melted shorai battery

[jesusgatos]

Anybody else had anything like this happen? Was installed in my 2010 450XCW with a Trailtech high-output stator and DC conversion kit, powering a 8" Baja Designs HID racelight and grip heaters. Worked great for the first twelve months, and then crapped-out overnight. Came out one morning and my bike wouldn't start. Removed the seat only to find that the battery had completely melted.

[Unstable Rider]

Holy cow!

That's just nasty-- someone will chime in here and suggest some explanation, only thing I got for you would be could it have shifted and shorted out for several seconds?

Any contact marks near where the battery sat-- they would look like "welding" arc marks....

Only time I have seen one go like that... was when a wrench jiggled onto a battery while a guy was working on his bike, and the end result before anyone could do anything about it was exactly what your battery looks like.

Ps: Order a dang DEKA. Best battery for the money, sealed Glass Mat technology, about 79$ delivered.

Anything less than a DEKA, or a conventional "wet" battery - - I would not trust over a year in a bike.

Just me

[jesusgatos]

No shorts. No corroded terminals or anything. Nothing obvious to explain this. Bike still started (kickstarter) and ran just fine with the melted battery, and without any battery at all. Installed another battery and headlight and everything was working like normal. Multimeter confirmed that voltage and everything was reading-right. Willing to write this off as a fluke if nobody else has experience this kind of failure. Shit happens. But I'm not sure if I want to put another one in my bike, even if they replace it.

[Indy Unlimited]

I got Shorai's in all my bikes. Had most for over a year. All I can say is that they have a hit or miss quality manufacturing issues.
My buddies and I have sent 2 back that had dead cells for full warranty replacement. Shorai is pretty good at taking care of you. That said all my batteries are doing well. I don't keep the dirt bikes on a charger and they always crank even after sitting for a couple of months. So far I like the product. The batteries even work down to 30 degrees without cranking issues. The technology is still new and there are more brands popping up these days but I would still recommend the Shorai for those looking for the benefits these batteries have over lead acid batteries.

[Cumbacheech]

I put one in my XRL... Did you talk to Shorai to see what they think it may be?

[Lesharoturbo]

I am guessing an internal short since the wires look OK. If the short had been through the wires or terminals, there would be obvious burn marks.

I suggest getting in touch with Shorai. If nothing else, they may want to do a post mortem on the battery to discern the failure. If they do not want it back, I would not buy from them again. In my opinion, any company this does not think a battery in this condition is an issue does not deserve your purchase.

[big adv]

Google LI-Po battery fires.

[StevenD]

Fortunately these are not li-po's :) I'm actually happy to see these just melt out instead of flame out and take your whole garage with them!

[jesusgatos]

Originally Posted by Lesharoturbo

I suggest getting in touch with Shorai. If nothing else, they may want to do a post mortem on the battery to discern the failure. If they do not want it back, I would not buy from them again. In my opinion, any company this does not think a battery in this condition is an issue does not deserve your purchase.

Tried submitting a warranty claim form last night, but it wasn't working (system wouldn't let me submit a claim). So I looked-up their number to call them this morning and realized that they're only about 30 miles away. Talked to a lady named Kelsy, who was very helpful. She invited me to to come up and get a new battery, and is going to put me in touch with the head of their warranty department. Would really like to know what went wrong, and hope that Shorai might let me document the post-mortem, as you put it.

[Grreatdog]

I would like to know myself since I was just getting ready to order one for the LC4. My bikes are only insured for liability so having a battery fire take one out would really piss me off.

[crypto666]

Have you checked in to the LiFePo4 batteries, also called litium-iron or just LiFe?

I built a pack for my xrr and it has been working great using A123 cells. Not prone to catastrophic fires/melt downs, light weight, durable, no leaking, high current capacity, etc.

Just don't confuse LiFe with any other lithium chemistry.

[jesusgatos]

Originally Posted by crypto666

Have you checked in to the LiFePo4 batteries, also called litium-iron or just LiFe?

I built a pack for my xrr and it has been working great using A123 cells. Not prone to catastrophic fires/melt downs, light weight, durable, no leaking, high current capacity, etc.

Just don't confuse LiFe with any other lithium chemistry.

No, I haven't. Built a battery pack for my old XRR too, but when I bought my KTM to replace that bike, decided that I didn't want to dick-around with building another battery pack. Mostly because the KTM actually has an electric starter, and I figured that I could purchase something better than I could make myself. Even if it's the same battery cells inside, having a nice case to protect them was worth a few bucks to me.

[Uller]

A little light reading on the subject.....

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=770364

If you are in a hurry, skip to post #113.

[Rockcat]

Originally Posted by jesusgatos

Damn, I just installed one on my 450EXC.

[jesusgatos]

Originally Posted by Uller

A little light reading on the subject.....

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=770364

If you are in a hurry, skip to post #113.

Wow, that's not exactly a glowing review. Just got back from Shorai, with a brand new battery. Top-notch customer service. Looking forward to following-up with them next week to see what they have to say about what might have happened to my first battery. Will make it a point to ask them about some of this other points too.