I just googled reviews for the JMT batteries, turns out that someone over on BCF sells them and hasn't had a failure at the time of the last post (about a year ago now)... However, there are some nice autopsy pics of a Shorai... It's just a pair of cheap 4S lithium battery's in a fancy box... Lithium batteries, you get what you pay for? - Bike Chat Forums
All OK so far. Starts well, holds charge and the Oxford Battery charger has not been needed but when plugged in shows battery fully charged. Only thing was that I had the battery held in with tie wraps and felt this was not the best way so I have used some 2mm aluminium sheet to make a battery box and bolted that in. All fine now and am happy
Just fitted this, tiny, less than a kilogram. Comes with all those foam fillers, which I messily rammed in there in a hurry before the sun set and I ran out of light. Fitting the battery took a few minutes. Removing and replacing the fairing took an hour. Even with the smaller battery you can't fit it at the bottom of the tray (which would allow access by only removing the lower fairing) as the leads won't allow it. Had to pull the leads in a bit anyway as the terminals are closer together. Before Pause, chug chug, start Now Click, VROOOOM!!!! And it only comes 70% charged so should get even better. Old battery lasted 13 months on a 12 month guarantee (how do they do that?) New battery 3 years guarantee. I also ordered the specialist charger which arrived at my door one hour after I had put the fairings on. Typical. The charger looks half-built, like a prototype off a work bench. The permanent loom to install on the bike is not waterproof. Basically it looks like an amateur effort. So I will be adding a bunch of shrink wrap to that.
But you probably don't need the charger as a Lithium holds its charge for much longer than lead acid batteries. I have not needed one on mine yet.
That is why I said probably. I have five bikes, a car and an aircraft here and none of them has any drain when the ignition is switched off.
Well, I suppose there must be some residual drain as the bike has a digital clock on the dash. battery drain - Page 1 - Ultima - PistonHeads Or could be due to the capacitors charging as discussed in the thread above. I also did recently replace the regulator/rectifier for a more modern one, and I think there was a note in the specifications that it has a small current drain when the ignition is off.
If you ran just a digital clock off any battery then it would run for years. Think of the tiny battery in a watch. Any drain will be the same for a lead acid battery as it will for a Lithium, but as the Lithium holds a charge for much longer it will have less effect. As I said before the only charge that mine gets is from the bike, and it has not exploded yet. The bike runs at anything between 13.8 and 14.1 volts as will 99% of bike charging systems. If you are racing then weight saving is significantly more cost effective than buying carbon fibre stuff. How much would you have to spend on carbon to save 3kgs? A bit more than £90 that's for sure.
Have decided the ST4 is not for me and have traded it but luckily the new bike uses the same Lithium battery as the ST. I am very happy with the battery so I have kept it. I really can't see they would be allowed to sell them if they were dangerous near 'hot' engines! I do nowhave some spare ST4 bits and pieces. If anyone needs standard silencers, new chain with 14 and 15 t front sprockets and 43 t rear, workshop manuals for 1999, 2000 and 2001 ST4, carbon clutch cover and heel guards, headlight with HID bulbs, Fairing nose cone (scratches but no cracks and the indicator mount points are all good) contact me on [email protected] This stuff will appear on ebay at some time if no one on here wants it.
