Sports: Re: [DucatiST] Replacing the battery for 2012 [1 Attachment]

[Attachment(s) from Michael Heth included below]

On Mar 4, 2012, at 11:45 AM, jerea99 wrote:

> Update...
>
> Does anyone have experience with the Lithium Battery? Like a Shorai LiFePO4? Super light because of no lead and also seems safe for the environment, too? Expensive for sure but probably I can afford it.

I sell the Shorai and use them in my own bikes.

I did quite a bit or research prior to becoming a reseller (I was already a reseller for the Odyssey).

And I always run a product in my own bike for a good while before recommending it to anyone else.

The Shorai cells are the LiFePO4 type and are the latest of the Lithium technology.

As the prior poster mentioned the (prior cutting edge technology) A123 cells are somewhat volatile in that they can be damaged or catch fire with overcharging.

The Shorai have been excellent overall and there are only a few drawbacks to the technology (vs. wet cell or AGM)

1) they do not work as well at colder temperatures. The main thing I have seen is riders pulling their bike out into the driveway at an ambient temp of say 65F and not realizing the cells in the battery box are still down around the lowest temp of the night before. They can be problematic once the temp drops into the lower 40s F.

The workarounds are

A) run the headlights for 30 seconds - the current draw helps wake the cells up and they perform better.

B) install my HiCap kit. The lower resistance helps the battery at all times.

C) go up one AH rating (from 12AH to 14AH or 14AH to 18AH). This was the cure for a guy in Florida who was having the 65F temp issue. Although his bike was rated for 14 that was with an AGM or wet cell. The 14 LiFePO4 would not start his bike when it had been cold the night before. The 18AH started it just fine under the same conditions.

2) the do not have the long term current flow reserve of a good AGM. If you put a load on a LiFePO4 battery that would take 12 hours to deplete an AGM then the LiFePO4 will be dead in about 4 hours. So you have to monitor any parasitic draw carefully. I left my bike sitting for 3 weeks and an LED (that drew more current than I realized) pulled the LiFePO4 right down whereas the bike had sat for longer with my (prior) Odyssey with no problems.

3) they do not bounce back from severe depletion the way an AGM or wet cell (might). No battery is guaranteed to come back from abuse and running it to dead is abuse. But if caught (before they sit at dead for too long), AGM and wet cell will come back pretty well (maybe not 100% but pretty well). LiFePO4 type do not have the same resurrection capabilities although *some will come back*. It's just that a lower percentage will.

4) this is not a drawback because pretty much all batteries require a smart charger to get the maximum life.
But the Shorai are best served by their dedicated charger which connects to the individual cells (through a supplied multi-pin plug) and can balance them out both for maximum voltage and longest life. They can be charged by any decent charger that doesn't have an automatic "de-sulfation mode", so the dedicated charger is not required but just recommended.

I am in the process of setting up bundled pricing for the LiFePO4 batteries, chargers and my kits.

But it will not be on the site for a while.

Anyone who is interested in looking into the LiFePO4 batteries can email me direct.

HTH

Thanks,

M./

Michael Heth
mheth@motolectric.com
(415) 992-7840