Lithium Batteries

You need to change to a lithium friendly voltage charge regulator.

I fitted a Shorai Lithium battery on my MK3 restoration and it is amazing.

It has excellent cranking power and starts my bike up instantly. It doesn't need 'topping up' or maintaining and holds a charge for a year. It is very light and sits in the tray perfectly. Expensive but well worth it.

This from the Old Brits site:

• No more dead batteries. Holds charge for one year without maintenance.
• Twice the service life of lead-acid batteries on average.
• Drop-in replacement for your OEM battery.
• Military spec Carbon Composite Case.
• Faster cranking for better starts.
• Ultra light. One fifth the weight of lead-acid batteries on average.
• Super-fast recharge rate.
• SAFE - No explosive gasses during charge, no lead, no acid.

I have tried to figure out pros and cons of Lithium versus Lead batteries. As specs differs some between manufacturers, I'm not entirely certain of my conclusions.

For electric starting bikes, you can get a smaller and lighter Lithium battery, with equal starting power. Unless you try to start in really cold weather.

For kickstart bikes, I see no advantage, because the Amperehour rating used is called Pb equal rating, which seems to be one third of their actual rating. So when your alternator fails, your battery ignition will die sooner.

On my total loss system on a couple of classic racers, I stick to lead batteries because there is no weight gain. I'd love that somebody can prove me wrong.

Mike

I,ve used a LF21A6- BS12 Shorai for my e start only Mk3 since 2014 and agree with Steven Hurd on all counts. An excellent if pricey upgrade and 8lbs lighter than the previous Yuasa YTX16-BS. One drawback is the warm up period needed in low to sub zero mornings ( +3c to -2c so far)  Easily sorted as I turn on the heated grips to max five to ten minutes before startup. Shorai recommend using the headlight for the same effect.

Overall the Shorai is far better for year round riding or touring duties like phone, camera, ipad charging, heated grips etc and never short of power on e starts.

No special voltage reg, I use the Lucas RM24 47244 High Output 3 Phase alternator with matching Lucas TPR200 Reg Rectifier charging at 14v, works perfectly for me.  Cold resting voltage is always around 13.2v. My old Optimate 3 tops up the battery if necessary although this is rare.

The 8lb weight savings covers my tent by the way.

Greetings, just for the record I contacted Boyer regarding potential compatibility with their units as I have X 2 bikes with power boxes and they came back:

âThank you for your enquiry,

These Shorai recommended Lithium voltages closelyreplicate those required for a lead acid battery.

Themaximum voltageoutput of the Power Box is regulated to around 14.80 volts.

Theminimum output voltage is dependent on the rpm of the alternator and the loading, at idlewith no load, the Power Box outputterminalswill also be around 14.80 volts.

Regards,

B.B. Tech.

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Boyer Bransden Electronics Ltd Frindsbury House Cox Street Detling Maidstone Kent ME14 3HE Tel: 0044 (0)1622 730939 Fax: 0044 (0)1622 730930!

Best wishes

Steve

Previously paul_smith wrote:

Hi all,

Any experience of running a Lithium battery?

I see at the back of OBM an advert by Powerlite for 5 Ah and 9 Ah batteries - anyone fitted one?

On my new project I have limited space behind a RGM ali side panel - so these smaller (more expensive) batteries could help me a lot.

Thanks - Paul.

I have Shorai batteries in my Enfield Electra X and my Sym Maxsym400i 'superscooter'. They work very well. Due to my forced lay-up for the past 14 months I had (or thought I had!) connected the Shorai Maintenance charger to the Sym, I went to do a test start-up last week and the battery was totally dead due to the clock and immobiliser. It transpired that the mains power switch had got switched off by mistake many months ago. I switched it back on and the charger diagnostics displayed that the battery was 'deeply-discharged' and it proceeded to go through a recharge process. After about six hours I re-tried a start-up and the engine fired-up after about one second. In conclusion, I can recommend lithium batteries, they seem to withstand considerable abuse. It is recommended that specific battery chargers are used with them (at a cost!). They seem to cope well enough with the on-board charging systems on the Sym and Enfield thus, I would imagine they would be OK with Classic bikes fitted with modern regulators (Power Box, Podtronics, Sparx, etc.).

Look deep in lithium battery manufacturer's specifications, they all warn about not exceeding 15 volts - above that it will overheat and self destroy. Zenors may exceed 15 volts so it is really important to ensure your powerbox voltage regulator cuts off comfortably below that figure.

Love the size of my LiPo battery and being able to fit it laying down. It gave me the space to mount the oil filter above the battery and within east access to change filters without the oil and grime under the frame.

they do not like over 14 volts charging systems which can be remedied by replacing the regulator. Ricks Motorcycle Electronics sells a quality regulatordesigned for these batteries.