MotoBatt MBTX20U Review

[ImpactBattery]

The MBTX20U (yellow color) or the MBTX20UHD (black color) are the MotoBatt SKUs that will fit will fit the GL1800, F6B and Valkyrie bikes. The two batteries are identical in every way except for the exterior color (The Harley guys that have an exposed tray wanted a black version vs. the trademark Motobatt yellow brick). The MotoBatt brand of batteries are quickly becoming the number one replacement battery the world over and for good reason.

A unique feature for the MBTX20U is that it has four terminal options known as the Quadflex system. This allows riders to attach accessories to the opposite side of the battery without mucking up your primary power connection. We have heard riders praise this feature from day one! "It's brilliant!" is a common statement.

Many battery companies only focus on CCA and forget about AH. MotoBatt is not one of them as they understand the importance of amp capacity and its role in providing long term power generation vs. momentary starting power. Their CCA and AH specs are at the top of their class and deliver consistent long term performance. [Side Note: Watch the weight of the battery, it helps validate the quality. My suggestion is don't buy the hype of what we call "Churn and Burn" companies that promote 500 CCA or some crazy high number. There is a good chance the sacrifice in AH or lead (i.e. weight) to increase CCA will leave you sidelined before you know it. There is even a stronger chance the number is inflated. MotoBatt is conservative in reporting their CCA and AH, we have yet to have one test as low as what they publish.]

We have had tremendous success with these batteries. A battery insider mentioned to me the other day that acceptable industry failure rates can be pegged at 3-5%. This is for everyone, inclusive of those that offer only 3 month warranties to those like MotoBatt that offer 2 year warranties. As a distributor for the brand we can attest that Motobatt's failure rate varies between 1.2 to 1.5% depending on when numbers are tallied. That failure rate is easily half the industry standard despite them having a warranty that is 2-8x longer than the competition!

The MBTX20U will not be your cheapest battery you can buy and will also not be the most expensive. It is in the lower range for price when compared with Yuasa, Odessey, and Braille. But it is a little more costly when compared with quality batteries such as Moto Classic, and Kinetik. The 2 year warranty and four terminal configuration is usually what seals the deal.

In the fall of 2013 Wing World Magazine featured the MBTX20U and said that it should be the "heart of your Gold Wing's electrical system."

MBTX20U Battery Spec Highlights:

Cold Cranking Amps (CCA): 310
Dimensions (in): 6.89 x 3.43 x 6.1
Capacity Amp Hours (Ah): 21
Warranty: 2 Yr Replacement

Find This Item on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003YI1BQ2?tag=goldwingdocs-20

[harvey01]

Nice commercial! Do you have any real testing that shows it holds up 5 or so years like the Yuasa OEM?

[ImpactBattery]

Nice commercial! Do you have any real testing that shows it holds up 5 or so years like the Yuasa OEM?

I can see we will be good friends harvey01. I suppose I could poke back and ask do you have any testing that shows the Yuasa holds up 5 or so years like MotoBatt? Or is it just from word of mouth and perceived experience?

There is no doubt Yuasa is a great brand. If someone tells you otherwise run the other direction. Their is also no denying they own the OEM marketplace for everything power sports, but the after market is a different story. I have heard customers say they will never put a 'junk Yuasa' back in their bike again. I have a hard time believing them and honestly assume they must have done something to the battery to destroy it or something in their system failed the battery. In the same way, I have come to appreciate the MotoBatt brand and have the same inclinations when someone complains. You can always get a bad battery, but to quote a new friend "what really works stands out."

Over the last 6 years MotoBatt has grown from a 'me to' brand to one of the leading replacement battery brands in the world thanks to their attention to Power Balance, innovative design and consumer friendly warranty. They are the #1 selling sealed replacement in New Zealand and Australia and very close to becoming #1 in several others including the USA. Yuasa actually put out a letter in Australia telling their dealers how to handle the MotoBatt 'problem' which tells me they take them seriously and they are more than just another brand!

Without getting into the technical aspect of how the batteries work inside, I would confidently say that both brands will last extended periods of time and are on equal footing. So when it comes to the consumer what makes one better than the other? Features.
Motobatt has a 2 year warranty vs. Yuasa's 1 year warranty.
MotoBatt has the Quadflex design vs. Yuasa tradition terminal design.
MotoBatt is friendlier on the wallet!

As to real testing, well I already get the impression you are set in your ways and it would not matter, but for the rest of us their was an outfit in Texas that did some extensive tests on five different brands a number of years ago. It was called the "Texas Toast Battery Cook-Off"... I am having difficulty getting Intruderalert to load the page to grab the URL, but it appears you all discussed it back in 2012 viewtopic.php?t=13333

[WingAdmin]

Unfortunately both of the links to the original comparison are now dead...but archived versions can be viewed in archive.org:

Texas Toast Battery Cookoff

Texas Toast Battery Cookoff Part 2

[ImpactBattery]

Great idea using the Wayback Machine to find those articles!

After browsing through it again I guess I was mistaken, Yuasa was not one of the five brands included. But even now as I glance through it, MotoBatt is placed in a pretty good light. My favorite tests were: Test #7 the Tombstone Turnover Test , Test #8 and #9 the V10 Pickup Power-Up Test and Test #15 Death After Dark. Here is a quote from test #8... "The MBatt continued strongly throughout all 50 starts. There were no signs of slowing in the crank over of the engine. But since the test was stopped at 50 start attempts, all that can be said to quantify the MBatt starts is that it is capable of >50 unassisted starts of a Triton 6.8L V10 engine." The mighty Odyssey bowed out after 45 attempts.

They were using the slightly smaller MBTX16U for their testing. So if a smaller MotoBatt can start a V10 Triton pickup over 50 times in a row, should there be any doubt that the MBTX20U can handle the GL1800?

[Andy Cote]

Real life review: VERY VERY UNHAPPY!

So I wanted to upgrade to the AGM and I went to a local battery specialty store to buy a Yuasa. They talked me into the MottBatt as it was a few dollars less and had a two year warranty. Well I went to fire up the Goldwing this spring and she wouldn't go. I tried a my trickle charger over night. Green light but no start. Started the bike off the jump pack. Rode for an hour or so. Came back and left the trickle charger on overnight. Charger keeps coming up to the green light. Voltmeter reads 12.5 cold without the charger. Can't spin the engine more than a half a turn. Pulled the sales slip - three months beyond warranty period. THREE MONTHS.

[harvey01]

Andy, I failed to respond to the OP because he was selling a product and not truly answering my questions. Whenever a saleperson does that I tend to ignore from that point forward. Unfortunately I did not add that YES, I had done real world testing on 3 motorcycles over a period of almost 20 years. I have run Yuasa batteries almost exclusively during that period and have gotten great longevity and service from each. The reason for replacement in all but one case has been the fact the battery has been in the bike for more than 6 years and to give me piece of mind when I was a couple thousand miles from home.

I wish you had received the above thoughts and report of actual use prior to your purchase.

I highly recommend downloading and reading a copy of the Yuasa Technical manual. It provides a lot of great info about the initializing, care and maintenance of a battery as well as going into a description of the types of batteries available. http://www.yuasabatteries.com/

In all fairness to MOTOBatt, before passing judgement on why your MOTOBatt battery failed, I would have to ask a lot of service/maintenance questions. By not always following the manufacturers suggestions we can cause a battery to fail with one of the most common being a failure to provide a battery charger/maintainer when the bike is not being used a lot. Many bike especially touring bikes have a lot of electrical stuff such as audio equipment that may draw current even when off. Over time this can pull a battery down below the point of survivability. I am not saying that is what happened, just stating the possibility in fairness to MOTOBatt.

I will still stick to the battery, Yuasa, that has proven itself to me from use in the last 50 years of my riding experience.

[Andy Cote]

Harvey

Thanks for the note. I will be going to Yuasa for future batteries - as I stated above that was my original plan but in a weak moment I let the salesman talk into something else.

As far as the MotoBatt goes, first winter I would start and run at least once a month. This winter, since the bike was on the operating table for front end work, I hooked up a One Amp maintainer/charger for about 24 hours every month. I don't like to leave it on full time. Always waited until the light turned green.

BTW, MotoBatt did not come with any factory documentation whatsoever; just a sales slip.

[WingAdmin]

Harvey

Thanks for the note. I will be going to Yuasa for future batteries - as I stated above that was my original plan but in a weak moment I let the salesman talk into something else.

As far as the MotoBatt goes, first winter I would start and run at least once a month. This winter, since the bike was on the operating table for front end work, I hooked up a One Amp maintainer/charger for about 24 hours every month. I don't like to leave it on full time. Always waited until the light turned green.

BTW, MotoBatt did not come with any factory documentation whatsoever; just a sales slip.

That one amp maintainer could very well be the reason your battery was killed. Was it an intelligent "Battery Tender" type charger with a proper float charge circuit, or just a simple trickle charger? Trickle chargers will eventually destroy a motorcycle battery if left connected when the battery is already fully charged. On the other hand, I leave my Battery Tender connected to my bike's battery 24/7, and it keeps it in top shape, and has for many years (the same battery).

[ImpactBattery]

Real life review: VERY VERY UNHAPPY!

So I wanted to upgrade to the AGM and I went to a local battery specialty store to buy a Yuasa. They talked me into the MottBatt as it was a few dollars less and had a two year warranty. Well I went to fire up the Goldwing this spring and she wouldn't go. I tried a my trickle charger over night. Green light but no start. Started the bike off the jump pack. Rode for an hour or so. Came back and left the trickle charger on overnight. Charger keeps coming up to the green light. Voltmeter reads 12.5 cold without the charger. Can't spin the engine more than a half a turn. Pulled the sales slip - three months beyond warranty period. THREE MONTHS.

Andy,

What was does the engraved number on the top of the MotoBatt say? I see two possible issues: a) I suspect you were sold an old battery (won't know for certain until I can run your numbers) b) Based on the very little bit of info you supplied it seems to indicate there may be sulfation build-up with your battery.

12.5V is average for a 2 year old battery, but it is not stellar. But still that is plenty of juice to fire up a bike unless the capacity has been blocked by sulfate crystals. By chance did you get a load test done? Does the battery hold that voltage for more than 24 hrs when not connected to anything? This test helps determine if it is a sulfation issue or plates shorting out...

...if you have no means to test we would be happy to send you a pre-paid shipping label and use our equipment to test and post the results here for all to see. I personally know both Yuasa and MotoBatt very well. They are both great brands! Before we go tar and feather one and promote one to supreme leader I think we owe it to both to truly dig down and analyze as best we can what happened.

[ImpactBattery]

Andy, I failed to respond to the OP because he was selling a product and not truly answering my questions. Whenever a saleperson does that I tend to ignore from that point forward. Unfortunately I did not add that YES, I had done real world testing on 3 motorcycles over a period of almost 20 years. I have run Yuasa batteries almost exclusively during that period and have gotten great longevity and service from each.

Harvey01,
I thought better of you until I read your comment! You green light your sales call for Yuasa and reclassify my opening review of a product as a sales pitch. There is no difference on one scale, yet on another, one can see I used facts gathered from the source to initiate discussion and you used opinion based experience to squash the dialogue. Your experience comes from riding for 20 years with say 16-20 batteries changed out in your bikes. My experience comes from 1000's of batteries and a half dozen or so power sport brands and interacting directly with customers and industry peers. No offence but I think I have a better lay of the battery world and am quite capable of providing a-matter-of-fact inside scoop on failure rates, unique application or battery quirks and overall longevity! We get to talk with hundreds of customers each year that are having issues with their battery. Our breadth of knowledge grows continually and we are able share our findings (and thoughts) with interested readers.

I think most readers would consider us (me) an asset and a friend, not a slimy salesmen. I have value to add that should not be discounted because of my position...what's next? Checking the color of my skin? That sounds silly and perhaps a little over the top, but once you start down a slope you tend to pick up speed. Many times we are not even aware of our own prejudices and how they affect the world around us until they are brought to light. I believe you to be a valuable member of this exchange and would appreciate the same respect.

As far as I can tell, starting a review of a product in the Product Review category is the correct place to do so. Are you upset that I did not start with Yuasa? Is there a different brand you want to know the inside scoop on? Do you want us to set up a head to head competition to determine what brand is superior on the chosen metric? Each brand has its strengths and weakness...I am open to and up to the challenge...including paying for the postage of and testing of Mr. Cotes MBTX20U (private message me to set this up).

[harvey01]

Let me start this post by apologizing to the Gold Wing owners and riders on this site. As I read Impact Battery's last post directed at me I felt that it was a direct attack on me and not worthwhile comments about his product. I probably should have put this post in the PM section but chose not to.

Impact Battery, There is laboratory testing and then there is field testing. I think the recent fiasco with Volkswagen Diesel cars illustrates very well the difference. No, my experience does not involve lab testing, it involves actually using a product/products over time and seeing what worked/works best over time. I have always followed manufacturers recommended process to prepare all batteries I have installed with the exception of one in a VTX. that battery was installed in the parking lot of the auto parts store where it was purchased and did well for three years and then had to be replaced. I consider 3 years a short life span for a battery.

Over that 20 year period I have essentially had three primary motorcycles in the garage, so I feel my "testing" and the results do offer a good idea of real world results. And that does not include the 30 years prior to that when I normally only had one bike to ride.

Also if you read my comments thoroughly to Andy you will see that I raised a couple issues about initialization and maintenance on the MOTOBatt to possibly explain the failure. MY experience has also taught me that a lot of battery early failuresn are do to the battery not being properly prepared prior to installation and lack of maintenance over the life of the battery. In the days before sealed batteries it always amazed me the folks who did not even routinely check the fluid level. WingAdmin also raised a key question about the type maintainer he used!

Also realize that as far as the location on the site where you posted, I guess that is proper but to me that is for users, Gold Wing owners/riders, to post their reviews of any product they use. Admittedly that is an issue for the ADMIN to deal with and not me and since this thread is still here I assume the ADMIN is okay with Tulsa, Kurakyn, Show Chrome, Markland, Deltran, Dunlop, Bridgestone, Avon, Kelty, Bushtec, Tailwind, Amzoil, Shell, Pennzoil, EBC, Big Bike, Hopnel, Hannigan, Golden Spectro, or any other corporation or entity selling a product.

As far as your opening being a sales pitch, you obviously are involved with the company and wish to sell the product. I have no interest in Yuasa, and as far as I know don't own any mutual fund that holds their stock(but that could be wrong) so I have no way to gain financially or any other way from reporting my experience with the product over a number of years. And note, you are the one referring to you as a "slimey" salesman, not me. I did ask for data comparing the MOTBatt with the Yuasa over a five year use period and did not get a response so I moved on. But then in your last post you attacked my integrity so I have responded.

[Andy Cote]

Back to my OP.

My MottBatt is marked "MB050313" which I assumed meant manufactured in 2013. I purchased it 11/14/13 from Ed's Batteries in Westbrook, ME. It came with no documentation whatsoever and I received verbal instructions that it was fully charged and ready to go. There was no initialization done by me based on this direction.

As I stated earlier, over this past winter I would plug in a charger/maintainer approximately once a month. This is not a constant charger and would give a green light when done.

Also as stated earlier, I did not leave in plugged in constantly. I would disconnect when the green light came on.

I removed this from the bike on 4/17/16 after many attempts to get it to turn over the bike including charging with maintainer, charging with 2AMP and 10AMP charger settings and charging by running the bike on a continuous ride. This is currently resting on a wooden block in my garage - never left on a concrete floor. It right now shows over 12 volts on my toolbox multi-meter after sitting for three weeks. It will not turn over my GL1500.

[ImpactBattery]

Harvey01,

In your response you are still doing the very thing I called you out for: elevating yourself above another and unnecessarily vilifying and discounting your subject. Impact Battery has NOT done anything illegal or with cloak and daggers like VW. There is no need to associate our company with something unconnected and entirely different. There is no need to discount the many hundreds of customers that shared their battery stories/failures with us as if they do not matter. The stories I hear from my friends and acquaintances in the Gold Wing Road Riders Association (which we are a member of) provide valuable insight. In both examples, their real world experience is no less valuable than yours. Impact Battery has the unique position to not only "lab" test as you say, but also combine the cumulative experience of users and staff and share hard facts with the readers. We want to know the truth just as much as the next person.

Just to be clear I am OK with an open discussion and feel neither one of us have anything to hide or to apologize for. No one is being attacked! Both of us have valuable opinions and findings to contribute. I know being corrected never feels good, but lets move forward, adjust the underpinnings in speech and keep to the task at hand and review the MotoBatt MBTX20U.

So far we have a user that expressed a not so good experience with the battery and several questions and thoughts were brought up concerning it. We offered to test the battery to help validate or invalidate some or all of those possibilities. I think we owe it to the readers to find the truth, especially since nearly 50% of so called battery failures are not failures of the battery at all. They are due to misdiagnoses due to lack of battery knowledge, improper use of testing/charging tools, and simple sulfation buildup from improper care.

[ImpactBattery]

Back to my OP.

My MottBatt is marked "MB050313" which I assumed meant manufactured in 2013. I purchased it 11/14/13 from Ed's Batteries in Westbrook, ME. It came with no documentation whatsoever and I received verbal instructions that it was fully charged and ready to go...
I removed this from the bike on 4/17/16 after many attempts to get it to turn over the bike including charging with maintainer, charging with 2AMP and 10AMP charger settings and charging by running the bike on a continuous ride. This is currently resting on a wooden block in my garage - never left on a concrete floor. It right now shows over 12 volts on my toolbox multi-meter after sitting for three weeks. It will not turn over my GL1500.

Indeed that date stamp indicates March 3rd 2013. So it had sat for 8 months prior to purchase and may or may not have been kept on a maintainer by the local battery store...the store owner may have been simply stating it is a fully charged battery as in made that way or he may have charged it the day of the sale or perhaps even kept in on a maintainer for 8 months. I don't know if we will ever truly know that piece of information. If he is anything like the majority of the bike shops we sell to he charged it once or was referring to it being a factory charged and ready to install battery. We are constantly educating and re-educating shop owners on the proper care of batteries before they are sold.

With the battery currently sitting at and maintaining 12+ volts for several weeks leaves the door open to a sulfation issue or cell that has a very weak short. We know for certain there is no dead cell. A load test and use of a true desulfating charger such as the XC100-P by Pulsetech, for 24-48 hours would solve the mystery definitively. Our offer to discover what ails this battery still stands (private message me with address details and we will get a pre-paid shipping label emailed over to you).

[Andy Cote]

For some reason my PM are stuck in the outbox and have not moved to sent folder. Your profile does not have a name or e-mail address. Neither does your website. My profile has my e-mail address and you may contact me in that manner.

[WingAdmin]

For some reason my PM are stuck in the outbox and have not moved to sent folder. Your profile does not have a name or e-mail address. Neither does your website. My profile has my e-mail address and you may contact me in that manner.

They are not stuck in the outbox. They stay there until the recipient reads them, at which point then then move to the "Sent" folder.

There is so much confusion over this, I think I am going to change the PM system and rename the folders to "Sent" and "Read By Recipient" or something like that.

[Andy Cote]

Okay, my mistake, bad habits learned from MS-Outlook.

[harvey01]

Andy, check for PM!

[ImpactBattery]

In the fall of 2013 Wing World Magazine featured the MBTX20U and said that it should be the "heart of your Gold Wing's electrical system."

Some of you have called in and asked about this issue of Wing World, well if you cannot find it in your stacks we did a write up about it on our blog sometime ago and included a copy of the feature found in the magazine. You can access it here and read about it.

Also we have been in contact with Andy and have emailed over a pre-paid shipping label for the MotoBatt he replaced earlier this spring. He will record some voltage numbers prior to mailing and we will then record what we find immediately upon receiving the battery. This will help authenticate the base findings. After which we will begin testing using basic tools and methods available to anybody. We want to help show the readers here how to go about testing, what to look for and how to interpret the information. Hopefully we can have a little fun with this and share some good tricks and tips.

[ImpactBattery]

We received the MBTX24U in question back from Mr. Cote a couple weeks ago. I must apologize for my tardiness in posting the test results, I've been traveling and then honestly forgot about it. I was out in the shop work area today and saw the battery sitting there and remembered I needed to update the community on what we found.

The battery maintains top line voltage just fine. In fact the measured numbers from Andy on 5/19/2016 of 12.75V still hold true today. When we place a carbon pile load on the battery it immediately "trips" and resets itself to start the next test. This tells me there is a hairline fracture in one of the plates. It is not shorting the battery as it sits (it holds its voltage just fine), but expands under load and rears its ugly head. I confirmed this by placing a digital tester on the battery which said bad & replace and tried to apply a SAE load value of 23 (280 cca would be a normal reading).

BTW: In case you are not aware, digital testers can easily be manipulated and provide false readings depending on what metrics are selected during the input phase. If someone ever tells you a battery is good or bad have them verify what info was keyed in prior to initiating the test. The starting voltage needs to be above 12.4V, the proper battery type selected and correct target CCA entered. Similarly, carbon pile testers in the wrong hands can be misinterpreted as the digital readouts are determined off pre-programmed metrics. Most automotive load testers will always say weak/re-test or bad/replace when used on a motorcycle battery since they are geared towards car and truck batteries. The operator needs to understand what a good load voltage is for the corresponding battery.

This particular situation turned out to be pretty boring and is a true warranty. But thank Andy for being so willing to offer up his old battery for testing!

[harvey01]

Impact BAttery, Glad to hear that you guys finally did test the battery and find out what was wrong.

Now do you have any ideas what caused this "hairline" crack in a plate. Was this a 1 in a million manufacturing error or did the vibration of being in a motorcycle cause the crack?

Finally, have you provided some form of payment, replacement or something to Mr. Cote for the aggravation this caused him, not to mention that he had to buy another battery to enjoy riding his bike.

[ImpactBattery]

Not surprised to hear from you harvey01, still keeping to that "southern charm" I see.

We see this type of failure relatively frequently on batteries that are truly defective. They are the hardest to diagnose (and that may not be the best way to say that as it is fairly easy to diagnose when you know what your doing) as the good voltage masks the underlying issue and immediately tells you there is not a dead cell. There really does not seem to be one brand that is better than another when it comes to this type of failure. Since the issue may be on the plate somewhere or even on the weld to the bus bar, it is hard to say whether the crack is from vibration or a weak weld. It could simply be dumb luck.

In this case I don't think Ed's Batteries or anyone 'owes' Andy anything. The fact that this battery lasted a little over two years is unfortunate and perhaps simply dumb luck. We paid for the battery to come here and the next time Andy needs a battery we will make sure to provide him a special discount for being so kind and willing to allow us to diagnose this one. But if you are in the giving mood harvey01, why don't you step up and compensate us for listening to you bloviate.

[CrystalPistol]

Interesting read!

In 2002 I needed a new battery to replace the 7 year old one in my '77 F-150. I bought a new Legend 75 at Napa. 13 months later, that "legend 75" was toast. Took it out of truck and hauled it to store, they did a test, and they replaced the battery with another exactly like it, I took it home and installed. That replacement battery with a date sticker of May 2003 ..... was finally replaced this very Spring. It has always started that truck but in the last few starts, it just seemed a little slower. I still have the truck, some winters it sat for a month or longer without being started.

Usually I get pretty good life out of my batteries .... but that one was something else! Taking the core charge for it was like selling an old friend .... almost.

[ImpactBattery]

You aren't kidding! 13 years is awesome and definitely beyond normal even for today's 'better batteries'. I had a customer a few weeks back tell me about his Yuasa YTX14-BS battery that lasted about 15 years. The best (or worst) part about his story is that he says he did nothing special to take care of the battery. He has a 1500 Valkyrie. I joke when i ask if those Minnesotans use some sort of cryogenics during their winter slumber to extend battery life. If you want to read about his story you can do so here.