Honda Spree and Elite 50 Forums

The one in my Honda Spree (or before it was mine) froze last winter (now has huge bulging sides). I noticed that the one that was in it was a Power Sonic PTX4LBS-FS, it appears to be a gel cell, will any YTX4L-BS acid battery replace it, or do I need to make sure it isn't spill-able? What do you think of buying off the internet? Seems like a foolish/good idea. Good because there cheap, foolish because I could be buying an old out dated battery.

I have probably bought more scooter, jet-ski and snowmobile batteries in the last two years, than most guys will in a lifetime. When I am in a rush I buy from the local Meijer ( similar to Walmart) , they hold up well enough to sell the scooter, when I want a cheap battery, I buy off Ebay, they hold up well enough to sell the scooter. When I want quality for my personal rides, I go to my local motorcycle dealership and buy Yuasa brand, I tell them the Meijer price and politely ask if they can come close to that, every time so far, they can get within ten bucks of the cheapie battery.
Now here is the lesson in this, in the fall remove the batteries from all scooters and jet-skis store them in your basement to protect them from freezing, a battery wont freeze when it has a charge in it, but if it goes does dead it will freeze. If you absolutely cannot remove the battery, then you must diligently tickle charge the battery on a regular basis.
If your battery was more than a couple of years old, it probably was sulfated/weak anyway, so replacement was likely needed.

Greetings:

I paid a premium for the Yuasa brand online recently. When it arrived, the battery case looked Exactly like the cheap ones, and yes, it was Made in China. I'm not as sure that the brand still means quality as it once did.

^ah... another similar minded individual... I thought I was the only one that had these kind of thoughts.

If I need to replace, I buy new. As long as it's the same size, and of similar specifications (or better). Spillable/ Maintenance free or not is a matter of preference <it doesn't have to be>.

I usually buy locally as I'm in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and a lot of vendors/sellers won't sell it through mail order/ online. I haven't bought a battery (other than for my mobile phones) from online; although it's been very tempting (because they are so cheap!). Besides, if the prices are reasonable, I have no objections in buying from and helping a local business stay alive.

If ordering from online, I'd make sure to read and become familiar with their return policy (restocking fee? do u pay for shipping it back to them? etc). Just in the slim chance that you end up with a dud of a new battery.

Greetings:

The battery shipped dry with a well-padded cartridge of acid you have to add yourself. With UPS shipping it was around $50 as I recall. The battery worked just fine with an 8-hour charge, but no tellin' how long it'll last.

whatever battery you end up buying, be sure to charge it fully when you first get it. I'd still check it even if they say it's fully charged (it could've sat on the shelf for a week or two (or ?).

other battery related tips: Get a trickle charger, even the cheap ones at wallymart (or similar store) works
check your state of charge often (weekly? monthly?); keeping it charged when not in use for a while (wintertime?) help keeps it healthy and extends the usable life of the battery.

Ebay, 1st web sales sells amg batteries for less than 25 clams shipped. They work just fine. There are only a few battery manufacturers that fabricate batteries that fit in bikes,ski's and scooters. Save some money if you can wait a few days.