Shorai battery for KTM990/LC8

I have an Odyssey PC310 that's a year old if anyone wants to make me an offer...

I'll give you a $10 credit toward a Shorai if you send it in.....

Put a new Shorai in the SE the other day. Had it sitting for a month while I waited for the acid battery to properly die. (Waste not want not.)

I would like to see a better way of holding the captive nut in the terminal. Even if it was just a press fit. As it's a loose fit it took forever to line the captive nut up with the holes to get the bolt through to it.

Other than that, I can't believe how quick and easy the bike starts. Don't even need choke. Normally my SE needs to turn over a few times before firing but with the Shorai as soon as I touched the button it was running. Kind of caught me by suprise.

Well, crap. From reading this thread it appeared my Battery Tender would work on the Shorai, now I see that's apparently not the case. Now I have to go buy a charger for the most expensive battery ever, which will be at my house this week (Thanks CJ!) and in the 990 when I get home.
I'm scared to go see how much the dedicated chargers cost.....

EDIT: Went to CJ's website but couldn't find a Shorai Charger. Did some surfing and found this:
"We have confirmed with Deltran, makers of the "Battery Tender" brand, that their products do NOT have a desulfation mode, and are therefore OK for use with Shorai LFX, for example. But the best possible charger/tender for Shorai LFX is the new Shorai brand battery tender (part #SHO-BMS01), which will be released in February of 2011. It uses the 5-pin BMS port in the LFX batteries, in order to monitor, diagnose, and balance the individual cells during charge. And it also has an optimized storage mode that will give the longest possible service life to your LFX."

Same website also said that the battery should be able to sit for several months in cold temps and not need charging. This will be nice, but I hate to find out on the first riding day of spring that it's not true. They did recommend disconnecting the negative cable if it is going to sit a long time.

All kind of irrelevant, as I've already got the battery headed my way.


1911fan

They recommend their own charger.

How shrewd.

Don't know where you get that you can't use the Battery Tenders brand chargers, says just above that they are "OK". The President of Shorai USA himself told me they will work just fine to top the batteries off enough to start the bike and will not damage their batteries -- just not as fancy as their own charger, which had not been released when I put up this thread. The bikes own charging system has the higher voltages needed to fully top off the Shorai once the engine is running.

I for one am not going to worry myself with super-fussy details. I ride my bike all the time so will likely never even put a tender on it. Even over the Winter of sub-freezing temps, heated grips, Gerbings heated vest, forgetting my key-on/heated hand grips on for an hour... the baterry has never lost significant voltage or the ability to start right up solid.

1911fan, my 990S sat for a little over 2 weeks at sub-freezing temps, not on a charger, and had no trouble firing the bike right up after the "warmup" procedure, at sub-freezing temps. I have been purposely trying to run down the battery in normal operations, some that would for sure have drained my OEM lead/acid at times, and it hasn't caused any issues with the Shorai. I would be the first to squawk if it didn't live up to performance specs, but so far it has.

If some folks park their bikes for months on end and want the Shorai to be within "best possible" millivolts of some magic numbers all the time, by all means get the fancy Shorai charger when it appears. I'm sure the gadget geeks (like me) probably will, and then never use it...

high tech fix for a long term stored motorcycle with a LiFePO4 battery:

1. disconnect the negative lead, drain carb float bowls, drain tanks if longer than 4 months.
2. park bike, walk away
3. come back 12+/- months later, connect negative lead.
3a. put fuel back in it......
4. start motorcycle.

notice that there is more fussing about with the fuel systems than the battery.

LiFePO4 do not self discharge at anywhere near the same rates as LeadAcid, therefore no need to "tend" the battery.

My battery left me stranded last night...
I'm in the market for the Shorai battery but it seems they are out of stock everywhere...
Anybody got one in stock?

You try http://www.cjdesignsllc.com/. Cj had some last week. I had good buy experience with him - everything as committed.

Try motomummy.com.
They might need to order but cheaper than most and free shipping.

I'm not affiliated, but here's a recent e-mail i got from Shorai :

Shorai LFX have gotten tremendous reviews from our customers who have used them, and our initial sales were much higher than expected. We are currently out of stock. We have decided to upgrade the LFX batteries, including tougher terminals which are 50% thicker and do cell revisions for even better performance at high and low temperatures. But we are facing a substantial delay due to the new tooling required, and so it is likely that we not be re-stocked with LFX again until about the middle of April 2011.
We will post an announcement a few weeks before the next shipment arrives, and will re-enable the “Buy” buttons on the Shorai website then.
We apologize for the delay. In the long run, we believe that continuing to improve the best powersports battery can only be a good thing for all. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Shorai Inc.



.

Dam^#$! That's what I get for getting the newest tech. Mod 2 already in the works.:ddog

JK, I have just over 300 hours on my v1.0 18AH. My '03 950's charging system puts out 14.2 - 14.4 volts. After awhile at 14.2 volts, the amps drop to ~ 8 or 9 ma. When the engine is switched off the battery voltage is 14.2 volts and gradually tapers off until it settles around 13.3 v after 4-5 days. According to the Shorai website, 14.3 volts is 100% charged for these batteries. It doesn't look like that is possible with our bikes charging system. 90% charge looks like the max we can get with the Katoom. It may be that 14.3v is not a realistic goal anyways. I've talked to several guys who are using prismatic lifepo4 cells in their electric drive vehicles, and they all say they are only able to get 3.35 volts per cell relaxed. This is with special chargers designed to maximize lifepo cells.

Still looks like a good choice for our uses, if the rate of self discharge is as low as they say. Just make sure all parasitic drain is disconnected before parking the bike for a long time. If you don't put an ammeter on the battery, you won't know if there is something drawing on the battery when the engine is off. I'll bet that parasitic draw is the cause of many flat batteries on motorcycles. BTW, the clock draws 1.5ma. I've been pulling the clock fuse so I can keep an accurate track of the Shorai for research purposes, but won't bother after I find the nominal state of charge. Like a lead acid battery, don't let these discharge too low (<12.86v) or they won't even make a good boat anchor (too light).

right there with ya.. got one of the first ones from ken at advmachines. Seems to work great on my 950, but my gas gas hates this battery.

I've had issues with it in the past when it's been below 30 degrees, but today it was 41, and it wouldn't turn over the motor. Part of the issue is the warm up it needs, i think. I also wonder if this thing was made for a full on dirt bike. I ride my bike about 3 days a week at Walker Valley ORV, (gnarly). Wonder if thrashing around v.1 of the battery was such a hot idea?

The Joys of Early Adopters, but we can't help ourselves, we just gotta have it... :huh




I think the v1.0's will hold up fine if you watch out for draining them too far.

I'm in need of a new battery soon. My stock 08 battery was showing signs of gimpiness when i took it out last Oct., and stored it inside with all my other batts.

Am I to understand that these Shorais can be taken out and stored (inside at room temp) just like the regular lead batt. that came in my 990? And, I can charge it on my trickel charger every few months over the winter, like my OEM batt?

If you take it out of the bike, or pull the ground wire, so there is no parasitic drain, you don't need to charge it over the winter.

For very specific battery questions, I would suggest the manufacturer and they do answer emails.

tech@shorai.org

http://www.shoraipower.com/ContactUs.aspx

http://www.shoraipower.com/t-faq.aspx

Put one in a week ago and got to see the cold-start scenario one morning shortly thereafter. It was in the low 40's (F).

It's pretty cool the way this battery works, and opposite of a normal lead-acid battery.

First attempt, nothing. Wouldn't even try to turn the engine over. With the stock battery this would mean it's time to bring out the charger.

Not so with the Shorai.

Because I had read all about the battery prior to purchase, I knew to press the start button and hold it for ten or fifteen seconds to warm up the battery.

Eureka! It cranked like crazy on the next attempt.

Technology is so kewl!

Another happy customer!

Anyone tried these in really cold temps? I'll ride down to about 15 degrees F as long as it's not icy. My '05 battery is just about at the end of its road, and the Shorai looks really interesting.

I was using mine down to 20F this winter. Just needs that pre-heat surge then it cranks great. See earlier posts by others about that.