Misc: Everything Else Electric starters, Batteries and charging systems

[kerry]

On this attached bike I fitted a larger Motobat MB51814 220ca battery, yellow, so I painted it black, made a new strap for it put a Vincent sticker on it too, also made a strap for the seat to break up the long visual effect. In my experience though lithium batteries seem far better than any others, hold higher voltage much longer and weigh almost nothing, This Motobatt is no better in my experience than the YUASA YTX14 and is very heavy.

 

[Dave61]

I agree with Trevor ( and Francois) regarding the choice of battery, but currently there seems to be a problem with the supply, none of the battery suppliers seem to have stock, and haven’t had so for quite sometime now. I did manage to find old stock at Halfords, but so far I have purchased 2 batteries from them and they have both been duff, looking at the activation stickers on the 2 batteries that I had it would seem that they were both activated and then left dormant for a year, I guess because of Covid and lockdown etc. Let’s hope Yuasa have not deleted this battery from the range, it was a fine battery, near perfect size and colour for a Vincent with great cranking amps.

Peter,
I'm using an Aliant YLP14 Lithium Iron battery, got it from the Sportsbike online shop.
Not cheap, especially when you add in a Lithium specific charger, but very powerful & compact so easily fits in a dummy case.
Easily copes with my incompetence & the only other advice I've got if using a Lithium battery is to disconnect it if only using intermittently as they don't survive well if left in circuit & not regularly used.
I won't say how I have this useful snippet of information !
Cheers
Dave

 

[Peter Holmes]

Dave, Thanks for the info, I would be interested to know what sort of on the bike generation you are using, I currently am using a Walkernator with a Nippon Denso alternator with built in regulator, this set up for me is excellent, could not be improved upon really, do you think your battery would be compatible as I really would not want to change a thing right now.

 

[timetraveller]

One of my other hobbies is sailing boats and the subject of Lithium Iron batteries is a regular feature of discussion on their forums. Yes they are expensive compared to flooded lead acid batteries but they weigh much less. This is regarded as an advantage on lighter weight multihull boats. The other advantage is that they will stand regular discharges to about 10% of their full capacity whereas FLA batteries have amuch shorter life if regularly taken down to 75% of their full capacity. On boats, people generally change the charging voltage to be more suitable for the LIon batteries but there are at least three VOC members using Walkernators and Lion batteries with no ill effects. Are you really sure that leaving a Lion battery unused can cause troubles? I have several on various gadgets on my boat and I know that after being left for a year they are generally still at 95+% of their full charge. Is it possible that you had some slight leak taking current when the battery was left?

 

[vibrac]

Yes on my Comet I have a cut out switch to isolate all electrics including the electric starter and relay I am trying to get in the habit of pressing the horn button (negative feed not earth) as I get off.
My lithium battery fits in a standard battery box and has certainly allowed me multiple restarts while setting up.
When unconnected they never seem to loose charge the Lithium battery on bens Endurance racer had sat for 18 months to my amazement re connected it started the K100 on a press of the starter

 

[Dave61]

One of my other hobbies is sailing boats and the subject of Lithium Iron batteries is a regular feature of discussion on their forums. Yes they are expensive compared to flooded lead acid batteries but they weigh much less. This is regarded as an advantage on lighter weight multihull boats. The other advantage is that they will stand regular discharges to about 10% of their full capacity whereas FLA batteries have amuch shorter life if regularly taken down to 75% of their full capacity. On boats, people generally change the charging voltage to be more suitable for the LIon batteries but there are at least three VOC members using Walkernators and Lion batteries with no ill effects. Are you really sure that leaving a Lion battery unused can cause troubles? I have several on various gadgets on my boat and I know that after being left for a year they are generally still at 95+% of their full charge. Is it possible that you had some slight leak taking current when the battery was left?

Hi Norman,
Good to know.
Had the failed battery on my BMW, JMT battery.
When I looked into it the info I found was that just the clock could cause enough of a drain but this was on a Lithium Ion battery, I'm hoping the Lithium Iron is better.
Cheers
Dave

 

[Dave61]

Dave, Thanks for the info, I would be interested to know what sort of on the bike generation you are using, I currently am using a Walkernator with a Nippon Denso alternator with built in regulator, this set up for me is excellent, could not be improved upon really, do you think your battery would be compatible as I really would not want to change a thing right now.

Peter,
I think you'll be fine with your Walkernator, there was a discussion on here about it & several people were successfully running that combination.
With regard to the Aliant batteries the larger case size up from the YLP14 will fit the carrier & comes in three higher amperages but don't think you'd get it in a dummy case.
Good luck.
Dave

 

[timetraveller]

It might not be too important but Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePo) batteries do have the advantage that they cannot suffer from thermal runaway, which the lighter Lithium Ion (Lion) can do. They also withstand both heat and vibration better than the Lion batteries so they might be better suited to use on a motorcycle. Keep us all posted when you have some experience with them.

 

[Peter Holmes]

Norman, in my case there was no leakage or drain, these were both brand new batteries purchased from Halfords, I did no more than took the batteries home, gave them a charge on my Optimate charger, fitted them to the bike and pressed the starter button, only to get a very sluggish response. When I took them back to Halfords I was treated with suspicion, when I explained the batteries were duff the sales technician said “we will soon find out on our Yuasa test equipment” and he did, they were both duff. On those particular batteries it has a sticker with the activation date on it, and it states on that sticker that if the battery is not used it should be charged every 8 weeks, both these batteries had not been charged for approx 1 year, both were duff.

 

[timetraveller]

Ok Peter, no way I can argue with your experience but my own, and many other boaties, regularly leave things for ten to twelve months and find that the batteries are still almost fully charged. What about your cordless drills? I have several and they all (at least the ones worth keeping) have Lithium batteries. I can leave them on the shelf for months and they still work. Even have one of these things where the battery can be used on a variety of gadgets. Used one a few days ago that had stood for a few months and it powered up a strimmer straight away and ran for several tens of minutes. It might be worth trying to find our what the chemistry is in the Halford's batteries. It sounds like it is best avoided. I have a battery outboard motor on my dingy and the only instructions are to leave it fully charged if not going to use it for many months. It is now about five years old and still seems to work.