Oiy Vey (slap my forehead)

Like the rest of you, I want what I want.   When I was getting my bike ready for the highway, I told my mechanic that I wanted a good battery.  We discussed this and that about battery types and I decided to just get a regular sealed lead acid, rather than those new LiPo or AGM even though they may be better as I didn't want to have to purchase a new charger/maintainer.

Last Saturday my battery arrived and I decided to install it myself  (read here) .    You will read where I mentioned that this battery was only 12 amps,  but the one that was removed was 14 amps

Here is my new battery, notice the model number,  YTX12 xxx   which was installed last Saturday.   Now, I am not really happy about having a battery of less capacity but I thought I was "stuck" with it, for now.   I was actually thinking of buying another one of the correct amperage

Last Saturday when I arrived at EMS: Essential Motorcycle Services they were busy so I told Ted I would take care of installing it

Bobskoot, bESS:  "Ted, where is my battery ?"

Ted:  "It's under the staircase"

bESS:  "thank you"

My mistake was not going "under the staircase" to obtain it.   There was a table next to the staircase where there looked to be a new battery waiting for me.   So I grabbed it and found that it was smaller than the original one and I had to put a wooden spacer Under the battery so that it would fit under the battery bracket .   Anyway the battery was replaced and I made my way home and parked my bike.   All week it was bothering me that this battery was under spec'd

Yesterday night I was looking at my photos and remembered that I was at EMS when Ted unboxed my battery.  I forgot that I snapped a photo of the chemical pack being emptied into the empty cells

Here's where I noticed the model number of this battery was  YTX14 xxx    which meant that the correct battery was ordered.   Because the chemicals have to be absorbed by the plates in the battery it has to sit for a few hours before use and the reason that I left and came back later, but grabbed the wrong battery to install.

I contacted Ted and sure enough, my battery was still under the staircase waiting for me and somehow I must have installed a new looking battery which belongs to someone else

On the way home tonight I stopped by to pick up my 14 amp Yuasa battery

It was still on the shelf under the staircase.   Below is a closer look

I put it into my car to take it home

I dug out my socket set and torx bits and went to work.  First I removed the seat

and then I had to grab my screwdriver and torx bit

I eventually swapped out the batteries .

The correct 14 amp Yuasa on the left, and the 12 amp Interstate on the right.   I don't need the wood spacer anymore as this battery is the correct size

There's nothing like having to do a simple job twice but now all is well and my bike is ready.   I might do a windshield wind test on the highway this weekend to see how my spacer worked