Lithium Battery

[Izzy]

My battery recently died so my initial thought was to get a Big Crank which I have been using on my other (CB900F) bikes. But I did a little searching and ran across the Shorai Litium Battery http://www.amazon.com/Shorai-Inc-Lithiu ... roduct_top. Its about $50 more than a big crank but only weighs 2 lbs and had great reviews. So I went for it. So far it seams like a great battery. When it showed up I didn't think it was a battery because the box was so light. Took it out of the box and it looks more like a small house alarm battery. Other then the size it has the same specs as an OEM battery for our bikes. It came with a lot of light weight foam to fill in the space in the battery box. So far it looks like a great battery. Cranks over my '81 CBX with plenty of cranking power especially in the morning where it takes a lot of cranking to get started. Very pleased with it so far.

[NobleHops]

They are amazingly small and light weight, no doubt about it. I bought one for my dirt bike, mostly because I neglect it and the LI batteries seem to tolerate that a lot better. I think there is some subtlety to the charger though - I think their charger charges each cell individually, which is supposedly a bit better for its life. Others have said that smart chargers are fine. I chickened out and bought their proprietary charger.

[spencer]

They are amazingly small and light weight, no doubt about it. I bought one for my dirt bike, mostly because I neglect it and the LI batteries seem to tolerate that a lot better. I think there is some subtlety to the charger though - I think their charger charges each cell individually, which is supposedly a bit better for its life. Others have said that smart chargers are fine. I chickened out and bought their proprietary charger.

I'm no battery expert, but I think there are at least two different Li battery types. Lithium Ion batteries, which is probably what your motorcycle batteries are, may do better with a proprietary charger which charges each cell individually, but they can probably tolerate an ordinary charger. Nils, does your proprietary charger connect to each cell individually?

Lithium Polymer batteries are a different animal. They are very particular in how they are charged, and each cell must be charged individually, with all cells being balanced. If their charge falls below a certain voltage, they can't be recharged. They are extremely power dense. That's why they are used in things like radio control helicopters, etc.

A Lithium Polymer battery does not seem to be a good type for motorcycle use, but I could be wrong there. Judging by the size and weight of the batteries you are talking about, maybe they are Lithium Polymer. Do either of you know exactly what type of Lithium battery you have? I'm always interested to hear about new battery technology.

[EMS]

The motorcycle batteries are Lithium IRON

[steve murdoch icoa #5322]

Izzy, from the bit i have read about them, the LFX that you bought has solved the cold weather starting problems of the early model Shorai.

[Rick Pope]

I have litium batteries in 4 bikes. The one in the CBR is rated 410 cca, and is half the size of the original, or 1/3 the size of a CBX battery.

Two of the bikes have home-made batteries, made from the good cells of a DeWalt pack that had expired.

[spencer]

Cool! I forgot about Lithium Iron.

[Larry Zimmer]

And, to be even more technical Lithium Iron Phosphate. If it 'ain't' that type of lithium battery, you don't want it in your bike or car.

[Izzy]

Not looking to start a debate and I will be the first to admit I am battery illiterate, but FWIW I have never trickle charged any bike batteries during the winters. In the past as with my CBX I used whatever battery came with any bike I acquired until it would not hold a charge, then I replaced them with a Big Crank AGM. My longest run so far has been about 7 yrs with the same Big Crank in my CBF900. The bike has always started up fine in the spring ... well, ok, it cranks over fine come spring ... starting may take some coaxing. Time will tell if the Shorai will perform as well. In the mean time I just wanted to share my experience and the fact that this little 2 lb battery has amazing cranking power.

[Rolls]

From my endless reading of our informative forum, I got the impression that our CBXs draw down the battery at idle, i.e., put out less than 12.6V. I guess we're ok on the high voltage side. I do worry about a regulator or rectifier going south and taking out the lithium battery. But the battery must be tolerant of some of that if a few people are running them successfully.

There is this caveat on the Shorai site for this LiFePo battery:

Shorai Batteries require a charging system output of 13.1 Volts or higher at idle, and must not exceed 15.2 volts at maximum output.
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LFX18L1-BS12MSRP: $189.95
SHORAI LFX Lithium-Iron Powersports battery, 18Ah PbEq 12V eq, "L" polarity, Case Type 1 Length 5.83" Width 2.63" Height 4.13"

Specifications:

Weight:2.31 lbs, 1.05 kg
Cold Cranking Amps:270
Polarity:[- +]