Battery maintenance

Quote from wjfyfe

The drive belt appeared to have moved inboard a bit over time and was talking a lil more than it should be so while the panels were removed I noted the battery, and that I have not done anything with it since new. I was pleasantly surprised that removing the battery wasn't as difficult as I had imagined, but once removed I found the terminals to be very corroded and the water levels very low. So, I cleaned everything up, filled the battery with water, and the re-installation went fairly smoothly, again, pleasantly surprised. So, this is mostly just a small prod if you have not checked the battery in a while, you may want to just give it a looksie?

Bill

okay - I must admit that I have never removed the cover to look at my battery. My Sling is a 2016 and I have been under the impression my battery is a maintenance free AMG motorcycle type battery - - is this not correct?

Quote from wjfyfe

Ours is a 2015 and obviously it is not maintenance free. I believe that the 2016 uses the same battery but the 2016.5 was modified with a smaller battery to offset the weight of adding the radiator shroud and muffler heat shield?

added note: OK, I just went and checked out the parts book and the 2016 does have a different part number battery than the 2015, by the diagram it appears to be maintenance free.................

Thanks for the heads-up edwardaneal.

Bill

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Yes - I was also just looking online at the parts page for 2016 - the muffler heat shield & rear radiator shroud are both listed with "(built 2/1/16 and later)" noted after the part number - The battery is listed as AMG and does not have this notation after it - - - - perhaps I should pull the cover and look - As hot as we get here in the desert I should probably know if it is or isn't something that needs maintenance.

Quote from edwardaneal

Yes - I was also just looking online at the parts page for 2016 - the muffler heat shield & rear radiator shroud are both listed with "(built 2/1/16 and later)" noted after the part number - The battery is listed as AMG and does not have this notation after it - - - - perhaps I should pull the cover and look - As hot as we get here in the desert I should probably know if it is or isn't something that needs maintenance.

Yes, you should check, because if it happens to be a lead acid battery it will have so much corroison on it you might not have much of a connection left and probably needs some distilled water also. Lead acid batteries need to be checked on a regular schedule to get a good life span out of them. Mine was at 3 1/2 years from the build date with no problems but changed out anyway for hopefully a summer without any problems.

I will pull the cover tonight.

Interestingly I am having mixed feelings as to what I hope to find.

One part of me hopes I find a nice clean AMG battery than needs no servicing, but the other side of me thinks the older style might be a better find because it would be easier to upgrade to a yellow top

Oh well - it will be whatever it is

Quote from edwardaneal

I will pull the cover tonight.

Interestingly I am having mixed feelings as to what I hope to find.

One part of me hopes I find a nice clean AMG battery than needs no servicing, but the other side of me thinks the older style might be a better find because it would be easier to upgrade to a yellow top

Oh well - it will be whatever it is

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The group 34 red-yellow-blue top battery is 10 inches long, according to what exhaust you have it may not fit. (Too close to the exhaust pipe) You may need to look at the Group 25 which is 1 inch shorter. Good Luck

Quote from FunCycle

The group 34 red-yellow-blue top battery is 10 inches long, according to what exhaust you have it may not fit. (Too close to the exhaust pipe) You may need to look at the Group 25 which is 1 inch shorter. Good Luck

exhaust is stock

Quote from FunCycle

The group 34 red-yellow-blue top battery is 10 inches long, according to what exhaust you have it may not fit. (Too close to the exhaust pipe) You may need to look at the Group 25 which is 1 inch shorter. Good Luck

wouldn't a 25 be too tall? Mine came stock with a group 26.

Here's a link to a sizing chart BCI Battery Group Size Chart

Quote from BryanL

wouldn't a 25 be too tall? Mine came stock with a group 26.
Here's a link to a sizing chart BCI Battery Group Size Chart

My friend was doing the measuring, that is all I can say. I know on the Group 26 there is not much extra room on the top, that is what I put back in mine 4 weeks ago. I would have to pull the cover off and start measuring again to be sure. But they say the 34 fits as to how high it is. I would not argue with the chart

Wait, am i missing something? is the battery up front for the 2016s?

Here is the batter dimensions for all 3 being discussed.

BCI GROUP NUMBERS, AND DIMENSIONAL SPECIFICATIONS

GP L W H

SSReaper

Quote from p120ud213azn

Wait, am i missing something? is the battery up front for the 2016s?

Nah, the battery is still in the back. But if you have a rear exit exhaust and try to put a group 34 battery in, it might be too close to the exhaust pipe.

well I think I got my answer - went out to the parking lot and shoved my cell phone up by the tire and snapped this out of focus picture of the the top side of the battery - - - looking at the terminal I think its safe to say my 2016 got the smaller motorcycle style battery. my date of manufacture on the sticker thats on the frame says 7/20/2015 so I guess its safe to say that the smaller battery came before the 2016 1/2 changes

also seems that they changed which side has the positive terminal - as you can see in the picture my positive is on the inside the side closest to the swing arm - looking at the parts diagrams on the polaris site the 2015 looks like the positive side is on the outboard side closest to the access cover

looking at the parts list on the polaris site it would also seem the cable coming off of the positive terminal on the 2015 is a 2AGW and on the 2016 they went with a smaller 4AGW

Do the people who go to larger batteries on later model year slings replace the 4 AGW with something larger to better handle the draw?

Quote from edwardaneal

well I think I got my answer - went out to the parking lot and shoved my cell phone up by the tire and snapped this out of focus picture of the the top side of the battery - - - looking at the terminal I think its safe to say my 2016 got the smaller motorcycle style battery. my date of manufacture on the sticker thats on the frame says 7/20/2015 so I guess its safe to say that the smaller battery came before the 2016 1/2 changes

also seems that they changed which side has the positive terminal - as you can see in the picture my positive is on the inside the side closest to the swing arm - looking at the parts diagrams on the polaris site the 2015 looks like the positive side is on the outboard side closest to the access cover

My 2015, yes the positive post is to the outside of the drivers side

As the other photo indicated it is now verified that my 2016 which was manufactured 7/20/2015 did in fact come with the smaller AGM type battery - and despite its somewhat exposed location it looks to be in good shape

I never even thought about the battery when I decided to have the Welter dual rear exhaust put on...I am going to have to find a new battery to use now that the optima 34 wont work. Any suggestions?

Quote from SSREAPER

I never even thought about the battery when I decided to have the Welter dual rear exhaust put on...I am going to have to find a new battery to use now that the optima 34 wont work. Any suggestions?

Use a group 26 size. It's 2 inches narrower