA $144 on eBay

Here are a couple LIon battery threads. Zombywoof has used off the shelf LIon battery packs with success but I'm not sure of the cranking power of those. Looking for some more feedback from those with any of the LIon batterys. I'm not worried about the weight savings at all, I want something that spins the engine well, and reliably.
Thanks Dan

https://www.kawasakiforums.com/forum...battery-37401/

https://www.kawasakiforums.com/forum...estions-36742/

 

High DC voltage is what makes a starter spin faster. A fully charged battery will be at 12.7V. CCA is a measurement of the number of amps a battery can deliver at 0 ° F for 30 seconds and not drop below 7.2 volts. 7.2V isn't gonna start your bike so a high CCA rating can be misleading, but it's a general spec to compare similar batteries. Cold temps don't hurt a battery. Cold temps just slow down the chemical reaction inside the battery which limits the amount of CCA you can get. The magic in the Shorai is that it sits at 14.3 volts when fully charged. That's what make your starter spin faster. The trick is getting up that high with traditional methods. The KLX spec is 14.2 - 15.2V so it may work well if your system is on the high end.

 

Good information, Thanks Lotrat! Can you elaborate on the last sentence you wrote?
By "KLX spec", do you mean that's the optimum voltage for the bike to operate on? IF so a 12.7v battery is a step behind even in the best of condition.
When you say "system is on the high end" are you referring to the voltage of the battery?
Basically the LIon batteries are at 14.3v vs the standard batteries at 12.7v , both when fully charged.
Thanks for the info.
Dan

 

I have read a bit on the new Lion batteries. They seem good but not without issue. For one it seems the cells of the battery will not remain in balance over time and a smart charger is required to do this. That may need to be factored into it for $.

I think your battery is just week. I well cared for OEM should last at least 6 years as some others have. Not that I don't like the idea of the weight and technology of Lion. Its just not a "perfect" battery yet.

Here is a review:
http://www.webbikeworld.com/motorcyc...le-battery.htm

 

Sorry, I should have said "your bike's charging system". Your battery will only charge up to the voltage is is being charged with. Your bike needs to put out a constant 14.3V or higher to be able to fully charge the Shorai battery. A standard battery will drop down to 12.7v off charge. The Shorai will stay up at 14.3V off charge. The service manual says the charging system on the KLX can be as high at 15.2V which will fully charge the Shorai, but I would be interested to see the nominal output while at an average RPM. I'll check mine out later.

 

have a stock battery for sale or trade...starts the bike on first try...sometimes takes 2 to 4 attempts on cold days or after being parked for days....holds charge and works fine....installed a shorai...lightweight and instant effortless starts...

 

The battery that came in my bike stock isn't hardly strong enough to be in the bike as I have had your issues in extreme situations. It turns slow when cold and these bikes need spun fast to start. At least on the battery it will usually push start easily. Lith ion is in my future.

 

The CCA do have a bit to play into that. The higher the current (CCA), the less voltage drop will occur to the starter since the battery has more current available to power the starter motor. Just look at a simple battery curve and it will show this.

Pretend the "cutoff voltage" is the voltage at which the starter will spin to slow to start the bike



Bottom line is that the battery is in good shape it should be able to start the bike just fine, I'd look at getting that battery replaced under warranty first then installing a kickstarter for more peace of mind

 

OK thanks for the for everyone's input. For what it's worth, I checked and the battery is sitting at 12.9v. I pulled it out of the bike and found that the battery is actually two years old, (when I bought it I wrote the date and price on the battery).
I still plan on taking it back to Batteries Plus and having them test it. Is it possible that a dead cell would have an effect like this?
Is there a way I can check the voltage of my charging system easily?
Thanks, Dan

 

If you had a single dead cell you wouldn't be seeing 12v, you'd have around 10v. The more dead cells, the lower the max voltage you'll see. To check your charging system put a meter on the battery terminals with the bike running, voltage should increase. Some systems won't charge very well at idle, so rev it up a bit if it seems low. Also the lower the load (lights off, charged battery) the higher the volts you'll see up to the regulator's cutoff.