Lithium Batteries

[OldSchool]

I would like to hear some opinions of going from a lead acid to a lithium battery. Pros ? Cons ?
This is the one I have been looking at

[cnc]

That particular one says it is rated to replace 10-14amp hour lead acid batteries, might not be the best power wise. Our stock battery is 18 amp hours and there are guys who replace with 20amp hour batteries when they change.

[OldSchool]

That's the recommended battery for replacement of our lead acid ones. From what I am reading the lithium batteries are rated differently and the formula is: factory amps X .75 = recommended lithium amp. So an 18 amp system is rated at a 13.5 lithium amp. You can go up to a higher amp but the price increases substantially to $230.00 per battery. Anyway when you go to their site and feed in make and model that's the one that keeps popping up.

[recumbentbob]

I personally would not buy it for $150
I have been using Yuasa Batteries for over 25 years and they have served me well.
What I don't understand is they take a special Lithium battery charger yet they think a MC charging system for regular batteries will work with Lithium. Confusing

I guess I'm just Old School so give me yuasa.....

[OldSchool]

" What I don't understand is they take a special Lithium battery charger yet they think a MC charging system for regular batteries will work with Lithium. Confusing "

Really good point. I hmmmed about that myself. Maybe someone can shed light on that one.

[cnc]

Originally Posted by OldSchool

That's the recommended battery for replacement of our lead acid ones. From what I am reading the lithium batteries are rated differently and the formula is: factory amps X .75 = recommended lithium amp. So an 18 amp system is rated at a 13.5 lithium amp. You can go up to a higher amp but the price increases substantially to $230.00 per battery. Anyway when you go to their site and feed in make and model that's the one that keeps popping up.

Hmm, that is interesting but I would do more research with other manufactures as well. It does say lead acid replacement range 10-14 ah which the way I interpret that statement is: it is equivalent to a 10-14 ah lead acid battery. Either that statement is wrong or their shop by make and model is misleading.

[OldSchool]

This is the one that popped up for my nomad on another site. It is equivalent to the Battery Tenders $230.00 dollar battery. This one is stated as being 7 amp hours (equivalent to 21 amp hours lead acid). Two sights I visited also stated that it was okay to use a regular battery charger as long as the chargers did not have automatic de-sulfuricators that you couldn't turn off. Also the Scorpion brand stated it would fully charge in 6 minutes. No one else has made that claim.

[Top Cat]

I just bought this battery for my 08 Nomad.
Don't know about formulas or amp rating but it was recommended as a replacement for my bike and made by Yuasa or a subsidiary of Yuasa.

https://www.batterystuff.com/powersp.../YTX16-BS.html

[cnc]

That seems like a decent price for a glass mat battery Tim.

[VulcanE]

This is the one I got about 3~4 years ago, and it's still doing fine

http://www.batterymart.com/p-YTX20CH...e-Battery.html

[recumbentbob]

I found this on another forum and found it very interesting.

Here's the thing about lith-ions. In the r/c world the connector is standardized so chargers are cheap. For motorsports they aren't so you have to get the charger from the manufacturer. So it is a little costly. The batteries are made up of cells. An individual cell's safe range is between 3.0v and 4.2v. Anything beyond that is where your fires and explosions happen.

Your alternator will charge the batteries, however, the cells charge and discharge at slightly different rates. Let's assume a 4 cell battery. Most balance chargers cutoff at 3.9v on the top end and 3.3v on the bottom end to give some room. So for a 4 cell that would mean 15.6v is the max you could charge it, 3.9v X 4. Let's say over time as the battery discharges and charges the cells get out of sync and on a full charge of 15.6v the cells are at 4.3v, 3.7v, 3.8v, 3.8v. Notice one cell got above the upper limit. This battery is prone to failure. This is why just using the natural charging system of your bike is not enough for lithium. It will be fine for many charges but eventually it will get out of sync.

This is why you need to use the balance charger from the manufacture once and a while. It charges each individual cell and gets them back in sync. If you ever see your battery puff out, stop using it immediately.

[Lumberjack]

Lithium iron, not ion battery

[napom]

I have the battery you are looking at in my Voyager - it is VERY light weight and compact . . . I am now able to put my owner's manual in the battery case next to. I have had it in the bike for just under a year and about 14,000 miles - I am going back to a normal battery when I get home - Here is why:

If you have ANY kind of a load on it, it drains very quickly - The Voyager of course has a constant load to keep things like the clock, radio presets etc up and running - If I let my bike sit much longer than two weeks - it will be a slow start or require a jump. When I had a tracker wired in to it for anti-theft purposes - it reduced the time greatly.

It's really a shame - because I really like the battery otherwise - If I had a no frills bike like my old Sabre with now draw when the key is off . . . I would recommend this - But if you have a constant draw, and you don't regularly ride or keep it plugged in to a tender . . . You may wish to rethink it . . .

[OldSchool]

Here is some more info on the differences.


http://www.brighthubengineering.com/...-iron-battery/

[OldSchool]

Originally Posted by napom

I have the battery you are looking at in my Voyager - it is VERY light weight and compact . . . I am now able to put my owner's manual in the battery case next to. I have had it in the bike for just under a year and about 14,000 miles - I am going back to a normal battery when I get home - Here is why:

If you have ANY kind of a load on it, it drains very quickly - The Voyager of course has a constant load to keep things like the clock, radio presets etc up and running - If I let my bike sit much longer than two weeks - it will be a slow start or require a jump. When I had a tracker wired in to it for anti-theft purposes - it reduced the time greatly.

It's really a shame - because I really like the battery otherwise - If I had a no frills bike like my old Sabre with now draw when the key is off . . . I would recommend this - But if you have a constant draw, and you don't regularly ride or keep it plugged in to a tender . . . You may wish to rethink it . . .

Good information. Thanks.