Another battery thread

[Kane]

Yes, you are deep into the territory! I really want to check out an 8v Griso. The V85 is a great bike for a an adventure bike. I know that small blocks catch some flak in these parts. I have a friend who has one and loves it. I think it will take  you where a GS will and if you drop it you can probably pick it up without the help of another riding buddy or two. So, where can I get a green belly pan? That’s awesome!

[ScuRoo]

FYI - Living in hot country (lithium’s don’t like cold apparently) I decided to experiment & installed a lightweight LiFePO4 battery some 18+ months ago...

A whole 600 grams worth - which is literally like a pack of cigarettes in weight.

Is 0.6kg equivalent to like 1.32 pounds? (Not sure if there’s a difference in UK 🇬🇧 vs USA 🇺🇸 pound variance..)

Over 200 CCA which is more than a PC545 Odyssey I seem to remember..

The LH7L-BS is suitable for spinning over thumpers up to likes of Husqvarna 570cc so I figured if it can spin over one big cylinders compression it’ll probably cope with two per cycle.

So far so good! Convert 👍😊 
 

Ps. Before I developed confidence in battery I would fully top up before setting off for ride... amazing speedy charge rate of 15-20 minutes before charger green light lit up. Easy

https://www.batteriesdirect.com.au/shop/product/21870/lh7l-bs.html

[Gmc28]

I did the lipo thing a few yrs back, gave it an honest try, got bit, and changed back to agm.
But since then I “inherited” a couple lipo batteries, and they’ve been working great. And something rarely mentioned is that not only is the lighter weight of some value (not much to me, but still a good thing), but the smaller size. Much less tedious to remove and replace the little lipo’s than the agm’s that are usually a real tight fit. Small thing, but desirable.

Just put a lipo in my sons cagiva last winter, and the inherited lipo in my 1200 Duc is doing great, on year 3. Both have the roadster cycle VR’s.

[Guzzimax]

I bought my first V11, which is a 2002/03 black frame, but with the earlier “short” tank only 4 years ago as an alternative Guzzi to my Griso, I’d always liked the classic look of the V11, and IMHO they were the last “raw big blocks”, as much as I like the Griso, the CARC bikes just feel smoother. Then around a year later I bought a V11 Le Mans, then another year on I decided I’d quite like an early red framed V11, I found a fantastic Silver 5000 miler in great condition, bought that. Then only a month or so after getting the red framed V11, a Ross’s Corsa came up for sale, and it was too good an opportunity to pass, so I bought that. Then earlier this year I was seriously looking at an early carb 1100 Sport, but I couldn’t get on with the riding position, so I passed on that and shortly afterwards spotted this 1999 greenie for sale. For various reasons I felt it would be a great purchase, even though I already have a near mint silver 1999 red frame, and here I am with 2 red frames, 3 black frames and Griso. I do plan to downsize & sell the V11 Le Mans this year, since I bought the Rosso Corsa, so I’ll be back down to 4 V11’s 

[Guzzimax]

[Guzzimax]

[fotoguzzi]

I really like the maroon Sport.. not as much as a greenie but it's unusual so I like it..

[Lucky Phil]

12 hours ago, ScuRoo said:

FYI - Living in hot country (lithium’s don’t like cold apparently) I decided to experiment & installed a lightweight LiFePO4 battery some 18+ months ago...

A whole 600 grams worth - which is literally like a pack of cigarettes in weight.

Is 0.6kg equivalent to like 1.32 pounds? (Not sure if there’s a difference in UK 🇬🇧 vs USA 🇺🇸 pound variance..)

Over 200 CCA which is more than a PC545 Odyssey I seem to remember..

The LH7L-BS is suitable for spinning over thumpers up to likes of Husqvarna 570cc so I figured if it can spin over one big cylinders compression it’ll probably cope with two per cycle.

So far so good! Convert 👍😊 
 

Ps. Before I developed confidence in battery I would fully top up before setting off for ride... amazing speedy charge rate of 15-20 minutes before charger green light lit up. Easy

https://www.batteriesdirect.com.au/shop/product/21870/lh7l-bs.html

What Lithium charger do you use?

Ciao

[ScuRoo]

I’ll have to double check when I get back to my bike - but just by searching I think it’s this little unit

https://www.dicksmith.com.au/da/buy/powertech-6v12v-7-state-intelligent-lead-acidlithiumlifep04-battery-charger-mb3902/

[Kane]

Well done, Guzzimax!  A full house!

[footgoose]

7 hours ago, Guzzimax said:

I bought my first V11, which is a 2002/03 black frame, but with the earlier “short” tank only 4 years ago as an alternative Guzzi to my Griso, I’d always liked the classic look of the V11, and IMHO they were the last “raw big blocks”, as much as I like the Griso, the CARC bikes just feel smoother. Then around a year later I bought a V11 Le Mans, then another year on I decided I’d quite like an early red framed V11, I found a fantastic Silver 5000 miler in great condition, bought that. Then only a month or so after getting the red framed V11, a Ross’s Corsa came up for sale, and it was too good an opportunity to pass, so I bought that. Then earlier this year I was seriously looking at an early carb 1100 Sport, but I couldn’t get on with the riding position, so I passed on that and shortly afterwards spotted this 1999 greenie for sale. For various reasons I felt it would be a great purchase, even though I already have a near mint silver 1999 red frame, and here I am with 2 red frames, 3 black frames and Griso. I do plan to downsize & sell the V11 Le Mans this year, since I bought the Rosso Corsa, so I’ll be back down to 4 V11’s 

Good on you. Buy em if you can, when you can, and while you can. Sort them out and decide what you can't live without. I should be so lucky.

[Guzzimax]

Replaced the Motobatt MBTX12U in my greenie today with a PC545 Odyssey that I had on the shelf that was intended for my LeMans when that goes back on the road. Surprised to see that the Motobatt claims a CCA of 200 amps compared to 150 for the Odyssey. I still need to buy a new battery, still unsure about going away from AGM / gel, so am going to look into Yuasa’s AGM offerings 

[Gmc28]

The Motobatt that came with my son’s Cagiva lived a hard life, due to non realization for a number of years that it was a LiPo and not AGM (sigh), and consequently was handled improperly.  In the end when it came out, not only had it been abused pretty badly, but it was also realized that it was very undersized for the application in the 904cc duc according to motobatt.  But you never would have known while using the bike, as it took it all in stride.  Just had the usual LiPo thing where it would behave sluggishly when it got real cold-soaked.

moral of the story remains more or less as one might think:  in the midst of strong support for one side or the other on LiPo or AGM, when looking at overall behavior rather than just single data points, they both seem truly fine.  The AGM seem to last longer when properly cared for, and some argue are easier to care for. But the LiPo’s are of course much lighter and smaller, probably won’t last as long but will last a good number of years with their version of “proper care”, which others argue (not inappropriately) is easier than AGM battery care.  

Like you noted early on, its quite like an oil thread, with lots of anecdotes from everyone about why one is better than the other.  My experience has been that way... had that early bad experience with LiPo, leaving me stranded a couple times, and some wise old KTM techs supporting that LiPo was junk.  But since that time a number of years ago, am now instead having very good success with LiPo, and lots of other folks supporting that reality/view, along with touting the light weight and size.   I’ll offer based on my own narrow experience, that if a LiPo gets too low on Voltage, such as in an application that has a small parasite draw even when the bike is off, it seems they don’t like to come away happy from that experience, unlike the AGM which have great recovery techniques one can use (as Docc and others have nicely explored and laid out).  In my ADV bike that lives out of state and for which i want the highest reliability and no surprises, I’ve stuck with Odyssey.  For the bikes in the shop at home that get trotted out seasonally and that i mess with a lot more in my own shop, I’ve become fond of the LiPo’s for their easy in & out and light weight, and the fact that once you get a handle on how they work they really are very reliable.  For what its worth, several Cagiva fans I know of in your neck of the woods (UK) have voiced strong support for Motobatt as a brand.  

[Gmc28]

On 4/30/2021 at 10:07 PM, Kane said:

Well done, Guzzimax!  A full house!

That is indeed a beautiful collection!  

[ozstrider23]

I've had 2 x Deka ETX14 AGMs in the Le Mans. Each lasted 8 years so I got another one.