Earth X lithium iron battery

[FJRgal]

There's been a lot of discussion about the new Shorai lithium iron battery and temperamental problems with cold temperature starts.

I saw this new company/lithium iron battery from EarthXmotorsports at the 2013 bike show in Long Beach, CA last fall.

Has anyone bought this battery and have experience with it? any problems starting the bike in cold temperatures?

earthxmotosports.com

 

[SkooterG]

It's new. Never heard of it. Are you willing to risk it will work? We need a good year's worth of guinea pigs to be the Beta testers. Why don't you be one of them?

It's the same technology. Why would it be any better?

 

[garyahouse]

Contact the seller. Ask them for some technical information. EXACTLY what's inside their battery and WHY should you buy it instead of a Shorai? We don't know a huge amount about those details either. There is indeed more than one Lithium technology out there. The Shorai claimed to be better than the others. One of these days somebody's going to get it right. There's no question that the technology is getting better as a whole, but, as we all can attest, way too slowly for FJRs this winter.

Post up your results. You may not understand them, I know I won't, but at least we can build a knowledge base here.

Gary

darksider #44

 

[ionbeam]

EarthX batteries are a LiFePO4 chemistry so no matter what it has the same basic chemical benefit/liability of all batteries with this technology.

EarthX says:

Wide Operating Temperature Range (-30 C–+60C) — lithium batteries are dry cell technology and will not freeze

Integrity – our battery specifications are accurate. We won’t tell you our battery has 500CCA when it does not. We test all our batteries to industry standards (SAE, UL, CE).

CCA, CA -- These are the standards that most battery companies use to rate the current output of a battery.

Cold cranking amps (CCA) is a measurement of the number of amps a battery can deliver at 0° F for 30 seconds and not drop below 7.2 volts. A high CCA battery rating is what you want for cold weather starting.

CA is cranking amps measured at 32°F. This rating is also called marine cranking amps (MCA)

If EarthX really means that it meets industry CCA standards with no mickey mouse procedures like leaving the headlights on for 5 minutes before cranking then it is the real deal. If they left this unsaid but still needs to be done they have a major credibility issue.

The EarthX specs for a FJR type battery:

Voltage: 12V

Ah: 18

CCA 230A

EarthX says:

Problem:

The vehicle does not want to start in cold weather.
Possible Causes and Solutions:
Lithium batteries internal resistance increases as the temperature decreases, so the battery will put out fewer amps in cold weather (less than 32°F). You may need a larger Ah battery.

Ah (amp hour) is different than CCA. EarthX should have said that you need a battery with a higher CCA rating. The EarthX battery claim of 230 CCA should really exceed the requirement for the FJR. The previous statement about cold weather makes me nervous about EarthX's credibility and the battery's true capability.

So, who is the first guinea pig with $209 to waste invest in this experiment?