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It's 2019: what's the best battery for the XR650L?

By chrisross,
in XR600R & XR650R/L

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chrisross

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Going for **weight saving**and dependability.  I will not be relocating the battery, so I'll "foam in" whatever I end up getting.

Is the anti-gravity 8-cell enough to handle it?  Or do I need the 12?

Or is the Shorai still the best in 2019?

If it makes a difference, I'm changing the halogen headlight for LED, and I may do the same with the blinkers soon.  Everything else is pretty much stock, electrically.  No 12v plugs or anything like that.

 

Thanks!

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Bob Walters

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The Antigravity Restart units have all the latest tech and some truly useful features. But they are a bit pricy. The ATZ7 ($120) is enough but the ATZ10 ($180) provides lots of excess capacity. That's what I'd get for the stock location, esp if cold temps are in play.

The more compact Shorai LFX09A2 ($110) remains the best for a tidy underseat relocation.

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chrisross

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On 4/14/2019 at 11:35 AM, Thumper3 said:

You would be better to ditch the side " briefcase" that holds the battery. It sheds about 10 lbs doing a battery relocation swap. Plus the bike feels more balanced.  I have mine up behind the headlight.

 

On 4/14/2019 at 11:52 AM, Josh Fisher123 said:

Agreed...get that crap outta there...my little shorai is super dependable

 

I could be wrong, but when the battery relocation sheds 10 lbs...isn't at least 8-9 of those lbs just in the weight differences of the batteries?  So if you swapped to the same battery, but didn't relocate it under the seat...you're still shedding a good amount weight, right?

I personally like the battery box for the symmetry it provides (opposite the exhaust).  I just want a lighter weight battery in there.

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NoFiddyPilot

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On 4/14/2019 at 11:44 AM, DCcycleworks said:

We have had really good luck with these so far about 110 bucks IMG_2409.JPG

I tried one of those. Lasted about a month. Fortunately it didn't leave me stranded and the WPS warranty allowed me to return it. I had much better luck w/ Antigravity. I live in a place that cooks batteries and my last 3 bikes have had NO back up kicker. Their Restart tech as a must have have! Of course, I"m sure not all WPS featherweights die early, just my experience. I'll admit, I liked the price point!

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Josh Fisher123

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I could be wrong, but when the battery relocation sheds 10 lbs...isn't at least 8-9 of those lbs just in the weight differences of the batteries?  So if you swapped to the same battery, but didn't relocate it under the seat...you're still shedding a good amount weight, right?



I personally like the battery box for the symmetry it provides (opposite the exhaust).  I just want a lighter weight battery in there.
The Shorai is under 2 lbs...the stocker is 5-6 lbs?...battery box is another good chunk of weight...the nice part of the Shorai, is it comes with a crap ton of adhesive padding to help fit it anywhere...
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DCcycleworks

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I tried one of those. Lasted about a month. Fortunately it didn't leave me stranded and the WPS warranty allowed me to return it. I had much better luck w/ Antigravity. I live in a place that cooks batteries and my last 3 bikes have had NO back up kicker. Their Restart tech as a must have have! Of course, I"m sure not all WPS featherweights die early, just my experience. I'll admit, I liked the price point!

Ya that’s too bad, we haven’t had any trouble with them at all, but we have with antigravity batteries haha. This day and age it seems hard to get a lot of consistency from most products....just tried a different lithium ion battery for an fxr the first one wouldn’t even turn over the bike and then started smoking, replaced it with another one of the same brand and it did the exact same thing. When we tried to send them both back (ordered through parts unlimited). They said they wouldn’t return them because the company had gone out of business and they had been getting tons of returns before they closed up shop. I was so pissed they would continue to sell something like that and then not take it back after knowing there were problems with them
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William1

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5 minutes ago, Josh Fisher123 said:

BEWARE of Lithium "ION" batteries...we all know cell phones explode...I wouldn't put a lithium ion battery in any vehicle...the Shorai is Lithium "IRON"...it has zero chance of thermal runaway even if punctured. emoji106.png Be careful what you buy y'all...

All the batteries being sold for bikes and cars are LiFe, not LiIo. The only people still running LiIo are the R/C folk. Phone and laptops changed a few years back.

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NoFiddyPilot

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On 4/15/2019 at 3:23 PM, DCcycleworks said:


Ya that’s too bad, we haven’t had any trouble with them at all, but we have with antigravity batteries haha. This day and age it seems hard to get a lot of consistency from most products....just tried a different lithium ion battery for an fxr the first one wouldn’t even turn over the bike and then started smoking, replaced it with another one of the same brand and it did the exact same thing. When we tried to send them both back (ordered through parts unlimited). They said they wouldn’t return them because the company had gone out of business and they had been getting tons of returns before they closed up shop. I was so pissed they would continue to sell something like that and then not take it back after knowing there were problems with them

Wow, that's pretty sad! I will admit, I'm a little biased because I know Scott, the owner of Antigravity. He's a smart guy, highly driven and I know that he cares deeply about his products. For example, I gave him some feedback on one of their 12v pumps to make it better suited how dual sport guys would use it and fairly quickly he updated the product. I like vendors that listen to riders and improve their products. I have used their Restart batteries in a KTM 690 Enduro R that I recently sold. That battery had to start a big bore thumper many many times and I rode it in the deep sand, water and high heat & humidity of central Florida. It never faltered and again with no back up kicker there was always this little thought in the back of my mind of getting stuck in the middle of the forest. No way in hades that I was pushing 330lbs. of dual sport through 6-8" of sugar sand to the nearest road!

My riding buddy at the time had a KLR650 that he drowned in a watercrossing and in the process of trying to get it started, his Shorai went from good to discharged w/o notice! I had to ride 45 miles home, grab my truck, rescue him and drive him about a hundred miles round trip to his house and back to home. LONG day! This was before I had a Antigravity Restart battery, so when they came out I was like, "Yes! I need that!"

Clearly they all fail at some point and it's why depending upon the area, I carry a smaller battery jumper box. The one I have fits in a hydration pack and it's good insurance given that even my 2019 KTM 350XCF has NO back up kicker!

20180519_124152[1].jpg

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ScottRNelson

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If you're more concerned with reliability than weight savings, I would stick with a Yuasa AGM battery.

I used WPS batteries on my KTM 990 Adventure and had them fail after less than a year.  One was replaced under warranty and I didn't bother with the warranty when the second one failed, I just bought a Yuasa that I could trust and no more problems.  That's what I'm using in my XR650L today too.

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NoFiddyPilot

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7 hours ago, Motorius said:

Anyone had to press the auxiliary power button to get a final start from the Anti unit yet? Is there room to get your fingers in the stock battery box to do so? How about with Motech racks on?

@xmxvet just installed on on his XR650L. Per his review:

Quote

The RE-START button is located on the top of the battery, and on the XR650L, there is just enough space between the top of the battey and the top of the battery box to fit my fingers in to reach and activate the RE-START button. 

 

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