Lithium Battery - A Good Alternative?

Heaps lighter - the Magneti Marelli in my 999s weighs about 800g, instead of 3.5kg for the lead-acid battery. And it starts very well on it, though not so noticeably better until I replaced the starter cables courtesy of @Exige / ExactFit. I'd recommend the MMs...

 

They come with some foam pads of a variety of sizes to pad out the space in the battery box. Hardly needed in my 999's case once I'd secured the (very light) battery to the nice big thick new cables... it's not going anywhere!!

 

Lithium batteries don't like being on a trickle charge as I understand it, just a proper full whack charge once they get low. So keeping it topped up when there's a constant drain is not an option. I have an alarm on the 999 but it doesn't drain it much. I charged the Li battery a couple of weeks back - first time since the spring?

 

I have an MM on my MV on a trickle charger (special one for LI) not sure if it will do any harm. The bumf says you can only store at 2/3 thirds charged if disconnected. The MM battery I have had 3 indicator lights when you press a button - two were lit when I received which I presume meant it was at 2/3rds charged from the factory. I think it is important to fully charge before use. My MM battery was very light, but no smaller than the original it replaced on the MV.

 

Lithium convert here,shido on my 899 and mm on the multi,have a c-tec lithium charger,give moto rapido a ring they stock shido batteries,I found them very helpful when I ordered mine.

 

I use a lithium on mine, weight difference is really noticable as the battery is really high up on the hypers, I was a bit stoked by how noticable the weight loss was once I swapped it.

it doesn't have a alarm on it though, and I have heard of problems with severe cold (below 5) where they wont fire up but this has not happened to me (touch wood)

edit just remember you cant charge them on a normal charger, has to be a lithium charger

 

I am amazed that you can feel the difference of a 2.5 kg lighter battery, that is the same weight as only 3 litres of fuel. I can't feel the difference between a full tank and an empty tank on my 848 and that is about 11 kgs, on a bike that only weighs in at 170 ish kgs in the fist place!

 

Not entirely true. I did some reading up before buying the Lithium battery and you can use a normal charger, but don't let it sit in trickle mode, and also the power characteristics (capacity, charging current) are more like a full size Car battery, so charge it on the "Car" setting, rather than "Bike" setting which is specifically suited to smaller capacity batteries. It says all this in the FAQs on the CTEK website.

Naturally it's much easier (and more profitable for CTEK) if you buy a shiny new Lithium-specific charger...

 

I know, me too!

edit that was to bobs post . . . .

 

so we agree, only a crazy freestyle madman would charge a lithium battery on a non lithium charger (ive blown one charging it with a incorrect charger, it involved fire and required a new carpet in the kitchen)

 

YIKES...!


<you've got carpet in your kitchen?? :Angelic:>

 

well its not really the kitchen its the bit, oh forgeddaboutit.

 

I think (not tested in lab conditions or anything) they charge quicker too, I have one on my flat track bike too (cant notice the weight on that at all as the battery is located at the same height as the axels) from flat to lets get it on in under an hour (charge reading says full charge)

thats a super B litium though, unsure if that makes any difference.

edit its a JMT cheapo thing on the hyper, wasn't spending another 300 odd quid on a super B until i'd tested the cheap one !

(and its fine)

 

So you are saying that you had a standard bike and changed the battery to a li-ion and the bike changed to an SP with a light battery so you could feel the difference?