Have an 05 Honda Trike with Lehman Kit original battery lasted over 7 years and was replaced only because of age, never touched it with a charger or tender. New battery identical to the one taken out 2.5 years old would not start, it tried to start but all the lights pulled it down. I guess the new batteries are not as good as the old ones. Why didn't Honda put a switch in so you could start your bike before turning the lights on>> Cheap Cheap. Guess I need to get a tender from now on.
Yes I know this is an old post. Unfortunanly many will say the same, and unless the instructions are followed in the battery box as written, the results will be similar. If you call Yuasa, they will say the same. Often the problem has to do with the words "charger." Basically it's imparitive to do this. Install the acid, wait 1 hour, then charge the battery with a 2amp charger. That can take 4-8 hrs. Some seem to think that their maintaner is a charger ... yes, we all know that your maintainer says it's a charger too. But apparently they are not, or are not capable of providing the charge a new battery needs. Others are also discovering that maintainers have different ratings, and sometimes their maintainer is not rated high enough. This seems very true GYZ's batteries.
Sorry ... I'm not much of a maintainer person, and for good reason. However, I am one to follow the instructions on how to maintain and care for a Wing as found in the Owner's Manual, and I've not seen yet where Honda recommends putting a 5th gen battery on a maintainer. Here at JustWings, to "maintain" a battery charge we would either follow the instruction in the Owner's of Service manual.
The important part about activating a battery is this. Each new battery comes with only 1 chance to do it correctly. In a nut shell, when done, that will be the batteries highest voltage ever. And from that point on, it voltage slowly degrades. If the activation is not done correctly, it's bacially retarded from day one, and will forever be.