lithium battery

[Shockman54]

hey, i was wondering if anyone had used the lithium batteries? i hear its bad with the charging system, but haven't heard any concrete no on getting one. i contacted T99ford, but haven't heard back.

[James England]

hey, i was wondering if anyone had used the lithium batteries? i hear its bad with the charging system, but haven't heard any concrete no on getting one. i contacted T99ford, but haven't heard back.

Why do you want one of these? Lithium batteries usually need a careful charging cycle and are prone to exploding or overheating/catching fire when under charge. I'm wondering why you would want one?

[Shockman54]

i was going to put it under the seat.

[James England]

i was going to put it under the seat.

That's where, not why. I'd put a lead/acid standard battery under your seat if I were you. There's little or nothing to be gained by using lithium batteries in motorbikes. As I asked before, why do are you thinking of using one? Is your present battery not doing the job properly?

[Joab]

i was going to put it under the seat.

Ahh, the simple answers...

[James England]

Ahh, the simple answers...

Yeah... I'm not sure if he planned on connecting it though. Sounded more like storage...

[cywelchjr]

Lithium iron batteries (which is the type being talked about, NOT lithium ION) are much safer than lithium ION and are also MUCH lighter than even the sealed MC batteries, plus have very very low drain rates, something like a few percent in a year, and they do have one certified for our bikes, stating that our charging systems are stable enough for them. What with wanting max cranking amps AND saving weight where I can, I can see where they can be a good idea where I can save almost 10 lbs without actually getting rid of anything. Plus they actually increase available cranking amps as you crank rather and decreasing like lead/acid batteries do.

[James England]

Lithium iron batteries (which is the type being talked about, NOT lithium ION) are much safer than lithium ION and are also MUCH lighter than even the sealed MC batteries, plus have very very low drain rates, something like a few percent in a year, and they do have one certified for our bikes, stating that our charging systems are stable enough for them. What with wanting max cranking amps AND saving weight where I can, I can see where they can be a good idea where I can save almost 10 lbs without actually getting rid of anything. Plus they actually increase available cranking amps as you crank rather and decreasing like lead/acid batteries do.

The lithium iron (phosphate) battery is a type of lithium-ion battery. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium...sphate_battery A lead acid battery itself doesn't weigh 10lbs though does it? I don't see how changing to a lithium iron battery can save 10lbs in weight. Unless I'm missing something here?

Lead/acid batteries are very well tried and tested and have proved to be immensely reliable (hence still being the main type of battery for vehicles) and safe under charging. Weight reducing on an XS1100 is pretty futile since it weighs such a lot to start with. I doubt it would make any practical difference to fuel consumption, handling or anything, to reduce the weight of this bike by a few pounds. OK, maybe a few dollars a year.....

Given the newness of the lithium-iron/ion battery in motorcycle use, I personally would leave it for a few years until the technology is really proven in this particular application. I have an electric bicycle which uses a lithium-iron/ion battery. The charger is fan-cooled and goes through a specific charge cycle which takes about 3 hours. The battery gets hot when being charged. I really wouldn't want one in a motorcycle.

[Shockman54]

i was getting a custom seat from kott motorcycles, and a lithium iron battery is small enough to fit underneath it, freeing up the space it normally goes for other storage ideas i had. whereas a lead acid one will not fit under the seat, so i was hoping to get creative there . the ten pounds don't bother me that much (like a different thread stated, the rider can lose weight easier than the bike in some cases ) i hear what you are saying james, it just seemed that there were two sides to the debate on this site from other threads that i read. but i would much rather hear from the wonderful people on here than what the manufacturer claims on some infomercial or website. so the next question i would have, is there some way anyone can think of to break up the charging cycle? perhaps have some sort of timer to limit the time the bike will be charging the battery and somehow not ruin my charging system?

[Shockman54]

plus i doubt i will ever be riding this bike for more than 3-4 hours at a time anyway... would that matter?