TE310 Battery - Brain Fade

Ok, so I NOW know it was a dumb thing to do, but I turned my battery upside down when I pulled the air filter out to service it. After a few minutes, I heard a whistling sound which I thought was coming from the water heater or something. Sounded like a tea pot going off. WRONG! The puff of white smoke coming off the battery told me otherwise!! I quickly shielded my face, flipped the SMOKING HOT battery upright and got out of the garage, waiting for the explosion. Fortunatly, it never came and I was able to put a fan on it to cool it down in a timely manner. Got lucky I'm sure, but I didn't think to flip it outside the air box and let it hang upright. My bad... Point is, does anyone know where I can get a gel battery to replace the stocker? The battery seems to be working, but I haven't got a way to check to see if I've screwed it up or if it'll be ok. No sense taking a chance I guess!

I just replaced my battery for my 08 TE250 with a Turntech battery and it works great and is much lighter. They were $77 but they were only shrink wrapped and now it seems they are in a case and are $99. http://turntechbattery.com/TurnTech%20Battery/Welcome.html

More info and feedback from other members:
http://www.cafehusky.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2976&highlight=turntech

That looks good, thank you for that info, good stuff. I'm still a bit dumb-founded as to why the battery in my bike did what it did, but I know nothing about these kind of things. Anyone?

put a multi meter across it and measure the volts, should be low to mid 13's range. then check it while someone hits the starter, the voltage should drop but not by much, say low 12's to high 11's. if you get 10v or lower you have a damaged cell and the battery won't cope for much longer, drawing large current from the starter shows damaged or collapsed cells because with the cells working well in series you get good continuity and therefore negligable voltage drop.

paul.

Sounds like a good opportunity to buy a new tool! Not much for smarts when it comes to electrical stuff, so it may be cheaper to just go buy a new battery?! I'll check into it though for sure. Appreciate the info. Thanks!

Battery measured in the mid 13's range. Thanks again. NEXT battery will be a Turntech battery! Very nice, and 3lbs lighter. I'll take it.