Gottagetone

Yes, this is a LifePo battery that requires a special charger. The battery that I purchased puts out 300cca and is rated at 16 - 18ah and weighs in at 2.1 lbs. I also opted for the USB charger attachment which allowed me to get rid of the cigarette lighter attachment that I had installed under the seat so I could put a USB charger in.

So I recently purchased the Deltran battery found in the link below and for some reason its not on the Battery Tender website anymore. There have been some opinions about batteries here and I wanted to share my short term impressions with all. My previous battery was measuring at about 12.6 volts and when it got cold in my garage it had problems starting the bike. I had to keep it on the trickle charger all the time during the winter months to even have a chance of it starting the bike so I decided to go for a new unit. The Deltran unit has four posts, one on each corner that make it easy to add other connections or flip the battery if polarity is an issue. When it showed up I measured the voltage and it was at 13.3v and as recommended I hooked it up to the new charger over night. In the morning I was measuring right at 13.5v. Installation was straight forward and I usually hate the hookups like these but Deltran put small foam sticky blocks on the back of the nuts as well as tabs to help hold them in place while hooking up the cables. These basically hold the nut right where it needs to be to make your connection...pretty smart. Initial fire up was strong as expected. I wanted to see how it would hold up and temps here have been seasonably average with lows in the 30s and 40s. I have been in and out of town with work and not able to touch the bike for a week as it set with no charger connected. Today I went out and boom, it fired right up without hesitation. I warmed up the bike then shut it off and checked to voltage...13.33v. I know its new and short term reviews are not all that helpful but if you are looking for a new battery I would suggest the Deltran. It weights 2.1 pounds and is the same size as stock. You can get a smaller one the pumps out 240cca but I oped for the larger and am happy I did. If anything changes I will report back but for now I give it a thumbs up! http://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tender-BTL18A300C-Lithium-Phosphate/dp/B00GOW4068

The plate is mounted up under the seat with an led lighting it up. You can clearly see if from behind but I had to make sure it would not make contact with the rear splash guard....all good! Our plates are much smaller than yours and if I understand correctly you have to have your plate much more visible than we do. Mine is visible but not to those pesky toll road cameras....

Ive been following these guys since I saw their work at the Handbuilt show last April. They do some really nice work with aan apparent focus on Guzzis and Ducatis. http://www.moto-studio.com/index.html

Hey Roy, I went back and read that I had not put the ah number for the battery that I purchased but rather only mentioned the number for the smaller one. The one that will be here on Friday runs 16-18ah. If I understand it correctly the ah number represents a deeper cycle meaning that it will last longer under draw?

Sorry to hear about your experience to date with your batteries. your post above is great and the center of much of my concern. My current battery is a Scorpion YTX15L. While searching for batteries a couple years ago it appeared that there are many companies selling batteries but most appear to come from one or two manufacturers with a different badge. My current battery is rated at 13ah with 230cca. I looked at a number of LiFEPo type batteries including the Antigravity brand that Revival uses in all their builds. They are local to me and I considered going over and just picking one up from them. Turns out the one they sell is not rated for a street bike of over 800cc. Antigravity does have a larger capacity battery but after researching a bit more I decided to go with the Deltran. The recommended Deltran is much smaller than the stock battery and pushes 240cca at a 10-14ah. Since my main issue is cold start with my current battery, the Scorpion just won't cut it when the temp drops and needs to be on a battery tender to even have a shot at holding a charge, I went with the bigger, in size and power, 300 LCA battery. It is the same size as the current battery but pumps out 300cca and comes with a three year warranty. The battery, charger, quick connect and USB charger option will be here this week. Its a bit cold here in Austin, Texas now so I plan on charging the battery before install then not connecting it to the charger to see how it reacts to the first cold start of the day.

My bet is on the brake cleaner but for fun I would suggest trying another seal in blue Dawn with just a bit of water, that stuff works wonders!

So I went to pick up the bike yesterday and ended up returning it as it was not fixed. It was still pipping and backfiring into the intake....not happy. I left it overnight and they called back today and said they had to reset the TPS and angle and all was good. Fortunately the cold front had just blown in.....not really...when I got to the shop to pick it up. They had me take it for a spin and BOOM....all is good! These bikes are awesome but finicky at best. I think now that all is right with the bike that I will download the guzzitech software and order a cable so I can see how that all comes together. Im also prolly going to purchase a Deltran / Battery Tender BTL18A300C lithium phosphate battery and charger. Its right at the same size as my current battery but pumps our 300cca @ 16-18ah and weighs in at 2.1lbs. Amazon sells the full set up with quick disconnect for $185 with the option to add the quick connect usb piece for $11 more. Thanks again for all the help!

Ill certainly be looking into the guzzitech software and hardware tools to make it work. Part of me is still apprehensive that everything is working correctly but we will see when I pick it up tomorrow.

They called to say my bike was ready and that its running like a top. From what I understand they messed with the CO #s a good bit with the reading starting out at a -23 and needing to be reset to a +16. They also replaced the balance hose as it had signs of wear and crimped the plug wires a bit as they appeared to not be as tight as they should have been and reset the angle of the TB. They did say that the TBs were balanced perfectly.....at least I did something right. The tech mentioned that the battery was struggling a bit and could use a replacement. The battery is two years old and when its cold it really struggles to get the bike started. I was thinking about a Li-Ion battery and wanted to see if anyone had suggestions for any type of battery? Ill pick it up tomorrow and see if all is well....fingers crossed!

TPS was set to 153. The bike is in the shop so we will see what they come back with. Personally I think its some sort of intake leak or the air flow sensor.

Hey Docc, I've not messed with the CO trim but have checked out the fuse. When riding the other day the hiccup seemed to not stay at a specific RPM. Im taking it in this morning and will go over everything that I have done with the tech and see what he comes up with then report back.

Bingo!

I have not zero'd the fuel trim and don't have the equipment to do so, thats why its going to the shop. From what I can tell I have done all that I am able to do on my own. I am hopeful that its something simple that I have overlooked but at this point I gone over everything multiple times. AF1 re-opens tomorrow and thats where its going. Ill post up once I get her back.

We do have ethanol in our gas and I am sure it is not healthy for our engines. I checked the pipes and can't find anything loose. I took it out for a spin today and was optimistic but no bueno! Its going to the shop this week.

I changed the plugs about 1500 miles ago hence my hesitation to change them now but for the few dollars I might very will do so. I will be running some fuel system cleaner through it as well and I was able to clean the throttle bodies while changing out the intake tubes. BTW, the old intake tubes showed no sign of wear on the inside, I could not see anywhere that air was getting in but it had to be getting in somewhere. I have yet to get it out on the street yet so it is not in gear when the pickup happens. Ive been running it in the garage with a fan blowing. I will say that the home made manometer shows how sensitive the adjustments are on this bike and frankly I am surprised that the air bleed screws hold position over any length of time. At this point both are barely open and the TBs are synced pretty well. She purrs like a kitten with an occasional hair ball... The weather here is supposed to clear in the next day or so and I plan on getting it out and putting it through its paces.

First of all, Happy New Year! I thought I would update my progress. I have installed the new intake gaskets that go from the TBs to the cylinder and have balanced everything out and got the idle set to about 1000 RPMs. It runs well but I still get an occasional hiccup at around 1800-2000 RPMS. Its not consistent and I have done everything I know to do except change the plugs but I don't think that will change a thing as the idle is smooth. When I blip the throttle it responds nicely, when I try to slowly accelerate and hold it at around the 1800-2000 mark it seems to struggle just a bit. I have yet to get it out on the street but I am confident it will run like a banshee when I do. I am thinking that a trip to the tech is in order...

Well I put silicone around the cracks and for good measure checked the other side and there are fine cracks that you can only see if you have a real bright, led type, flashlight. I let it sit for a bit to dry then fired it up and was able to balance the TBs at idle and at about 3000 rpms. The hickup is still there but only when I hold it at about 1800 rpms. Its not as bad but it is still there. Im going to order new boots for both sides and spray some cleaner in the TBs when they come in. Whats the best way to replace the boots between the TB and cylinder head? Do you start at the intake box and start removing or is there an easier way?

So I took a flash light to the intake boots and noticed a hair line crack at the edge of the tension band, could this cause the problem?

Nope, have not touched it. What does this mean? It means the boot between the TB and the cylinder head had been pushed off by the backfiring on the TB side and I got it seated back on correctly. re-read my earlier post. The mechanical synchronization with closed throttle is done with both idle stop screws, with open throttle it's done with the white screw on the connecting rod. I adjusted at idle using the idle stop screws and bypass screws. Tried adjusting under open throttle with white knob and its throws it off, will try again today. The 15M/15RC doesn't have this functionality. Later ECUs do. The ECU can neither sense if an adjustment of TPS has been made nor can it be told. It reads the voltage coming from the TPS and uses the according breakpoints in the maps. Assume that, if you have backfiring at constant throttle opening, the engine is running much to lean due to lean map values or a leak on the intake side. If it backfires while closing the throttle, you might have a leak in the exhaust as well. Im going to look closer for a leak as the map has not changed and ran just fine before the issue popped up. Cheers! Cheers Meinolf

Voltage is good, 12.5v sitting off, a bit higher when started.

The tech i spoke to is top notch, he works at Pikes Peak with Ducati, since they trust his judgement, I trust his judgement. Ive checked for intake leaks but I think I find something new overtime I look at it. Ill continue to fiddle with it but most likely it will go to the shop after the 4th.

Well I have not quite given up just yet. I worked on it a bit more today and its a bit better but not right just yet. I spoke to the local Guzzi tech and he confirmed that I had the TPS set correctly but that the balance was critical. He did say that rarely does he see one that needs an air bleed screw open more than 1/4 turn. I reset the left side intake boot and balanced the TBs at idle. Under acceleration they are apart more than they should be but if I adjust it then they are apart at idle. The tech said that since I adjusted the TPS that they need to go in and tell the ECU that the adjustment had been made...or something like that. Never the less, the problem of the backfire is still there but it seems a bit better. Ill prolly change the plugs even though they only have abeout 1200 miles on them but they are cheap and it will rule that out. If I figure anything else out ill let ya know. Cheers!

Ive been messing with the bike and have the idle back down to about 1000 rpms and now its backfiring into the intake at that rpm where before it was only doing it at around 2800-3000. Its time for a pro to look at it and get it back in order. Its become an act of frustration and thats just not fun. I love fixing stuff and am pretty decent with a wrench but this is something that I think will require more skill and tools than I have. Ill report back once the verdict comes in. Thanks for all the input, it really has been helpful and I have learned quite a bit. Cheers and Merry Christmas!

Thanks for the input docc. This info seems to go against the TPS baseline instructions as well as the Micha method instructions. It seems that almost everyone has a different way to get this job done.