Li-ion Battery

Hi, new here so forgive me if this has already been covered but I didnt find much of anything by searching the archives.

Doing a cafe racer style restoration on my 76 KZ750 twin so I'm trying to hide all the electrical bits I can. I'm looking at an Antigravity AG-801 li-ion battery which they say has 240 Crankin g Amps and 9 Ah. Does anyone have any experience with Li-ion batteries in general or specifically this one? I know I need to get an up to date regulator/rectifier. Scecifically will this be enough to use the electric start on a big old twin ?

Thanks

Ken

If you don't already know it, you cant use a regular charger or trickle charger with Li-Ion batteries, you will have to get one that's made for Li-Ion batteries or you will damage the battery
the batteries are about 150.00, & the charger is about 100.00
Pete

pete greek1 wrote: If you don't already know it, you cant use a regular charger or trickle charger with Li-Ion batteries

That's not entirely true. You can use some regular old trickle chargers on some Li-Ion batteries. My Ballistic battery says that there are a few regular trickle chargers that you can use on it, the Battery Tender Jr. being one and luckily for me the one that I have. But a traditional trickle charger treats the battery as a whole. A charger that monitors each individual cell and evens out the charge across all of them, Ballistic does sell their own - and obviously Ballistic recommends it, is preferred for Li-Ion batteries. That said, I've had my 8-cell Ballistic on my KZ400 for about 2 years now and I've always used just a Battery Tender Jr.

Shorai also recommends not using regular chargers for their Li-Ion batteries, & if you're going to spend 150.00 on a battery, why take a chance on frying it
Pete

Thanks guys, I'll definately spring for the charger if I go Li-ion. I also hear that Li-ion batteries don't like cold weather but neither do I so I'm safe there.

What I really want to know is if the 8 cell battery has enough grunt to start the bike, goodness knows my 61 year old arthritic right leg doesn't.

diggerdanh wrote:

pete greek1 wrote: If you don't already know it, you cant use a regular charger or trickle charger with Li-Ion batteries

That's not entirely true. You can use some regular old trickle chargers on some Li-Ion batteries. My Ballistic battery says that there are a few regular trickle chargers that you can use on it, the Battery Tender Jr. being one and luckily for me the one that I have. But a traditional trickle charger treats the battery as a whole. A charger that monitors each individual cell and evens out the charge across all of them, Ballistic does sell their own - and obviously Ballistic recommends it, is preferred for Li-Ion batteries. That said, I've had my 8-cell Ballistic on my KZ400 for about 2 years now and I've always used just a Battery Tender Jr.

This is from Shorai wesite
Another important note: Although the Battery Tender is known as a maintenance charger, this is not the case if hooked to a Shorai battery. Because of the voltage differences found in a Lithium battery pack, the charger may not enter "float" or "maintenance" mode. Rather than simply keeping the battery at a proper float level, it may stay in boost mode for long periods. There is then the risk of overcharging the battery, one of the many - See more at: www.batterystuff.com/blog/can-i-use-a-ba...sthash.XBCELpQR.dpuf
Pete

As far as I can tell, these batteries are a bit of a scam. I've built and flown electric RC aircraft using LiPo and Life batteries. It takes great care in charging and discharging not to destroy them (and potentially igniting an inferno).

When I heard of lithium batteries being used in motorcycles I thought, OK, so there must be some special balance charging circuitry built in. The lithium-ion battery packs in your laptop aren't just dumb. They have charging and monitoring circuitry often built into the pack itself.

Anyway, it turns out that even those $300 Shorai lithium batteries are just dumb packs like you'd get if you used an RC lipo. Shorai has a terminal on the battery for balanced charging and sells a charger to connect to it, but this is not meant to be used on the bike. You have to plug the thing into the mains to recharge it. Good luck on your roadtrip...

Also u have to make sure your charging system does not charge over 14.4 volts.
Which is the case with the KZ. They can charge up to around 15.5 v.

spdygon wrote: Also u have to make sure your charging system does not charge over 14.4 volts.
Which is the case with the KZ. They can charge up to around 15.5 v.

If your charging system is charging at 15.5v. there 's something wrong with it, & you can cook ANY 12v battery, it should charge between 14.2 to 14.5
Pete

A 14L battery is actually a 12v battery..... +15vdc charge rate for any length of time and at any thing more then a couple-few hundred miliamps of current will probably (or eventually) boil the electrolyte mix out of the cells.
I check mine every 3-4 weeks and I am always amazed how for the electrolyte level has dropped.

I love this place already and I've learned a lot in a few short hours and I really appreciate that, thanks everyone. However ... will it start my goddamn scooter?

Hell Yea, it'll start your scooter, They're just not recommended for use below 40 degree's , & like you, I gave up riding if It's below 50, many years ago, I've become a fair weather rider in my old age, :laugh: :laugh: