Share your lithium battery experience; cold environment, durability, else?

[GuzziMoto]

Good to have as many datapoints on batteries as possible. I do not take my one bad experience ages ago with the Shorai, or the one bad experience almost as long ago with the Ballistic, as a condemnation of Lithium batteries. I think both bad experiences were a combination of early in the tech and quirks of the first gen Griso that made it less suitable for the battery in the cold. Newer Griso's allow you to override the start abort by holding the starter button down. But the first gen did not.

One strong point of Lithium batteries is that they will hold a charge better and longer when sitting, when not in use. And as you note, they are also typically able to put out more current at a time for their size rating.

[audiomick]

10 hours ago, Gmc28 said:

The brand… hmm…. I’ll think of it.  I think it was 3 letters (AMG maybe?)

AMG could well be right. The brand name exists.

[FreyZI]

On 4/8/2024 at 2:53 PM, Gmc28 said:

anyone have opinions on the Antigravity

I have Antigravity batteries on my R1200R and F800GS.  I believe ATX-12 with Re-start, at least on the R12.  Probably been about five years now.  I accidentally left the headlamp of the R12 on for a bit and then came back to a dead battery.  Replaced with the Antigravity and have not had any problem with.  As I've been riding the V11s and the F800 considerably more, the R12 may go months without a ride, but it always fires right up, despite the fact that I've never put it on a charger.  I was impressed enough with the Antigravity in the R12 that I put one in the F8, wanting to shave some weight for the NEBDR (with camping gear) a couple summers ago.  Similar treatment -- never charged -- and never had any problem.  I did have an unsettling moment -- thinking I had a dead battery -- when the F8 barely turned over one morning.  It was cold enough to frost over the windshield.  Then I remembered that the lithium batteries like to be warmed up; cranked it again, and it fired up.  So, never been let down by the Antigravity.  As I don't imagine I'll be doing much riding in significantly sub-freezing temps, the cold start thing isn't a major concern.  I did do a half hour ride in 22F on a V11 last winter, prompting me to consider heated grips and to purchase 7V gloves (with which I'm not impressed).

I haven't yet put a lithium battery in the V11s.  My riding skill (or lack thereof) doesn't demand that I shave a few pounds off a street bike.  If memory serves me, there was some discussion on this -- the motha of all v11 forums -- about weak batteries resulting in some potential problem.  I wonder if there is any concern that a "cold" lithium battery's initial feeble cranking might produce a similar problem.  I suppose that would be easily obviated by warming the battery with the headlamp before trying to crank over, if one were smart enough to manage that.

 

[rydfly]

Adding my own experience, I started using Shorai many years ago after I got tired of replacing dead lead-acid batteries in my Ducati 900SS due to infrequent use.  The first Shorai worked flawlessly for over 6 years and was especially great for hot starts (which the old lead-acids struggled with on that bike).  I also made zero modifications to the charging/regulating system despite warnings online that vintage 90's Ducatis + lithium technology batteries = regulator/rectifier death.  So far I've had no issues of such concern.  I've never owned or used the special Shorai charger but maybe once every year or two would connect my old-school Battery Tender trickle charger for a few hours and it would quickly show "OK"

My understanding is that when lithium batteries die they typically give you no warning. Not wanting to get stranded I decided after 6 years it would be a good idea to replace the Shorai in the Ducati with an identical battery... so I moved the old one into my lawn mower where it worked great for another 2 seasons and was still installed when I sold the mower last year.

[Gmc28]

30 minutes ago, rydfly said:

My understanding is that when lithium batteries die they typically give you no warning. Not wanting to get stranded I decided after 6 years it would be a good idea

I've done similar, even with AGM's, when they got real old and were showing "end of life" signs,  and I felt I'd gotten enough life out of them to feel ok to swap it out (got my bang for the buck).  For what its worth, that AMG brand (AGM) I took out of the 1200 Ducati was still getting the job done, but was cranking slower each start over the course of the summer, then in the cold wx i had the almost-no-start, so i changed it.  point is it was a Li-ion, and that one seemed to show similar signs as a lead-acid to being worn out.  Not sure what kind of data point that is, but perhaps of interest.

[Tomchri]

Not much experience with Li-Ion batterys, but there was an EXIDE ELTX14H    48wh   240A installed in my 1100 Sport ( yellow).  She was parked sep 7, chlutch gone. When parked it had 13.52V. Had the battery in now to check everything is working, no smoke. Not a lot of use, but holds 13.50V now = 7months  . AMAZING i think.

Cheers Tom.