Bouncing Battery Blues

I saw on The Great Cafe Husky some have had problems with batteries not staying put on their TE's. So I did my typical fly-by @ 1000 feet glance and thought, yep, that doesn't look too secure. Then went riding. This was 5 weeks ago or so - I've been meaning to tell y'all about it. Rode trails then stopped by a buddies MX track on the way home. Nice natural terrain track that is the opposite of a SX-style track .. no whoops
Anyway, rode several laps and heard a clunking. Then rode on home. Then tried to get my seat off to investigate and it wouldn't come off. No matter how much I yanked. What was holding it? It was a mystery. Then I pried it up just enough to see under and see that my BATTERY WAS BONDED WITH SEAT BOTTOM. I have pics on my phone which I wanted to send with this post but if I wait till I have them ready to post I'll never get this msg. sent. Anwyay, in separating seat from battery entire top half of battery breaks away. And I had to grind the battery piece off bottom of seat base. Yep, that thing flip flopped around so much it leaked on bottom of seat and welded itself to the plastic. I bought a new battery and fashioned a rubber battery retention strap from another bike across top of new battery. Of all aspects of my new Husky the battery placement design is the dumbest and worst thought out thing I've thus far come across. WTF were they thinking?

I still love her though,
John

The battery also stuck to the seatbase on my 09 310 although I think it was related to heat rather than the battery leaking. I already had it well secured with zip ties but the seat base touched it just enough allowing it to stick. I was able to pry it apart without damaging the battery though. I found a couple of posts on this site where people had zip tied a cross section of hose across the frame member that the seat base sits on. This lifts the seat up just enough and I have not had a problem since. You may want to think about trying this because if your seat base still touches the battery there is a chance that this could happen again even though the battery is secure.

I dont get it. The seat is made to hold down the battery. It made to touch the battery.

There is a part of the seatbase that will flex and touch in addition to the rubber bumper. It happened to me after a long road section on a very hot day last summer. Placing a small piece of rubber on the frame crossmember lifts the rear most section just enough to provide clearance. The bumper still acts to hold it in place. Here are a couple of posts that I found from other people that had the issue:

http://www.cafehusky.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3497

http://www.cafehusky.com/forums/showpost.php?p=46405&postcount=4

Yes the seat is designed to hold down the battery, but the weight on the seat is supposed to be supported by the cross member of the frame. On some bikes the seat was not supported by the crossmember and all the weight was on the battery causing wear, leakage, and eventually bonding of the seat plastic to the battery plastic. I had to shim up my cross member 3/16" to take the weight off the battery. Ken

I was planning to get a Turntech at some point and time, but after reading this I may need to get one sooner than planned.

Thanks for the info. I will check mine tonight.

Bonded

Heat could have been the bonding culprit but I had thought at the time and still think in my case it was battery juice.

I am going to check for other seat contact with battery to see if I need to put some thin insulator as others have suggested. I'd thought it was just a movement issue but sounds like consensus is contact/heat rather than battery dancing around.

seredyns,

Thanks for thread links, on your top one I notice battery prices. FYI I picked one up at O'Reiley's for $29 bucks that's been working fine. Couldn't believe how cheap it was. So cheap in fact that I didn't bother calling dealer to see if they'd warranty it.

John

Mine got out and bounced into the airfilter box and ripped a hole across the filter... I have a couple of big zip-ties across it now holding it in place ...

PS -- A battery tender is the way to go if you park your bike for any extended length of time and will not be cranking it...

You are right. I used a peace of a old inner tube. thanks!

I have a 08 te 450 and I used industrial strength Velcro on the back of the battery and on the fender it rests on. My battery has never bounced in to the air filter box after I applied the Velcro and it is easier to remove the battery when I do my air filter changes. But I'm sure the zip-tie setup works as well.