My OEM battery went to crap on my during the summer. I didnt feel like paying a arm leg and left nut for a new one. So I went out and bought a generic replacement for it. I have now went through 3 of those. All have been under warranty since the first one. So its not like I have had to buy 3 batterys now. But my question is, what have you replaced yours with? And what keeps making these things go dead? They get a dead cell and they are done. Zero juice.

 

The generic Chief Auto Parts specials are made more for light to moderate abuse that a watercraft will dish out. You put it into the "paint shaker" that is your DS and the plates inside will break up and short inside the battery.
If you don't mind the constant replacing of the warranted battery (not ot mention being stranded on the trail without the battery to start your engine) then keep replacing it. If you want a battery that will be there for you - then start selling the afore mentioned body parts get yourself a good gel battery. If you take care of it and keep it charged during periods of lengthy storage, it will last you 3 - 4 years.

 

Then why are so many OEM gel batteries crapping out on our DS's? Is there a better quality gel battery than the OEM?

 

Lets face it, its a tough environment for any battery so there will be failures. Good thing is, they usually fail right away or not at all. If they don't fail under warranty, they should last for the duration.
Also, in some of the cases that you are undoubtedly referring to, it was the voltage reg/rectifier that failed causing the battery to go dead. The Yuasa gel battery is a quality unit.

 

why dont youy just buy the yuasa GRT battery??? they sell them in Rocky Mountain ATV. it dont include acid, but its got a 6 month warranty. me? i went to wal mart and got a battery fron a street bike or something, it looked close to the same size, but it was too narrow so i just cut a peice of wood in there, and that has worked really good for me for the past year, it takes all the abuse that i through at it, jumps... moto cross track fast trail riding. the wal mart battery costs less than the yuasa (78.99) i think the wal mart one was like 40$[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]