Odyssey Battery

[SIR tricky]

current price at Aircraft Spruce is $119.85

much better price than what is on their website!

It was odd, I was at the site, and it told me to place order to find current price, and it gave me $119.85

Went back and cant find what I clicked on, I thought it odd at the time. I paid $124,95 +tax in March of this year

[bs175dths]

I like to bookmark pages like that for several reasons.
Recently I was repairing a ‘made in China’ Honda styled scooter which needed its two headlight elements replaced.
Not run-of-the-mill lights as other made in Japan or automotive elements would not substitute.
I found a site and the elements were $9.99 + $1.99 shipping.

After informing the owner of the cost, he waits a few days to tell me the go ahead and do the repairs.

Parts were paid for, ordered, installed and he was on the road again.

The following day he tells me HE searched the net and the lowest price he found per bulb was $24.99 + $1.99 shipping.
The $1.99 shipping got the better of me so I asked him for the web site.
IT WAS THE SAME SITE AS I HAD ORDERED.

Apparently they dramatically raised their bulb prices, but since I ordered through the saved page, I was able to save the owner some money.

Odd indeed!

[Granpah]

THE AMAZING "UNDERWATER" PC-680 ODYSSEY BATTERY

Some here may recall that last November my house burned to the ground -- and as it turned out, my 'Wing not only melted but was submerged in a couple of feet of firefighters' water. Just before the salvage company [sent by Progressive insurance company] came to pick up the bike, I removed anything that seemed intact, for my next GL1200 The obvious extras were the two sets (driver + passenger) of Markland foot boards, heel-toe shifter, and highway boards.

As an afterthought, just minutes before the salvage guy arrived, I removed the PC-680 ODYSSEY BATTERY that had been through the intense heat of a fire, under water, and was now dead as a door nail (according to my trusty volt meter). Turning it upside down (NOT recommended with a conventional battery !) water came spilling out of its outer jacket. Still I figured, what the heck it was only two years old and still a pup. So I hooked it up (in my hotel room ) to a Schumbacher XC10, 10-AMP charger [that has different settings for different types of batteries] set to 2 amps (for a slow recharge), and forgot about it for nearly a week. Although at first ALL the charger's lights were flashing (showing maximum charging rate -- no surprise there), after a day or two it settled down seeming to be fully charged. I was VERY skeptical that this battery will EVER be normal again. But then I did THE test.

After it was fully charged according to the volt meter (something above 12 volts, closer to 13), I let it stand and day after day checked the voltage. That rascal held the 12-plus volt charge for over one week, now going on two. Heck, I'm putting that PC-680 ODYSSEY in my "new" Aspy, soon as I get my hands on the bike !

[unionjack]

THE AMAZING "UNDERWATER" PC-680 ODYSSEY BATTERY

Some here may recall that last November my house burned to the ground -- and as it turned out, my 'Wing not only melted but was submerged in a couple of feet of firefighters' water. Just before the salvage company [sent by Progressive insurance company] came to pick up the bike, I removed anything that seemed intact, for my next GL1200 The obvious extras were the two sets (driver + passenger) of Markland foot boards, heel-toe shifter, and highway boards.

As an afterthought, just minutes before the salvage guy arrived, I removed the PC-680 ODYSSEY BATTERY that had been through the intense heat of a fire, under water, and was now dead as a door nail (according to my trusty volt meter). Turning it upside down (NOT recommended with a conventional battery !) water came spilling out of its outer jacket. Still I figured, what the heck it was only two years old and still a pup. So I hooked it up (in my hotel room ) to a Schumbacher XC10, 10-AMP charger [that has different settings for different types of batteries] set to 2 amps (for a slow recharge), and forgot about it for nearly a week. Although at first ALL the charger's lights were flashing (showing maximum charging rate -- no surprise there), after a day or two it settled down seeming to be fully charged. I was VERY skeptical that this battery will EVER be normal again. But then I did THE test.

After it was fully charged according to the volt meter (something above 12 volts, closer to 13), I let it stand and day after day checked the voltage. That rascal held the 12-plus volt charge for over one week, now going on two. Heck, I'm putting that PC-680 ODYSSEY in my "new" Aspy, soon as I get my hands on the bike !

There is a reason why all military vehicles use this battery (under a different name).

[SIR tricky]

I took the liberty to send that post to Odyssey, I got this back

Good afternoon Rick,

Well, that was a great story and there should be no real reason for it not to work for him. We have had batteries submerged in water for short periods of time that as long as terminals weren’t corroded and the battery was charged as soon as possible and not left in a discharged condition, have recovered very well with no permanent ill effects. I would say if the battery was protected from direct fire with no obvious signs of damage to the battery case such as flame damage or distortion from excessive heat exposure, his PC680 battery should be just fine. Turning the battery upside down to remove the water from the fill port reservoir area below the decorative top cover will not damage the battery since it is a sealed battery. We just don’t recommend installing it in an inverted position for regular use.


Thanks for sharing. Any further updates would be greatly appreciated. J

Kathy Mitchell

ODYSSEY Sales/Support Representative
Phone: 660-429-7551
Toll Free: 888-422-0317
Fax: 660-429-1758
Email: kathy.mitchell@enersys.com
Web site: www.odysseybattery.com
Corp site: www.enersys.com

[Granpah]

Wow tricky,

I never imagined the story to get back to ODYSSEY. But there it is.

As Kathy Mitchell correctly assumed, the battery was not in direct fire. It had been partially shielded from contact with the radiant heat by the bike's battery compartment cover -- that was melted but not burned. What I expected was with the battery being under water, it no doubt shorted out, and the +/- potential went down to zero. But, evidently, it had not sustained internal damage ... otherwise I would not expect it to be capable of being recharged, and to hold its full charge.

[SIR tricky]

I just received this email from Odyssey, I did correct them that the battery in question belonged not to me but a member of our forum.

I gave them permission to use the story.


"Hi Rick

I am the Marketing Manager for the ODYSSEY line. Thank you for the awesome testimonial on your PC680!
May I share this story and photo on our social media outlets?

Thanks Rick

Maria Orlando-Krick

Marketing manager – specialty markets

[SIR tricky]

Orlando-Krick, Maria

12:49 PM (5 hours ago)

to me

Thank you for your permission and I am sorry to hear about your friend who had the house fire. Hopefully the rebuilding of his home goes smoothly



Maria

[Granpah]

DAY 20 AFTER LAST CHARGE

Once again testing how well my (already two-year old) "underwater" PC-680 ODYSSEY BATTERY has kept its charge after its last contact with a battery charger, this morning my voltmeter shows it hasn't lost even a fraction of a volt since I last tested it 20 days ago. Now then, the battery has just been standing around all that time and NOT attached to an electrical system that can draw current. That test comes next. On Monday, I go to pick up my "new" '85 Aspy which has been COMPLETELY gone over from front to back and everything in between by the wrench geniuses at Flying Tiger Motorcycles. The last thing was to replace the Aspy instrument cluster (costing me ONLY $79 that I bought on eBay coming with a no-questions-asked, 30-day money back guarantee). The main problem in the original cluster was that the gear change indicator wasn't working at all. The Flying Tiger M'ycles mechanic discovered water had gotten into the unsealed connector, producing some corrosion. Rather than fool around with trying to repair THAT part of the instrument cluster, I decided to buy a "new" replacement from a reputable Seller.

Here's a good place to give this eBay Seller a plug, calling himself AUTOPARTSHEAVEN and for over 3,000 feedbacks is rated at 99.9% positive. This Seller posts videos of the component in operation. See the one for my Aspy Instrument Cluster. BTW he is parting out an '85 Aspy with 61K on the clock, and his prices are fair, shipping is near the speed of light, and the 30-day money back guarantee can't be beat !

Getting back to the main thread, so next Monday I'm swapping my "underwater" PC-680 ODYSSEY BATTERY with the wet cell that the bike came with to make the FINAL test. Yeh, I know, if the battery can keep its last charge for 20 days then that should be the end of it. But call me superstitious. If you had seen my '85 Interstate looking like a grilled cheese sandwich with a GL1200 engine sticking out of it following the fire and then being under water afterwards, you too would wonder that ANY battery could have come through all that and still be working "normally".

[Just to make clear how completely the fire consumed our house, I've attached a photo of our bedroom that is located above the garage ... which looks even worse.] Rebuilding would have cost twice as much as our insurance company totaled the house. So we'll have to buy a "new" one. I'm not at all complaining because we're gratefully STILL HERE to complain !

   Bedroom.jpg (Size: 223.04 KB / Downloads: 15)

[Granpah]

Rick,
I thought we already went through all this with my saying it's O.K. with me, etc. It's still O.K.

So far as the battery's performance in my bike, why should it behave any differently (famous last words) ? It's been through a cycle of fully discharged and then fully charged. Somewhere at Odyssey's Web site they mentioned how many such cycles this battery can go through before it quits ... and so far as Odyssey is concerned their typical "dry cell" battery can handle 400 charge-discharge cycles to 80% depth of discharge.

In a couple of days we'll find out. Right now, it's been below freezing here for a couple of weeks ... with the promise of warm weather >60°s (>16°C; possible rain). Rain or not, Monday I'll be out'N about