Over 700 posts went missing on "my shopping spree"

            So here is the lineup of batteries in

the "Texas Toast Battery Cook-Off".



From left to right (in order of arrival) the batteries include:

The MotoBatt MBTX16U                          (MBatt)

The Scorpion sYTX16BS1                        (SBatt)

The Odyssey PC535                               (OBatt)

The Westco SVR14                                (WBatt)

The BatteriesPlus Xtreme XTX16BS1         (XBatt)

Most of these batteries were donated either by major US distributors, the manufacturer, or the like, or sold at dealer's cost.  Two were completely free of charge.  One I paid $15 shipping.  Two were sent at dealer's cost.  In total around $90 was invested in acquiring the batteries.


Published Information

Brand         Lowest Price*        CCA        Warranty

MBatt              $65                260            2 yr              
SBatt              $65                270            1 yr
OBatt              $99  ($120^)   200            2 yr
WBatt             $99                200            1 yr   (2 yr**)
XBatt              $80                260            1 yr

* Lowest Internet price observed.  Prices may/may not include tax and shipping.  
**Apparently the same battery at BatteriesPlus has a two year replacement warranty.
^ Current price of a modified OBatt (GBatt) from GMan Industries.

Seven non-destructive tests have already been done on each battery.  Three additional non-destructive tests will be preformed and then the hard-core testing will begin.

All test results will be reported together in one concise thread as soon as they are all complete.  The last of the tests is designed as a "last man (batt) standing test".  It may take 2-3 weeks to complete that test.  That just depends on just how good these batteries really are.

The Texas Toast Battery Cook-Off is underway!


©  Copyright 2009  -  by Bug Dr.  All Rights Reserved.   Contact motorcyclebatteries@gmail.com for permission to use any information or reproduce figures or data either electronically or in print.


Edited by Bug Dr on Aug 21, 2009 at 06:46 PM

Over 700 posts went missing on "my shopping spree"

TEST REPORTS – Test 1
The "Texas Toast Battery Cook-Off"  

        
               Click thumbnail to view.

From left to right (in order of arrival) the batteries include:

The MotoBatt MBTX16U                          (MBatt)
The Scorpion sYTX16BS1                        (SBatt)
The Odyssey PC535                              (OBatt - unmodified GBatt)
The Westco SVR14                                (WBatt)
The BatteriesPlus Xtreme XTAX16BS1       (XBatt)

Most of these batteries were donated either by major US distributors, the manufacturer, or the like, or sold at dealer's cost.  


The "Texas Toast Battery Cook-Off"
TEST 1:  Battery Dimensions

L x W x H (mm) measured at the widest location on the battery

MBatt         151 x 87 x 160
SBatt         150 x 87 x 165
OBatt         168 x 98 x 156   (148 x 93 x 156**)
WBatt        149 x 88 x 161   (with stand)
XBatt         150 x 87 x 160

All of the batteries, except for the OBatt, slide easily into the stock S83/VS1400 battery box.  The same should be true for the C90/LC1500.  However that model was not available for testing.  Note, however, that many users of the modified OBatt (sold by GMan Industries as the GBatt) have had some difficulty mounting the GBatt.  Mounting instructions from GMan industires are available and when followed, the modified OBatt can be installed.  Remember, an unmodified OBatt will not fit!

** The larger figures are measurements from the OBatt PC535.  The smaller values are a 'best guess' of the approximate size for the OBatt when modified by GMan Industries.  Since one was not made available for testing, exact measurement of the modified OBatt sold as the GBatt cannot be determined as a part of this test.

Care should be taken when replacing a battery.  There is potential for shorting out the battery terminals on the metal box.  If a terminal protector is not provided by the manufacturer, it is highly recommended that the (+) terminal be wrapped in electrical tape before the battery installation begins.

©  Copyright 2009  -  by Bug Dr.  All Rights Reserved.   Contact motorcyclebatteries@gmail.com for permission to use any information or reproduce figures or data either electronically or in print.


Edited by Bug Dr on Aug 21, 2009 at 06:47 PM

Over 700 posts went missing on "my shopping spree"

TEST REPORTS – Tests 2-5

The "Texas Toast Battery Cook-Off"
TESTS 2-5:  Delivered voltage and CCA Tests

As soon as all the batteries were received, an initial set of tests were performed to check the "charge state" and "Cold Cranking Amps"  (CCA) of each battery.

Each battery was tested on two different test devices and the average of these two test values are reported here.  The test equipment included the following:

OTC 3168 SABRE HP Battery & Electrical Sys. Diagnostic Tester  The Sabre is a high quality electronic electrical system test device which with a MSRP or around $1400.


Midtronics Multi-tasking Battery and Electrical Diagnostic Station MDTGR8-1200  The MDTGR81200 retails for about $3500.

These tests were carried out at the ambient temperature of the independent testing facilities.  They were not conducted at the industry standard 0oC.  Freezer equipment was not available at the time of these initial tests.  However each test device has software algorithms designed to adjust the measurements and calibrate them to predict industry standard CCA values for each battery.

The voltage and CCA obtained from each of these devices (one read each) are shown below:



The initial voltages at arrival, without any additional charging, were all very similar in value.  The variance would have no significant impact on the use in the subject motorcycles.

However for the sake of comparison the initial voltages ranked in order from high to low are:

1st - SBatt
2nd - MBatt
3rd - XBatt
4th - WBatt
5th - OBatt



Again, the initial CCA values are all sufficient to start up the application motorcycles with no issues.  All of the batteries except for the SBatt tested significantly higher in CCA than they are rated by the manufacturer.

The variance would have no significant impact on the use in the subject motorcycles.

However for the sake of comparison the initial CCA values ranked in order from high to low are:

1st - WBatt
2nd - OBatt
3rd - XBatt
4th - MBatt
5th - SBatt





©  Copyright 2009  -  by Bug Dr.  All Rights Reserved.   Contact motorcyclebatteries@gmail.com for permission to use any information or reproduce figures or data either electronically or in print.
Edited by Bug Dr on Aug 21, 2009 at 06:48 PM

Over 700 posts went missing on "my shopping spree"

TEST REPORTS – Test 6
The "Texas Toast Battery Cook-Off"
TEST 6:  Texas Toast Torrent Turnover Test

This test was developed to answer the question of whether any one battery is actually capable of cranking the starter motor more rapidly than others.  There have been “urban legend” reports that certain batteries “make the bike turn over faster than ever before” and the likes.

To address this question, a 2003 VS1400 was used as the test bike.  Each battery was placed on an automotive 10A charger with automatic shut off and allowed to charge until the charger auto-stopped.  The batteries were then allowed to stabilize overnight.

In order to test the starter speed, the carburetors were drained.  The fuel supply was shut off and the engine was allowed to run until the engine died.  The motorcycle was held in an upright position and the starter was cranked for 10 second bursts until no ignition was detected in 5 consecutive crank attempts.  Then the motorcycle was placed back on the kickstand and three additional crank attempts were made to ensure the carburetors were empty.

Each battery was hardwired to the VS1400 wiring harness via  48” 6-gauge battery cables.  The supplied hardware was used for each battery.

The purpose of this test was to determine how fast the batteries were capable of turning of the engine.  

A digital tachometer accurate to within 15 rpms was placed on the sparkplug wire for the front cylinder.  Once the start button was engaged, it was held for 30 seconds and ten engine speed readings were taken at 3 second intervals.  The ‘freeze frame’ function on the tachometer was engaged, one investigator read the readings and they were recorded by a second investigator.  

A total of ten readings were taken for each battery.  The high and low RPM readings for each battery were dropped and the average of the remaining eight reading was used to evaluate battery power and resulting engine speeds.

The readings are recorded in this table.



The torrent turnover speeds were all within 10% of each other, with the exception of the XBatt.  The XBatt had a significantly higher average cranking RPMs.   These data are represented in the graph below.  Graphing the data helps to visualize the numeric differences.



Any of these rpms are sufficient to start these 1400/1500cc engines.   Since no one battery had greater than 20% faster cranking speeds in this test, hopefully this will help squelch some of the "urban legends" on turnover or cranking speeds.

However for sake of comparison the Torrent Turnover Speeds for each battery ranked from high to low are as follows:

1st - XBatt
2nd - OBatt
2nd - SBatt
4th - MBatt
5th - WBatt

The "Texas Toast Battery Cook-Off" Line-up.  To find more info on each of these batteries, click on the appropriate link below.

The MotoBatt MBTX16U                          (MBatt)
The Scorpion sYTX16BS1                       (SBatt)
The Odyssey PC535                              (OBatt - unmodified GBatt)
The Westco SVR14                                (WBatt)
The BatteriesPlus Xtreme XTAX16BS1     (XBatt)

©  Copyright 2009  -  by Bug Dr.  All Rights Reserved.   Contact motorcyclebatteries@gmail.com for permission to use any information or reproduce figures or data either electronically or in print.
Edited by Bug Dr on Aug 21, 2009 at 06:49 PM

Over 700 posts went missing on "my shopping spree"

TEST REPORTS – Test 7
The "Texas Toast Battery Cook-Off"
TEST 7:  Texas Toast Tombstone Turnover Test

This test was designed to simulate a dead engine start-up attempt (tombstone).   Rather than use a motorcycle starter and risk frying a starter, a standard 100 Amp battery load tester was used in the test to place a consistent load on the batteries as they were being tested.

The nominal 100 Amp load tester had a resistance of 0.133 Ohms.  The resistance was monitored throughout the test and it did not vary more than +/- 0.001 Ohms at any given measurement.   Assuming a constant voltage of 12.5v from the source battery, the effective current through the load would be 94 amps, and the power consumed would be 1175 watts.

While this load is significantly higher than the system fuses would allow on the application bike, the load is only being applied in 10 second bursts every 60 seconds.  So the load is only applied 1/6th of the test time.  1175 watts divided by 6 is approximately 195 watts.  If one were to constantly crank the starter motor while headlights, etc. are on, the resulting load on the battery would approach this same load over the course of the approximately 45 minute test time frame.

In order to ensure consistent load quality, the load tester could not be activated for more than 10 seconds at a time.  The load tester was flooded with a constant high velocity flow of 4oC air to rapidly dissipate heat in order to insure a constant resistance and power consumption in the load.

Twenty consecutive 10 second pulses were applied at one minute intervals and the resulting voltages of the batteries were read at 9.5 seconds into each pulse.  After each set of 4 consecutive pulses, a pause of 1m50s was introduced to allow additional cooling of the load tester.

On the first day, 20 ten-second pulses were administered to each battery.   The data for day one is displayed in this table.



There does not appear to be a significant difference between the ending voltages after the initial 20 pulses.  The table above also shows the voltage after the batteries were allowed to "self-recharge" for 47 minutes.  This "recoup" period was introduced to simulate a "beverage break" and coming back to the bike to try once more.  All batteries were able to recharge significantly and even the 12.0v of the lowest battery should be sufficient to turn over the Intruder at least on a few more attempts.

The batteries were then allowed to “self-recharge“ overnight (with no external charger applied) and a second round of 20 ten-second pulses were administered.  Again, the resulting voltage at 9.5 seconds into each pulse were recorded.  The values for Day Two are displayed in this table.



The resulting voltage values for both days have been combined and are displayed in this table.


  
The voltage readings for each time point are plotted in the following graph.  This plot shows the rapid voltage drop off of most of the batteries toward the end of the testing period.



The sharp up-curve between reading 20 and 21 is because of the overnight "self-recharge" that occurs in lead-acid batteries.  With the exception of the MBatt, the rate of discharge in the later part of the test for every battery increases significantly.  This can be observed in the increased steepness of the curve for the XBatt, OBatt, SBatt and the WBatt.  The drop-off for the WBatt is especially rapid.

The voltage readings (Vi = initial; Vf = final) of each battery in the test were also plotted in the following graph.   This graph helps to visualize the voltage drop of each battery over the course of the 40 ten-second pulses.



This test measures the storage capacity of the battery and its ability to release energy in at a controlled rate.

Based on the results of this test, for the sake of comparison, the batteries ranked on final voltage remaining ranked in order from high to low are:

1st - MBatt  
2nd - OBatt
3rd - XBatt
4th - SBatt
5th - WBatt




©  Copyright 2009  -  by Bug Dr.  All Rights Reserved.   Contact motorcyclebatteries@gmail.com for permission to use any information or reproduce figures or data either electronically or in print.
Edited by Bug Dr on Aug 21, 2009 at 06:51 PM

Over 700 posts went missing on "my shopping spree"

TEST REPORTS – Test 8
The "Texas Toast Battery Cook-Off"
TEST 8:  Texas Toast V10 Pickup Power-Up Test

How many times have you heard it said that "My CDEFBatt is so powerful that I have used it to jump a pickup truck"?  Most of us probably did not believe those claims when we heard them.  But still the question remains:  Can a motorcycle battery really jumpstart a pickup?

If some could, which of these test batteries could jump start a pickup the most times?

To be honest, the testers did not think these little batteries had much of a chance of starting a Lamborghini-designed 6.8L V10 Triton pickup engine more than a couple of times unassisted by a motorcycle charging system.  The Triton V10 engine we used is rated at 310 hp @4250 rpm, 425 ft/lb torque @3250 rpm.  That is a lot of metal for a little bike battery to get moving!

  

Take a look at this size and power differences between the normal battery and the 1400/1500 battery.

     

The 700 CCA stock battery dwarfs these little 200-270 CCA-rated motorcycle batteries.

So this test was established as follows:  The battery cables were removed from the stock battery posts.  The fastening screws were removed from the cable terminals and the 6-guage battery cables used in previous tests were hard-wired into the vehicle cable terminals.  Insulation was added around the cable terminals to ensure that they did not short out to the vehicle.  See the picture below.



The wiring harness was then attached to the terminals of each battery with the manufacturer supplied hardware.  See pictures below.

     

                 

The day prior to this test, all batteries were fully recharged with a 10A auto-shut-off automotive battery charger and allowed to stabilize overnight.

A test process of 25 attempted cold-engine starts at 3 second intervals was scheduled.  A "+" was recorded for a successful start and a "-" was recorded for a failed attempt.  In order to avoid potential damage to the starter motor, it was decided in advance that five failed start attempts in a row would conclude the test for any given battery.  A single failed attempt was followed in 3 seconds by a subsequent 2-second start attempt.

On successful start attempts, the engine was immediately killed within one second of start and a subsequent start attempt was made within three seconds.

Battery voltage levels just prior to the beginning of the test (Vi; while wired in the harness) and at 10 seconds after the final start attempt (Vf) were measured and recorded.

A 20-minute break between the completion and beginning of the next test of each battery was introduced to allow the starter motor, wires and engine cool down between tests.

The data for each battery is listed in the following table.



That data is also plotted in the following graph for easier viewing.



The SBatt only made it through 10 successful starts.  As you can see, there were several failed start attempts scattered through the attempts.  The XBatt made it through 20 successful start attempts.  All three of the remaining batteries made it successfully through the entire 25 start attempts.  It should be noted that the OBatt and the WBatt had some difficulty with latter attempts and each attempt took slightly more time to start the engine.  While none of the batteries (OBatt, MBatt or WBatt) failed in the 25 attempts, only the MBatt remained strong in its ability to start the engine throughout the 25 attempts.  The OBatt and the WBatt began to drop off toward the end of the test.

The following graph shows the initial and final voltages for each battery at the completion of the test.



Even though the SBatt had a higher final voltage, the cranking amps available were not sufficient to start the 6.8L V10 Triton engine more than 10 of 19 attempts.

Since there was no "definitive winner" in this test, no rankings were assigned.  See the "Reprisal" test below for rankings.

The ability of three of these batteries to successfully go 25 start attempts and not fail was beyond the realm of the testers' expectations.



The "Texas Toast Battery Cook-Off" Line-up.  To find more info on each of these batteries, click on the appropriate link below.

The MotoBatt MBTX16U                          (MBatt)
The Scorpion sYTX16BS1                       (SBatt)
The Odyssey PC535                              (OBatt - unmodified GBatt)
The Westco SVR14                                (WBatt)
The BatteriesPlus Xtreme XTAX16BS1     (XBatt)

©  Copyright 2009  -  by Bug Dr.  All Rights Reserved.   Contact motorcyclebatteries@gmail.com for permission to use any information or reproduce figures or data either electronically or in print.

Edited by Bug Dr on Aug 29, 2009 at 10:01 AM

Over 700 posts went missing on "my shopping spree"

TEST REPORTS – Test 9
The "Texas Toast Battery Cook-Off"
TEST 9:  Texas Toast V10 Pickup Power-Up Test

– REPRISAL –


Reprisal means "the action or practice of using force".  Once the testers saw that 25 rounds of V10 start-up were not enough to stop three of the five batteries, it was decided that "force" was required.  

All five batteries were recharged to completion and allowed to stabilize overnight.  Then they were, one by one, tested with the exact same conditions as in the initial testing, with the exception that the test design included a maximum of 50 start up attempts.

The results of the REPRISAL test are listed in the table below.




The total number of successful start attempts for each battery is also plotted in the following graph for easier view.



The SBatt made it through significantly more starts on this second test than the previous test.  The OBatt (unmodified GBatt) failed to start the 6.8L V10 Triton engine after 45 attempts.  The WBatt made through 40 successful attempts.  The XBatt made it through just slight more successful attempts in this test with 22 successful starts.

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 initial and final voltage of each battery measured 10 seconds after the completion of the last start attempt is shown in the following graph.




It is likely that none of us will ever need to start a V10 engine without assist from the charging system of the motorcycle, even once.  But it should be reassuring to know that, if necessary, it can be done and done repeated.

Based on the number of success start-up attempts completed the batteries ranked as follows:

1st - MBatt
2nd - OBatt
3rd - WBatt
4th - XBatt
5th - SBatt

Based on remaining voltage 10 seconds after the completion of the last attempt the batteries ranked as follows:

1st - MBatt
2nd - SBatt
3rd - OBatt
4th - XBatt
5th - WBatt

Again, while the SBatt had significantly higher voltage at the end of the test (Vf) than many of the other competing batteries, the SBatt did not retain enough Cranking Amps to continue starting the engine.




The "Texas Toast Battery Cook-Off" Line-up.  To find more info on each of these batteries, click on the appropriate link below.

The MotoBatt MBTX16U                          (MBatt)
The Scorpion sYTX16BS1                       (SBatt)
The Odyssey PC535                              (OBatt - unmodified GBatt)
The Westco SVR14                                (WBatt)
The BatteriesPlus Xtreme XTAX16BS1     (XBatt)

©  Copyright 2009  -  by Bug Dr.  All Rights Reserved.   Contact motorcyclebatteries@gmail.com for permission to use any information or reproduce figures or data either electronically or in print.
Edited by Bug Dr on Aug 21, 2009 at 06:53 PM

Over 700 posts went missing on "my shopping spree"

TEST REPORTS – Tests 10-13

The "Texas Toast Battery Cook-Off"
TESTS 10-13:  Mid-Test (Stage 2) Voltage and CCA Tests

Following the Texas Toast Pickup Power-Up Test all batteries were again fully recharged as previously described.  The batteries were then allowed to equilibrate overnight.  The next day the batteries were re-tested to check the "charge state" and "Cold Cranking Amps"  (CCA) of each battery.

Each battery was tested on the same two test devices as in Tests 2-5 and the average of these two test values are reported here.  Again, the test equipment included the following:

OTC 3168 SABRE HP Battery & Electrical Sys. Diagnostic Tester  The Sabre is a high quality electronic electrical system test device with a MSRP or around $1400.


Midtronics Multi-tasking Battery and Electrical Diagnostic Station MDTGR8-1200  The MDTGR81200 retails for about $3500.

As previously described, these tests were carried out at the ambient temperature of the independent testing facilities.  They were not conducted at the industry standard 0oC.  Freezer equipment was not available at the time of these initial tests.  However each test device has software algorithms designed to adjust the measurements and calibrate them to predict industry standard CCA values for each battery.

The voltage and CCA obtained from each of these devices (one read each) are shown below:



The variance in measured voltage should have no significant impact on the use in the subject motorcycles.

However for the sake of comparison the "Stage 2" voltages ranked in order from high to low are:

1st - MBatt
1st - OBatt
3rd - XBatt
4th - SBatt
5th - WBatt



Again, the Stage-Two CCA values are all sufficient to start up the application motorcycles with no issues.  

The variance should have no significant impact on the use in the subject motorcycles.

However for the sake of comparison the initial CCA values ranked in order from high to low are:

1st - WBatt
2nd - OBatt
3rd - XBatt
4th - MBatt
5th - SBatt

This is the same ranking as in the "Initial CCA" test.  All of the batteries seem to be maintaining integrity at this point in the tests.

Even though very high demands have been placed on the batteries and several of them have been severely drained during the tests, the testing to date, seems to have had very little effect on the CCA capacities measured.  You can compare the current CCA valves to the initial CCAs when received by comparing the table above to this table.








The "Texas Toast Battery Cook-Off" Line-up.  To find more info on each of these batteries, click on the appropriate link below.

The MotoBatt MBTX16U                          (MBatt)
The Scorpion sYTX16BS1                       (SBatt)
The Odyssey PC535                              (OBatt - unmodified GBatt)
The Westco SVR14                                (WBatt)
The BatteriesPlus Xtreme XTAX16BS1     (XBatt)


©  Copyright 2009  -  by Bug Dr.  All Rights Reserved.   Contact motorcyclebatteries@gmail.com for permission to use any information or reproduce figures or data either electronically or in print.


Edited by Bug Dr on Aug 21, 2009 at 06:55 PM

Over 700 posts went missing on "my shopping spree"

TEST REPORTS – Test 14

The "Texas Toast Battery Cook-Off"
TEST 14:  Texas Style - Power Pack Curb Appeal

Many of us do not care too much about appearances.  But some of us do.  Some of us even worry as to whether we will be accepted and allowed to ride with non-metric groups.  

Whether we have steel battery boxes painted black, custom painted or stainless battery covers, some of us care what the low-sides of our bikes look like.  

So what the battery looks like in the bike or "Curb Appeal" may be important to some.

This is a non-functional test**.  In this test, the batteries will each be installed in the stock battery box and photographed.  This will help the reader decide on appropriateness of battery height, connector suitability and even appropriateness of the battery style and color.

** Actually, it is functional in a way.  As the batteries were installed in the VS1400 battery box, notes were made on ease of installation, tightness of fit, and any hardware or installation issues that arose during the install.  These will be reported here as well.

The test batteries each have individual uniqueness.  



The next photos are actual pictures of the test batteries installed in a VS1400 with a stock battery box without the battery cover.  The batteries will be discussed in the order they were received.  Specifics of each installation will be discussed following the photo of each battery.

The MBatt

The Mbatt slid right into the battery compartment.  The fit was neither loose nor tight.  I forgot to wrap the (+) terminal in electrical tape and yet I did not have any issues with both terminals shorting out on the box as it slid in.  The appears to be a bit tall in the book and the folks MotoBattery had told me that they made the lead plates a bit taller to give more power than most standard AGM batteries of this size.  

I did not have any trouble with the screw terminals.  Another user had stated here that they had some difficulty with them being too short.  Mine screwed right in.  I did not use star-washers because the screw provided has the equivalent built into the screw.  (See the initial review.)  If you decide to go with the MBatt, do make certain to check the terminals.  Mine were shipped attached to the wrong spots for these bikes.  It is an easy switch, but make certain you do not connect them to your bikes wiring harness backward.  I'm pretty certain you will not like the result!

The SBatt

The SBatt also slid into the battery compartment with no issues at all.  Some do not like the hex cut bolt/nut type of terminal.  I have found that if I simply place one finger on top of the nut while directing the bolt through the cable fastener and on into the battery terminal I do not have much of a problem at all.

The SBatt is just a tad shorter than the MBatt in the box.  The black color is not as obvious.  The cables secure tightly to the battery.  On this type of battery, it is suggested by many here that one uses star-washers to keep the terminals from vibrating loose.  

The WBatt
  
The WBatt is a good strong battery with a two year warranty.  There are only three batteries in the test group with 2-year warranties.

The terminal orientation on the WBatt is a bit problematic.  There are two options pre-drilled and threaded on the battery.  One set faces upward.  The second set faces the back of the bike.  The only set that the stock cables are long enough to reach are the set on top of the battery.

With the provided "height spacer" there is little clearance to get the screws started in the threads of the terminal.  I remedy this, I lowered the battery a bit and and propped it on another battery so that it would not slip all the way out.  Hopefully you can see this in the following photo.


Once the terminal screws were tightened, the battery could easily be raised and secured in position.  I would suggest that Westco battery (or the actual manufacturer) drill and tap a third hole on the side of the terminals for application in these bikes.  As you can see in the first photo above, the terminal screws are pretty close to the swing arm crossbar.  The test bike has stock springs.  The clearance may be even less on a lowered bike.  Moving the terminal screws down on the side would add clearance.  Once the final test is complete, I will attempt to drill and tap mounting wholes on the side of terminal.

The OBatt

The above photo is of the OBatt install.  As you will notice if you look at the photo, there is no battery installed.  That is because the 'off-the-shelf' OBatt will not fit in these bikes.  There are numerous reports here on IA that the modified OBatt (the GBatt available from GMan Industries) can be difficult to install. Yet other users have said they have no issues with the install process.  Since the sides of the GBatt are black, I assume that it would look much like the SBatt installed.  But since I was not given a GBatt to put through the tests, pictures of the GBatt installed were not possible.

The XBatt

The XBatt also easily fts into the test bike battery box.  The XBatt has the same hex-cut terminal as the SBatt.  Once you have installed this type of terminal bolt a few times, they are not a problem at all.  There are also some other threads here on IA that have suggestions for making the installation of this type easier.

The only battery in the group that seemed as though clearance might be an issue was the WBatt.  Again, this is because of the terminal bolts fastening from the top of the terminal posts.

The "Texas Toast Battery Cook-Off" Line-up.  To find more info on each of these batteries, click on the appropriate link below.

The MotoBatੴ