Lithium battery

CPJS

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My bike is nearly five years old. I have never had any battery problems but thought I would replace it as a preemptive strike.
I am thinking of fitting a lithium battery, what are the recommendations.?
 
JJH said:
Why would you replace a perfectly good battery? JJH
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After five years I doubt the battery is 'perfectly good', what do you think the life expectancy should be?
I average 9,000mls a year half of which is in mainland Europe, the last thing I need when away is to go out in the morning to a dead battery.
 
I’m sure it’s not a problem but just make sure, a lot of the time it’s not just a straight swap, they charge a bit different. I looked into it for the vehicle and leisure battery on our motorhome and found I would have to change the charge electronics as well at around £400 total spend would have been £2500 and not worth it.
As I said it may not be the same with a bike but you need to clarify it, I know some people have just changed the batteries on their motor homes and they have gone pop costing thousands in repairs.

Lithium =smaller size, better usable capacity, longer life is it worth the extra cash on a bike?
 
CPJS said:
After five years I doubt the battery is 'perfectly good', what do you think the life expectancy should be?
I average 9,000mls a year half of which is in mainland Europe, the last thing I need when away is to go out in the morning to a dead battery.
Click to expand...

In my experience it’s lack of use that kills batteries. Yours don’t fit into that category. You seem to have a perfectly serviceable battery. If heading off into the unknown I’d consider changing it but I’d also be looking at many other bits too. To be honest I think the money would be better spent on one of those mini starter things. I’ve never replaced a serviceable battery but then I haven’t gone on a European trip. If I was to replace I’d definitely look at lithium. JJH
 
JJH said:
In my experience it’s lack of use that kills batteries. Yours don’t fit into that category. You seem to have a perfectly serviceable battery. If heading off into the unknown I’d consider changing it but I’d also be looking at many other bits too. To be honest I think the money would be better spent on one of those mini starter things. I’ve never replaced a serviceable battery but then I haven’t gone on a European trip. If I was to replace I’d definitely look at lithium. JJH
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mini starters are very good when battery is able to recover, but when battery is good fail, even mini starter cannot help, I found this when replacing bad battery, mini starter will only help if battery low and not dead
 
Seen one at a bike show. 1200 gs. Battery removed. Mini starter turning over engine no bother. He had fuel injection disabled somehow. JJH
 
JJH said:
Seen one at a bike show. 1200 gs. Battery removed. Mini starter turning over engine no bother. He had fuel injection disabled somehow. JJH
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Interesting thanks, must look into info for that, one day might help :beerjug:
 
Recently changed mine, tried a Shorai rated at 270 CCA but seemed to labor to crank the motor. Went with an EarthX instead and now it spins over and fires up very quickly. Used the ETX 24C.

FYI, I wanted the LiFe type since it's a newer technology than the AntiGravity, apparently less chance of a thermal runaway. One nice thing about the EarthX is that it has an internal monitor that balances the cells, and also allows you to use a standard charger, no need to buy a specific Li charger.
 
pcarnut said:
Recently changed mine, tried a Shorai rated at 270 CCA but seemed to labor to crank the motor. Went with an EarthX instead and now it spins over and fires up very quickly. Used the ETX 24C.

FYI, I wanted the LiFe type since it's a newer technology than the AntiGravity, apparently less chance of a thermal runaway. One nice thing about the EarthX is that it has an internal monitor that balances the cells, and also allows you to use a standard charger, no need to buy a specific Li charger.
Click to expand...

Thanks, useful info.
 
pcarnut said:
Recently changed mine, tried a Shorai rated at 270 CCA but seemed to labor to crank the motor. Went with an EarthX instead and now it spins over and fires up very quickly. Used the ETX 24C.
Click to expand...

That's because you should have bought a different Shorai with more than 270 CCA. 270 is insufficient for the big boxer. I have used a Shorai LFX21A6-BS12 with 315CCA for several years and it has always had a very crisp and fast startup. Highly recommended.

I also use a Shido in my 1198cc Ducati twin which has high compression Pistals at 14:1... probably one of the toughest to start. And yet the Shido fires it up no problem.

LiFePo4 batteries are the way forward. But make sure you get a proper Lithium/LiFePo4 Optimate that can take care of it.
 
my battery is 5 years old, not let me down yet, never garaged, just left out in the freezing temps. however I have owned an optimate for 4 years and plug the bike in every night. each morning the optimate always has 2 green lights showing all is good. this includes leaving the bike stood for 4/5 days without using it.
I am not sure what the life expectancy of a battery is, can anyone lighten me. Balls to what the manufacturers say. real life please.

you watch, I will have flat battery tomorrow��
 
schneazle weazle said:
my battery is 5 years old, not let me down yet, never garaged, just left out in the freezing temps. however I have owned an optimate for 4 years and plug the bike in every night. each morning the optimate always has 2 green lights showing all is good. this includes leaving the bike stood for 4/5 days without using it.
I am not sure what the life expectancy of a battery is, can anyone lighten me. Balls to what the manufacturers say. real life please.

you watch, I will have flat battery tomorrow��
Click to expand...

On my last 1150GS I had an Optimate connected every minute that the bike wasn't being used. The battery lasted a few weeks short of 10 years.
 
Greg Masters said:
On my last 1150GS I had an Optimate connected every minute that the bike wasn't being used. The battery lasted a few weeks short of 10 years.
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IMHO that's how much the manufacturers are ripping us off. by telling us batteries should be replaced every couple of years, surely it's better to replace them when they're fooked, yes I understand you wouldn't it to fail mid-tour, but that could happen anytime, just have to keep the faith (sure there is song line in there somewhere), as other have wrote carry a small jump starter, they are the size of a cigarette packet now.
 
pcarnut said:
One nice thing about the EarthX is that it has an internal monitor that balances the cells, and also allows you to use a standard charger, no need to buy a specific Li charger.
Click to expand...

I would disagree with some of that. All lithium batteries will have a device built in to balance the cells while charging.
If you use a standard charger then it will do all sorts of weird things like go into desulfate mode etc. This can involve discharging and then high voltage recharging a battery, a lithium will not tolerate that. A lithium does not lose its charge from just sitting doing nothing like a "normal" battery does anyway, I had one on a shelf in my garage for 18 months that had no problem starting my Ducati without charging.
 
BobT said:
I would disagree with some of that. All lithium batteries will have a device built in to balance the cells while charging.
If you use a standard charger then it will do all sorts of weird things like go into desulfate mode etc. This can involve discharging and then high voltage recharging a battery, a lithium will not tolerate that. A lithium does not lose its charge from just sitting doing nothing like a "normal" battery does anyway, I had one on a shelf in my garage for 18 months that had no problem starting my Ducati without charging.
Click to expand...

Well, I would disagree with your disagreeing. :p

It was not my experience while shopping for a battery to find that "All" lithium batteries have built in cell balancing, some do, some don't. I could not find in any of Shorai's literature where they state their batteries have built in cell balancing, and directly from the Shorai site they state "if the LFX battery is deeply discharged below 12.86 volts, only a lithium charger with cell balancing can be used to recover the battery.

Yes, you are correct that only a charger that does NOT have a desulfate feature should be used on any lithium battery. Regarding discharging, a Lithium battery will discharge if left sitting, again, per Shorai's website "If the battery is left on a shelf for several months it is normal to see the voltage drop to the nominal voltage of 13.2V." However, unless there is a strong parasitic drain, several months sitting is not usually as big a deal.
 
Spareparts said:
That's because you should have bought a different Shorai with more than 270 CCA. 270 is insufficient for the big boxer.
Click to expand...
Well, BMW provides a battery that provides 200 CCA, so it seemed reasonable to think Shorai's 270 would be more than sufficient. I had been a big Shorai fan up until this experience, and have had them in various Triumphs and an FJR1300.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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