Shorai battery meltdown

Anyone want to take a guess and maybe tell me what went wrong here...


I finished the rebuild on my bike and took it out for the first ride, after 20km i came to a stop with the battery having a complete melt down.

Back story.... As i have no idea when it comes to electrics i gave my bike to a motorbike mechanic, he did the whole rewiring, i wanted a shorai installed so i supplied him with one.

like I said, i went for the first ride and i first noticed something when i used the indicator, i used the left one and it stayed on, flicked to the right indicator and it was flashing, back to the left and it stayed on, drove 50m and then the bike DIED. Was leaking fluid from battery and had a visible hole. So back to the mechanic it went. He put a new battery in and now it wont start, no spark in the sparkplugs.

Anyone has an idea what could have gone wrong? im trying to inform myself so i can maybe get an idea at who is at fault.

Anyone else had problems with the shorai batteries?

many thanks

Pics.
Steve

Is it a Lithium battery? I worked with them for years. The way they get destroyed is:

1) Overcharged (too much charge current) or charged to a final voltage which is too high.

2) Over discharged or discharged at too high of rate.

jsnabbs wrote: Anyone has an idea what could have gone wrong? many thanks

Check the usual suspects:

Make sure all the high current ground connections are solid (battery, rectifiers/regulator).

Make sure your regulator is locking the system voltage at the correct value which is 14V +/- 0.5V. If it is too high, any Li battery will be toast.

bountyhunter wrote: Is it a Lithium battery? I worked with them for years. The way they get destroyed is:

1) Overcharged (too much charge current) or charged to a final voltage which is too high.

2) Over discharged or discharged at too high of rate.

I did the battery a charge a few days before this happened, but i was using the shorai lithium specific charger. this shouldnt over charge it should it?

Check your voltage output. Set the multimeter on the lowest value, (20) DC and rev the engine to around 3500 and read the meter.

My regulator toasted last week ad boiled my battery dry. I am waiting for one now.

You can't make and judgments until you check your voltage.

Go to you tube if you need to see it first hand.

jsnabbs wrote:

bountyhunter wrote: Is it a Lithium battery? I worked with them for years. The way they get destroyed is:

1) Overcharged (too much charge current) or charged to a final voltage which is too high.

2) Over discharged or discharged at too high of rate.

I did the battery a charge a few days before this happened, but i was using the shorai lithium specific charger. this shouldnt over charge it should it?

No. It's the bike's charging system that could overcharge it and/or charge it at too high of a current rate.

bountyhunter wrote:

jsnabbs wrote:

bountyhunter wrote: Is it a Lithium battery? I worked with them for years. The way they get destroyed is:

1) Overcharged (too much charge current) or charged to a final voltage which is too high.

2) Over discharged or discharged at too high of rate.

I did the battery a charge a few days before this happened, but i was using the shorai lithium specific charger. this shouldnt over charge it should it?

No. It's the bike's charging system that could overcharge it and/or charge it at too high of a current rate.

Ah ok, i get you.

what are some factors that could cause this? i know its hard probably hard to say, but im just trying to figure out if the mechanic is at fault to see if he is responsible for the work to fix it, and all so for the price of the battery that is now toast

Charging systems fail. If it were my shop, I wouldn't allow the customer to provide any parts and most don't for that reason. You can't warranty parts of unknown origin. Do you have a work order? Did he test/repair the charging system? How much time has elapsed?
Personally, I wouldn't work on a "Bobber/Brat bike" etc unless it is purely mechanical. Even then there's no telling what the owner will do to it once it has left the shop.
Steve

I just reread your post. What did the mechanic say about the problem? He apparently did the wiring so what happened?
Still no pics.
Steve

Did the battery get extremely hot for some reason? Mheres an article about li-ion batteries exploding due to heat: m.livescience.com/50643-watch-lithium-battery-explode.html

jsnabbs wrote:

bountyhunter wrote:

jsnabbs wrote:

bountyhunter wrote: Is it a Lithium battery? I worked with them for years. The way they get destroyed is:

1) Overcharged (too much charge current) or charged to a final voltage which is too high.

2) Over discharged or discharged at too high of rate.

I did the battery a charge a few days before this happened, but i was using the shorai lithium specific charger. this shouldnt over charge it should it?

No. It's the bike's charging system that could overcharge it and/or charge it at too high of a current rate.

Ah ok, i get you.

what are some factors that could cause this?

A blown regulator that lets the system voltage rise up. It can easily go above 18 volts when the reg stops working.