Shorai battery install

This caught my eye at the Motorcycle Show last november in San Mateo...

 





Look again, the batteries in the lower left corner.

My replacement bike is near 5 years old and had it's original battery. I have been monitoring it with the Datel I installed last month and noted a large drop in voltage when hitting the go button. Today was a cold day at work and when I went to start the Datel dropped down from 12.9 standing volts to 8.5 volts while cranking. The LED dash panel blanked out just before the bike fired up, so I decided to get a new battery.

When I talked to the gentleman manning the Shorai display kiosk he mentioned that they were located just across town in Sunnyvale. I found their phone number on the web site and gave them a call, and yes they were open until 5:30 and had a battery for me - plenty of time to go get it. I grabbed my allen wrench cluster, phillips screw driver, and a 10mm wrench and was there within half an hour.

My bike ready for the battery transplant - I know it's dirty, I Ride the damn thing rain or shine



Start out by removing the top panel and the inner trim panel covering the side.



This makes a nice makeshift tray when your'e on the side of the road, It sure beats placing the screws on the ground where you are going to kick them.



Clear off everything from over the top of the battery, you will need the room.



Lift up from the bottom and guide the corner around the upper dash panel. It's a tight fit with a heavy battery, but it will come out.



The old and new placed side by side. The Shorai only weighs 2.2 lbs. and is approximately 70% the size of the old lead acid battery, but packs 18 amp hours. Think about it, smaller battery = more room to put things like a fuse panel, or relays and such. Note the packing foam in the box, these are actually foam shims of various thicknesses, you use these to shim the smaller battery up to the correct level.



They cut easily and have a peel & stick backing on them to keep them in place in the battery box. It took several layers of varying thickness to get the same height as the old battery.



Here is a neat trick, cut a piece of foam and use the peel & stick adhesive to adhere it to the rectangle nut...



Place the nut & foam under the terminal and if you have several eyelets to go under the bolt, you will never have to fight threading it on again.



With the foam shims in place the battery sits right where it belongs. The terminal polarity is correct for this model. It sure looks clean without all that stuff on top of it...



I can't believe how much stuff I have attached here, time for a fuse panel instal.



I thumbed the go button and within 3 revoloutions of the crank the beast fired up willingly. Mission accomplished, I am one happy camper.



Interesting to note, My Datel read 13.3 volts when we installed it. Sitting here at home after 4 hours in the cold garage it reads 13.4 volts. I will be watching my Datel for the next few days/weeks to establish a baseline.

Time will tell how it holds up.




Brodie

The extra room looks pretty cool. How's the price?

and Brodie. God, your new bike looks so . . . drab...... :dribble:

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I've been waiting for a write-up on this battery. Thanks for sharing. The theory is: a lot less weight, more cranking power, and it's even supposed to last much longer, right? How much?

SacramentoMike said:

The extra room looks pretty cool. How's the price?

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$202 + change out the door (187 something + tax)

Remember, I did a drive by install in their parking lot.

and Brodie. God, your new bike looks so . . . drab...... :dribble: .

Click to expand...

Yah, I know.

And I'm not even a Raiders fan either.


Brodie

Thanks for the info. I believe I am on the original battery on my '05 and have recently been noticing a sluggish turn over so I'm thinking of replacement before I am forced.

Would love to know the dealer you worked with and what kind of money they're getting for these new gems.

EDIT: You squeaked in there with a reply, thanks!

Seen this stated on in the FAQ's section on the Shorai site, keep it in mind if you use their battery: https://www.shoraipower.com/t-faq.aspx

Q. Can I use Lead-Acid battery charger and tenders?

A.Yes. HOWEVER, you may NOT use a charger/tender if it has an automatic "desulfation mode", which cannot be turned off. We have confirmed with Deltran, makers of the "Battery Tender" brand, that their products do NOT have a desulfation mode, and are therefore OK for use with Shorai LFX, for example. But the best possible charger/tender for Shorai LFX is the SHO-BMS01, which will be released in February of 2011. It uses the 5-pin BMS port in the LFX batteries, in order to monitor, diagnose, and balance the individual cells during charge. And it also has an optimized storage mode that will give the longest possible service life to your LFX.

If you are storing your vehicle and want to check the remaining capacity, or you're a racer with a constant-loss system, you'll want to know how resting voltage (i.e. with no load or load under 200mA) maps to remaining capacity. LFX batteries should be maintained such that 20% capacity remains at minimum, as best practice. Use a good-quality voltmeter to check remaining capacity, and consider recharge whenever the battery capacity falls to about 50% remaining. Of course, if you get the Shorai dedicated BMS01 charger, you can just hit the "Store Mode" button and leave it to do the work for you.

Q. Should I use a battery tender?A.The short answer is "only if you really need to". Most powersports enthusiasts have gotten used to hooking up a tender to their lead-acid batteries, all the time. Shorai LFX have much slower self-discharge than the best lead acid do (1/6 to 1/7, on average), they do not sulfate as capacity drops, and they are the ultimate "deep cycle" battery, which means that they can still crank your vehicle even if the remaining capacity is quite low. Therefore most riders will not need to use a tender at all. Even a charger or tender uses energy you have to pay for, and there is always the possibility that a charger or tender can fail in some way, so if not really needed the best practice is to not use one.

A fully charged LFX can sit for a year or more and still retain adequate starting capacity, without damaging the battery. As such, any vehicle which has no current flowing when the key is OFF should never need a tender. At most it should be charged every 6 to 12 months, depending on the average storage temperature (cool storage is much better for any battery). Many older vehicles and most dirtbike/atv fall into this category.

Newer vehicles may have a significant draw even when the key is OFF, to maintain clocks and computers, etc. In this case we expect that a few hours of riding per month will be all that is needed to avoid tending. If you know that you will go a number of weeks or months without riding, you can either attach a tender, or disconnect the negative cable from the battery. In any case, during storage you may use the voltage chart above and an accurate voltmeter, and consider recharging when the battery is around the 50% capacity remaining mark, or above.

Very good thread.

However, I wonder if my OPTIMATE charger automatically desulphates every time it tends??? I thought it did that only when detecting a sulphated battery. Too bad for me if it does...cuz this new battery is very intriguing.

wheatonFJR said:

Very good thread.

However, I wonder if my OPTIMATE charger automatically desulphates every time it tends??? I thought it did that only when detecting a sulphated battery. Too bad for me if it does...cuz this new battery is very intriguing.

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I have an Optimate charger as well, and as I understand it , it has the automatic desulfation mode that Shoria says not to use.

I just weighed by battery 10.5 lbs looks the same as your original. Mine is 3 years old. I couldn't see from the pic's but what model # did you get for the FJR. Saving over 8lbs that high up on the bike seems like a winner. Could you tell any difference in riding or the balance of the bike. Seriously thinking of getting one bit pricey but love the weight saving

I wasn't looking for weight savings, I wanted the 18 amp hour rating with the smaller size. I have plans for the space this opens up in that area.

Since I ride almost daily this battery should never see the battery tender. David Radford, the company president, instructed me if I ever need to put the bike up for an extended time (God Forbid), remove the battery and put it in a ziplock bag with a desiccant pack and place it in the refrigerator. He said a year's worth of cold storage like that will only age the battery a few days.

Brodie

Brodie said:

I wasn't looking for weight savings, I wanted the 18 amp hour rating with the smaller size. I have plans for the space this opens up in that area.

Since I ride almost daily this battery should never see the battery tender. David Radford, the company president, instructed me if I ever need to put the bike up for an extended time (God Forbid), remove the battery and put it in a ziplock bag with a desiccant pack and place it in the refrigerator. He said a year's worth of cold storage like that will only age the battery a few days.

Brodie

Click to expand...

That is some "Weird Science" on those storage instructions. Very interesting stuff and nice install pics.

I am curious as to what loosing that weight on that side does if anything noticeable. Weight ratio I usually think of as front to rear but don't know if it is enough to matter, but I am curious if you see any difference in balance. The other thing I would think is a plus is 8 pounds off the front tire in hard cornering, braking conditions.

Wonder how it does react in climates like mine here in PA ? Most years I ride year round roads allowing, but we can do teens and lower for weeks cold wise and wonder if it will hold it's life at those extremes?

Thanks for "learning" me a bit on new battery technologies.

IIUC from discussions about them in other forums, they're NiMH or other more densely packed battery tech. The deal is that charging systems for NiMH are different than those for lead acid batteries. I can't say if it's enough different for the bike's charging system but it might mean that a battery tender type charger wouldn't work.

It'll be worth watching how this goes.

Thanks for being the guinea-pig for the group Brodie. Although I just replaced a battery this past summer, one never knows when the battery gods will frown upon you. I'll be interested in your feedback as experience is gained with this.

--G

Ok, so I'm on board. I just ordered product LFX18A1-BS12 (the larger of the 2 options shown for my year bike) since the original Yuasa is starting to reset my trip odo occasionally. I only got 7.5 years out of it.

I suspect I'll only be able to make left hand turns due to the weight loss.

Online price price was 186.95 plus 8.90 shipping, total $195.85.

PS: Local dealer wanted a buck and a half for a replacement Yuasa, which can be had online for a little over a buck.

Thanks for the find, Brodie!

Hey guys, this really does seem like a worthwhile idea for the FJR where our batteries are up so high, and the OEM batteries are so marginal in cranking amp capacity. I'll look forward to further reports on them and also on how Brodie uses that extra space.

Oh, and here's a photo assist for that first post so you can see the important details better:

Some reading on it:

My link

looks like a good deal and a fine way to reduce the "up high" weight of the FJR.

Most times it co$t cubic dollar$ and something called unobtanium to knock 8 lb of weight off of a bike.

good info thanks

I just went with a Motobatt - I'm not all that concerned about the poundage; I have lots to lose so that the extra 8 isn't going to impact on anything at all, and at less than $60 for the Motobatt I can change that out three times for what the Shorai would cost. Motobatt carries a 2 year warranty.