Quote: author=http://www.recoverygear.com/odysseyquestions.html
Are these gel cells? What's the difference?
No, the ODYSSEY® is NOT a gel cell. It is an absorbed electrolyte type battery, which means that there is no free acid inside the battery; all of the acid is kept absorbed in the glass mat separators. These separators serve to keep the positive and negative plates apart.
The key difference between the gel cell and the absorbed glass mat (AGM) cell lies in the fact that in the AGM cell (such as the ODYSSEY®), all of the electrolyte is in the separators, as opposed to the gel cell where the acid is within the cells in a gel form. In fact, if the ODYSSEY® battery were to split open, there would be no acid spillage! That is why we call the ODYSSEY® a dry cell!
And the page I previously cited:
Quote:author=http://www.nlectc.org/txtfiles/batteryguide/ba-type.htm
2.1.2 Wet vs. Dry
"Wet" cells refer to galvanic cells where the electrolyte is liquid in form and is allowed to flow freely within the cell casing. Wet batteries are often sensitive to the orientation of the battery. For example, if a wet cell is oriented such that a gas pocket accumulates around one of the electrodes, the cell will not produce current. Most automobile batteries are wet cells.
"Dry" cells are cells that use a solid or powdery electrolyte. These kind of electrolytes use the ambient moisture in the air to complete the chemical process. Cells with liquid electrolyte can be classified as "dry" if the electrolyte is immobilized by some mechanism, such as by gelling it or by holding it in place with an absorbent substance such as paper.
The Odyssey, is not a gel cell, but it is a lead-acid battery. It is not a dry cell that it uses a solid or powdery elecrolyte -- it is a "dry" cell in that it has the liquid elecrolyte immobilized. Not by being made into a gel, but by being held absorbed in a glass mat.
If I was dirt riding it would be in my dirt bike (especially if the dirt bike was a Savage Scrambler
.) If I were in the frigid North where the long shelf life and ability to function below freezing mattered I would consider one. If you can get one cheap it would make for a worry free battery; even if it is not quite sized to fit the stock battery box. It also has the ability to take a fast charge that would toast a gel cell.
While interesting, IMO it is overkill for a California street bike that will never be parked for more than a couple of days. I'll be sending off for a Yuasa High Performance Maintenance Free (YTX14AHL-BS) in a week or two.
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