New Battery

[HotRodZilla]

Why did you replace a perfectly good, new OEM battery with a $220 replacement?

 

[wheatonFJR]

Why did you replace a perfectly good, new OEM battery with a $220 replacement?

hmmmmmm.........provided by aftermarket mfr?

 

[RichDoyle]

Why did you replace a perfectly good, new OEM battery with a $220 replacement?

Because I could.

 

[TomInPA]

Why did you replace a perfectly good, new OEM battery with a $220 replacement?

hmmmmmm.........provided by aftermarket mfr?

Hey I did the same thing. I took out the battery that came with my 2005 bike in 2009 and replaced it with a Shorai. When the Shorai died, I put the old battery back in, and it still works. I've really come to appreciate that old battery.

 

[RichDoyle]

FWIW, on the EarthX battery: I've had 2 cold-morning opportunities so far: 33 degF the other day and 24 this morning. Started right up both times. No, it's not on a battery tender.

 

[fairytat]

I was cruising Amazon and looked up batteries for my 03 and saw this.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00F9LPJ8S/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

I went to the battery tender website and it does indeed fit the FJR (they supply foam blocks to tighten the fit). The price makes it a better alternative to the other lithium batteries I've looked at. Any input on this one?

 

[ionbeam]

I was cruising Amazon...does indeed fit the FJR...The price makes it a better alternative to the other lithium batteries I've looked at. Any input on this one?

My opinion, FWIW.

Lithium batteries are still on the bleeding edge of technology an immature technology. Very small variations in chemistry and construction can make huge differences in the way the battery behaves in various situations. The more expensive LiFe batteries like Shorai have a history and the experiences have been shared here, the evolution monitored and reported. This Deltran/Battery Tender battery is pretty much an unknown AFAIK. Get in touch with your inner Guinea pig

and buy the d@mn thing and give us ongoing reports on how that works for ya Living where you do the battery has a better 'n average chance of working out for you.

Note that the first Shorai batteries had problems with fires. Then they had problems with the terminals breaking. Then they had real problems when the temperature dropped below 40º. Incrementally Shorai has addressed each issue, becoming a more main stream and mature product. It looks like Shorai recently has a Gen VI battery that is more robust when temps get below 30º. These are the things you do not know about the much less expensive Deltran battery.

 

[Bustanut joker]

Oh geez another battery thread......

 

[RaYzerman19]

Just another speculative spin of mine, but the cold starting issues were probably improved with more capacity (Shorai now 18ah). They probably should increase capacity even more, make them bigger, but that would cost more. They already cost more per mile/year than an AGM.....

 

[ionbeam]

Just another speculative spin of mine, but the cold starting issues were probably improved with more capacity (Shorai now 18ah). They probably should increase capacity even more, make them bigger, but that would cost more...

A bigger battery can give you more amp/hours (long steady current production) but the issue here is CCA -- Cold Cranking Amps (extremely high current flow over a very short time). To start an engine the battery must move lots of current over a very short time. Cold weather slows down chemical reactions so it is harder for the electrolyte to react and produce electron flow. Additionally, the construction of the battery is critical to help conduct the electrons once they are flowing.

Even though batteries are known as PbSO4 and LiFePO4 there is a lot more to them than these basic electrolytes. Lead acid batteries can also contain antimony, calcium and tin for various reasons to improve the battery. Lithium iron batteries can contain aluminum, carbon, cobalt and lithium pyrophosphates to help their function. Electrode design and doping (adding impurities to control a reaction) can alter the way a battery functions. What the LiFe battery people need to solve is a chemistry that produces electrons more freely when cold and electrodes that can pass the electrons with as low resistance as possible. I'm sure that the chemical and electrical engineers will continue to incrementally improve battery performance. The LiFe engineer's race is to have a battery that is suitable for mainstream public use before the fuel cell guys over take them.

 

[fairytat]

I was cruising Amazon...does indeed fit the FJR...The price makes it a better alternative to the other lithium batteries I've looked at. Any input on this one?

My opinion, FWIW.

Lithium batteries are still on the bleeding edge of technology an immature technology. Very small variations in chemistry and construction can make huge differences in the way the battery behaves in various situations. The more expensive LiFe batteries like Shorai have a history and the experiences have been shared here, the evolution monitored and reported. This Deltran/Battery Tender battery is pretty much an unknown AFAIK. Get in touch with your inner Guinea pig

and buy the d@mn thing and give us ongoing reports on how that works for ya

Living where you do the battery has a better 'n average chance of working out for you.

Note that the first Shorai batteries had problems with fires. Then they had problems with the terminals breaking. Then they had real problems when the temperature dropped below 40º. Incrementally Shorai has addressed each issue, becoming a more main stream and mature product. It looks like Shorai recently has a Gen VI battery that is more robust when temps get below 30º. These are the things you do not know about the much less expensive Deltran battery.

Perhaps I will grasshopper.