Shorai Battery - not good in cold

[SkooterG]

The weather this morning was in the low 40's so I decided to ride the FJR to work. It has been sitting since before Thanksgiving (yeah yeah yeah ... gimme a break) but on the battery tender.

Did you use the proper type of Battery Tender? From the Shorai website:

Q. Can I use Lead-Acid battery chargers or charger/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 on about March 15th 2011, we expect. 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.

And....

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

I would call Shorai and see what they say of your issues.

 

[BikerGeek99]

Get the 18AMP and you wont have any issues.

That's the one I have.

Why would it run low if it was on the Tender? I thought the Tender would keep it at least slightly warm.

That's what I thought as well. Sometimes I just shouldn't think, I guess.

Did you use the proper type of Battery Tender? From the Shorai website:

... snip-er-ooney ....

Yep. Mine's a Battery Tender brand. I read all that stuff before plugging it in.

I would call Shorai and see what they say of your issues.

Yeah, I thought about that, but I'd rather piss and moan on an interweb forum instead and chalk this up to trying something new and providing feedback for others to make better-informed decisions. If it ain't broke...

 

[wheatonFJR]

Sounds like the thread title is back to being correct again.

 

[SkooterG]

I would call Shorai and see what they say of your issues.

Yeah, I thought about that, but I'd rather piss and moan on an interweb forum instead and chalk this up to trying something new and providing feedback for others to make better-informed decisions. If it ain't broke...

Fair enough. But what you *should* do is call them, get them to send you a brand new replacement for free, and then send that to *me* for 'further testing'!

 

[beemerdons]

I would call Shorai and see what they say of your issues.

Yeah, I thought about that, but I'd rather piss and moan on an interweb forum instead and chalk this up to trying something new and providing feedback for others to make better-informed decisions. If it ain't broke...

Fair enough. But what you *should* do is call them, get them to send you a brand new replacement for free, and then send that to *me* for 'further testing'!

Oh for Petey's sake Andy, and for all of these years I always thought HotRodZilla was the biggest "Girlie Man" here on our fine FJR Forum! jes' sayin' and nuff' said!

 

[doug5551]

Fair enough. But what you *should* do is call them, get them to send you a brand new replacement for free, and then send that to *me* for 'further testing'!

Oh for Petey's sake Andy, and for all of these years I always thought HotRodZilla was the biggest "Girlie Man" here on our fine FJR Forum! jes' sayin' and nuff' said!

LOL :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo:

Now THAT is funny!!! :lol:

 

[HotRodZilla]

I would call Shorai and see what they say of your issues.

Yeah, I thought about that, but I'd rather piss and moan on an interweb forum instead and chalk this up to trying something new and providing feedback for others to make better-informed decisions. If it ain't broke...

Fair enough. But what you *should* do is call them, get them to send you a brand new replacement for free, and then send that to *me* for 'further testing'!

Oh for Petey's sake Andy, and for all of these years I always thought HotRodZilla was the biggest "Girlie Man" here on our fine FJR Forum! jes' sayin' and nuff' said!

So who is the new biggest "girlie man," Geek or Skooter??

I vote for Skooter.

 

[RadioHowie]

I would call Shorai and see what they say of your issues.

Yeah, I thought about that, but I'd rather piss and moan on an interweb forum instead and chalk this up to trying something new and providing feedback for others to make better-informed decisions. If it ain't broke...

Fair enough. But what you *should* do is call them, get them to send you a brand new replacement for free, and then send that to *me* for 'further testing'!

I'd say Geek, but then he'd call me and wake my ass up at 3am in the morning....

Oh for Petey's sake Andy, and for all of these years I always thought HotRodZilla was the biggest "Girlie Man" here on our fine FJR Forum! jes' sayin' and nuff' said!

So who is the new biggest "girlie man," Geek or Skooter??

I vote for Skooter.

I'd say Geek, but then he call me and wake my ass up at 3am in the morning... <_<

I considered Skootiepoo, but he's my hero! :wubsmiley:

 

[beemerdons]

I would call Shorai and see what they say of your issues.

Yeah, I thought about that, but I'd rather piss and moan on an interweb forum instead and chalk this up to trying something new and providing feedback for others to make better-informed decisions. If it ain't broke...

Fair enough. But what you *should* do is call them, get them to send you a brand new replacement for free, and then send that to *me* for 'further testing'!

I'd say Geek, but then he'd call me and wake my ass up at 3am in the morning....

Oh for Petey's sake Andy, and for all of these years I always thought HotRodZilla was the biggest "Girlie Man" here on our fine FJR Forum! jes' sayin' and nuff' said!

So who is the new biggest "girlie man," Geek or Skooter??

I vote for Skooter.

I'd say Geek, but then he call me and wake my ass up at 3am in the morning... <_<

I considered Skootiepoo, but he's my hero! :wubsmiley:

AJ and RH, if I could find that famous picture of Old Michael and BikerGeek99 "making out" and "grabbing ass" on the top of Geek's Harley right now, I'd vote for Andy!

 

[HotRodZilla]

I would call Shorai and see what they say of your issues.

Yeah, I thought about that, but I'd rather piss and moan on an interweb forum instead and chalk this up to trying something new and providing feedback for others to make better-informed decisions. If it ain't broke...

Fair enough. But what you *should* do is call them, get them to send you a brand new replacement for free, and then send that to *me* for 'further testing'!

I'd say Geek, but then he'd call me and wake my ass up at 3am in the morning....

Oh for Petey's sake Andy, and for all of these years I always thought HotRodZilla was the biggest "Girlie Man" here on our fine FJR Forum! jes' sayin' and nuff' said!

So who is the new biggest "girlie man," Geek or Skooter??

I vote for Skooter.

I'd say Geek, but then he call me and wake my ass up at 3am in the morning... <_<

And we all know you're too much of a girlie man for that...HEY.......Maybe it's you. I'm changing my vote.

 

[BikerGeek99]

I'd say Geek, but then he call me and wake my ass up at 3am in the morning... <_<

And who's the idjut who actually ANSWERED?!?!

Well, besides 'Zilla, that is.

And beemerdons.

Makes bungie look like the smart one. How scary is THAT?!??

Seems to me that scooty got a call that night, too, but HE didn't answer.

 

[RadioHowie]

I'd say Geek, but then he call me and wake my ass up at 3am in the morning... <_<

And who's the idjut who actually ANSWERED?!?!

Well, besides 'Zilla, that is.

And beemerdons.

Makes bungie look like the smart one. How scary is THAT?!??

Seems to me that scooty got a call that night, too, but HE didn't answer.

When yer "on-call" 24/7/365, you HAVE to answer the phone, dorkboi!

 

[FJR Flyer]

Get the 18AMP and you wont have any issues.

That's what I had and have, too.

 

[Rider_FJR]

There is an issue with those 12amp Shorai's starting is cold temperatures. I don't understand why Shorai won't remove the 12 amp from the web site and only sell 18amp for FjR's.

In conclusion, if you have a 12 amp, call Shorai and upgrade to 18amp. Or sell your 12 amp and invest in 18amp. eBay has some good deals, time to time. I have the 18 amp and my bike in Chicago started each time this winter. I try to start it every 2 weeks, just as a test. The main reason why I purchased Shorai was do to the weight. There are couple more reasons, but I felt that having less weight on the right front side of the bike just felt better.

 

[beemerdons]

I am with SkooterG, I went with a traditional battery two months ago. However I had looked long and hard at the Shorai battery, but all that I read here make me so glad that I stayed with the tried and true FJR battery standard!

Gunny. No regrets, cranking well thank you.

It really pains me to say out loud that SkooterG and FJRBluesman are the "Voices of Reason" on this Shorai battery issue, but "Dumb and Dumber" are so right! Why even feck around with a battery that has so many damn problems right from the get go. To just save a few measly pounds? Eat less pizza and drink less beer to save a few pounds. This subject is so incredibly ridiculous!

GET A TRUE FJR BATTERY STANDARD! Jeez Marie, even our Bustanut joker and RadioHowie can figure out this Shorai no-brainer. And RH and Bust can't walk and chew gum at the same time!

 

[RadioHowie]

Can too, dammitt!!!