New Yuasa Battery Polarity is reverse from original

I picked up a new battery from the local Honda dealer, asked the parts guy for a replacement battery and he gave me the Yuasa YTZ12S. I go to install the new battery and find that the positive is on the left of the new battery, the negative is on the left of the old battery. I checked the Yuasa website and it shows this being the correct battery for the Silverwing and shows positive on left.

Has anyone else run across this on other batteries? Am I going to need to take my Swing apart and swap my battery cables or can I get batteries with polarity matching my stock set up?

Can you not just flip the battery over? If that doesn't work I would get the proper battery.

Flipping it and have the terminals at the bottom?

Posts to the rear.....?

ScottO wrote:

Flipping it and have the terminals at the bottom?

Yes. Not sure if it would work, been a while since I've looked at the battery.

I replace my batterie with the same Uasa ytz12s,and it went in the same way as the original stock batterie, no need to flip it around. That is the right batterie for the Swing.If it is not the same as the original , go back to the dealer for a replacement. The cost was about $132. + taxes.

Thanks Tinman. I wanted this confirmation that I can get a battery with the correct polarity.

It seems that the + is on the Left.  The Yuasa in my bike has the + on the left but is placed On It's SIDE with the front UP.  That puts the + to the front of the bike.

On my bike, I am looking down at the big yellow Yuasa label and the bumps are to the inside of the storage compartment.   http://store.yuasabatteries.com/p/ytz12s  Hence it is laying on it's back with the label up.

A SigmasTek is currently (10/27/2015) on sale from BatterySharks.com for $20.45 + $9.30 shipping - same polarity.  The online chat person says.... picture is correct and + is on left.  (And ... "I'll be with you in a moment..." a lot.  poor Amanda.)  And that it can work on it's side like the Yuasa.  Went ahead and ordered.

Huge difference in price between the YUASA at ~$130 and SigmaTek at ~$25. Gee, d'ya think there's any difference in quality?

Tim

I think the YUASA batteries can be bought as either left- or right-handed.
It was something that had to be watched when buying batteries for the X9. It had very short battery leads.

I have a feeling that there is definitely a difference in quality from experience in the past.

Spec' sheet say only available with positive on left .........

http://store.yuasabatteries.com/p/ytz12s

It's as said earlier ^^^ an orientation issue, fit it so that the label can be read properly when viewed from above standing on the left of the bike

Pictures are worth a thousand words as they say

Viewed from the right ..........




Viewed from left (directly above battery) .......

I'd be suspicious of a $25 battery. Might be an old fashioned lead/acid battery that has to be upright and needs a vent tube to prevent corrosion if and when it burps acid. The OEM battery was an AGM battery that can operate without a vent. Be sure of what you're putting in your scooter because I don't believe there's a $25 battery that would last any length of time in bike use. You'd be better served with another YUASA or Odyssey battery. Going cheap on a battery is a bad idea on a bike that can't be push started.

I am impressed. BatterySharks.com delivered the battery via 2nd day shipping - ordered 1pm Tuesday, found it on my door step when I got home Thursday.

The nice rep at BatterySharks said she is "not sure the battery will last 4" years... so an honest eval. And the battery does not look to be the same high quality build as the Yuasa - The Yuasa has nice bronze looking terminals and screws with sharp looking nuts... the SigmasTek has dull alloy terminals, screws and rectangular nuts. The Yuasa nuts rest on a spacer making screwing in the bolts easy. The SigmasTek nuts were too far down to catch the bolts - I finally put some insulation foam behind the nut, got the bolt threads to catch and pulled out the foam. But the battery fit right into the compartment and did not have vents or serious issues.

The fit in the battery box is the same - a larger battery will NOT fit without cutting plastic.

It seems to be holding a 13.49 voltage a couple hours after a 60 mile ride with several stops. The 5+ year old Yuasa has dropped from 12.77 when I took it out to 12.64. The main thing though is that when I start the bike it starts up with some authority while it seemed to be struggling on the old Yuasa. Given that the Yuasa came with the bike when I bought it I have no idea of it's age but feel it ows me nothing - and if I was more sure I would be keeping the silverwing I might have splurged. But I am experimenting with the Swing (car tire, beads) so a cheap battery seamed like something to try. Even if I buy one a year it will be like buying 1 Yuasa every 4 years...

Oh, the SigmasTek is made in Viet Nam. Might explain some of the price.

"Going cheap on a battery is a bad idea on a bike that can't be push started."

I fully agree with this statement. I have had Yuasa batteries in my Honda cars and bikes and their durability is outstanding. 11 years in my Honda Civic; 10 years in my Volvo S60 and never had one fail in a bike or scooter either. Of course engines nowadays do start more or less instantly with electronic ignition and fuel injection. The days of cranking over a starter motor for minutes are luckily well behind us.