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POLL: Lithium-ion Batteries and Battery Tenders

19K views 31 replies 16 participants last post by  DoubleThumper 
#1 ·
What’s everyone doing with their Lithium-ion batteries for winter storage?

I did the typical things one does for motorcycle winter storage, but I wasn’t too worried about the battery, having read all the great stuff about Li-ion batteries: they hold their charge well, like the cold, last longer when stored with a partial charge, etc.

I have a BikeMaster Li-ion charger/ maintainer. Just picked it up last week. But for now, I’ve just got the negative terminal on my bike’s battery disconnected and the battery in the bike, in the unheated garage.

I'm going to leave it alone and before I take it out for the fist time in spring, I will top off the battery with the charger. (My only concern is the varying temperature swings in the garage, but I’m not concerned enough to bring the battery inside (where it’s probably a bit too warm for Li-ion battery storage, anyway—I could put it in the refrigerator, but I’m not going to bother with it).

But what are others doing?

1. On trickle charger/ battery maintainer all winter?
2. Disconnecting the battery from the bike but planning on topping off before first spring outing?
3. Disconnecting but not planning on topping off?
4. Leaving battery connected but planning on topping off?
5. Leaving battery connected but planning on just firing up and going on first spring outing?


Feel free to elaborate in a reply, e.g., if you remove the battery altogether and bring into the house for a more stable temperature, if you actually go to the trouble of discharging some to store it with a partial charge, etc.


It would be interesting to do some long-term testing:
Case A) On trickle charger all winter every season.
Case B) Disconnected and topped off every season.
Case C) Disconnected but no top off. (Maybe you don't have a charger).
Case D) Connected all winter and topped off every season.
Case E) Connected but no top off, just fire up and go every season.

I’ll be Case B. So, we have a start.

I’d be interested to know what others are doing. Thanks everyone, Gary

 
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#2 ·
What’s everyone doing with their Lithium-ion batteries for winter storage?



I did the typical things one does for motorcycle winter storage, but I wasn’t too worried about the battery, having read all the great stuff about Li-ion batteries: they hold their charge well, like the cold, last longer when stored with a partial charge, etc.



I have a BikeMaster Li-ion charger/ maintainer. Just picked it up last week. But for now, I’ve just got the negative terminal on my bike’s battery disconnected and the battery in the bike, in the unheated garage.



I'm going to leave it alone and before I take it out for the fist time in spring, I will top off the battery with the charger. (My only concern is the varying temperature swings in the garage, but I’m not concerned enough to bring the battery inside (where it’s probably a bit too warm for Li-ion battery storage, anyway—I could put it in the refrigerator, but I’m not going to bother with it).



But what are others doing?



1.On trickle charger/ battery maintainer all winter?

2.Disconnecting the battery from the bike but planning on topping off before first spring outing?

3.Disconnecting but not planning on topping off?

4.Leaving battery connected but planning on topping off?

5.Leaving battery connected but planning on just firing up and going on first spring outing?





Feel free to elaborate in a reply, e.g., if you remove the battery altogether and bring into the house for a more stable temperature, if you actually go to the trouble of discharging some to store it with a partial charge, etc.





It would be interesting to do some long-term testing:

Case A) On trickle charger all winter every season.

Case B) Disconnected and topped off every season.

Case C) Disconnected but no top off. (Maybe you don't have a charger).

Case D) Connected all winter and topped off every season.

Case E) Connected but no top off, just fire up and go every season.



I’ll be Case B. So, we have a start.



I’d be interested to know what others are doing. Thanks everyone, Gary



Riding it. Although, yesterday the roads were covered in ice so maybe that's not the safest idea.

Sent from my SM-N960U1 using Tapatalk
 
#3 ·
****. Having trouble setting up poll...
 
#5 · (Edited)
Yeah. That's what I'm thinking too. Even for several months.

I think it makes sense to disconnect the negative lead when stored for several months, but keeping it on a trickle charger probably doesn't help much and actually may be worse for long-term.

But just plain leaving it alone and firing up in the spring probably has little adverse long-term effect. Leaving it alone and topping off, maybe marginally better?

But I wish I could figure out how to make this a proper poll without raining a bunch of threads down...

...
 
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#6 ·
Have been trying to figure this out what to do with the battery as well. Back in mid-November I pulled the battery out and brought it inside. Didn't put it on a tender or anything, just set it on the bookshelf. During the warm spell at the beginning of last month I put the battery back in and the bike fired right up and I went for two rides. It's an expensive experiment to try, but I think I'm going to leave it in the bike in the unheated shop until spring rolls around and then just try and start it up. Should probably disconnect the negative terminal as well, but I'm hoping that there's going to be a day or two soon enough where it's warm and dry enough to ride and that should be enough to keep it charged until spring.
 
#7 ·
You might find this interesting, a snip from the press release from EliiyPower, the manufacturer of the OE battery.

ELIIY Power’s HY110 Lithium-Ion Motorcycle Starter Battery Is Adopted as Standard Battery for Honda 2018 Model CRF1000L Africa Twin

Approx. 2.3kg Lighter than Lead-acid Batteries and High Performance Startup Even at Low Temperatures (-10 deg. C)

ELIIY Power Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, Japan; President: Hiroichi Yoshida) today announced that its HY110 lithium-ion motorcycle starter battery has been adopted as the official standard battery for the 2018 CRF1000L Africa Twin Adventure model announced by Honda Motor Company, Ltd. (Head Office: Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan; hereinafter referred to as “Honda”) on February 26, 2018.

In comparison with the conventional lead-acid battery used in the previous CRF1000L Africa Twin model, ELIIY Power’s HY110 contributes to reducing the weight of the motorcycle by approximately 2.3kg. Despite this significant weight reduction, the battery also demonstrates high performance startup capabilities, even at temperatures as low as -10 deg. C. The HY110 battery also has the highest rated capacity (6.0Ah) and CCA (Cold Cranking Amperage, 120A) in the HY Battery Series, and offers the greatest resistance to long-term disuse and best engine startup performance.
Purely anecdotal of course, but its often stated that these batteries lose 1% of their charge per Month. so... over a year of non-use, thats 12% would it still start the bike? My bet is yes it would.

http://eliiypower.co.jp/english/vc-files/pdf/pdf_eng/20180308_Release.pdf
 
#8 ·
I agree with you guys.

It will be interesting to see what happens over time.

My plan is to simply disconnect for the winter and (probably needlessly) top-off before first ride in spring.

And Motorwerx, I'm guessing the difference between disconnecting and leaving connected is negligible—at least for the first several years, depending on use, etc.

And I'm betting you're exactly right, Motorbiker: one could park the bike for a year or more and, everything else aside, the battery will do its job just fine.

But I do wonder what time will tell us about battery tenders for these newer Li-ion batteries. Everything I read tells me these batteries age best when stored with less than a full charge. A battery tender designed to maintain a 40% charge might be something that could enhance the battery’s lifespan, who knows. But I have to wonder if keeping it topped-off might actually do the opposite (however marginally).

Probably not something to worry too much about one way or the other, but interesting to think about.

And for me, bike storage definitely applies because I am *not* a cold weather rider anymore. Did enough of that in my youth. I have a car. It’s nice and warm. And dry. Say what you will, but I’m a fair-weather rider. I’ll have to concede a bit when we plan our longer rides, but as little as possible. And my bike will likely spend 2 or 3 months every year in “long-term” storage.

Gary

 
#9 ·
I'm using an Optimate/Tecmate Lithium 0.8A connected all winter.
I don't ride if there's even a sniff of road salt so the bike is moth-balled for 3 or 4 months.
I've got an alarm and a Scottoiler Esystem connected so there's a constant, albeit small drain on the battery.

I couldn't be bothered disconnecting the battery as it's such a pain to do.

Right or wrong? Time will probably tell.
 
#10 ·
so from my remote control toy experience .. i use lipo's and have done for years.. when not in use they need to be balanced charged at 70% .. leaving a lipo at 100% gives it no room for heat/cold fluctuation and the lipo mmay swell or buldge.

never completely drain a lipo under 35% or you will drastically reduce its life span.

most lipos are good for approx 10000 cycles ( from 35% -100%-35%)

if you have a float charger that has a discharge function would be ideal if you have to leave it on a trickle for a long period of time.. so it peaks then draws then peaks then draws ect ect ..

at the start of every rc season i discharge all my batteries thru the balance charger from there storage charge of 70% down to 35-40% and then recharge as i use them ..

it is also recommended that when charging a lipo the battery is retained in a fire proof bag or box as they can be volatile little suckers ...( you tube lipo explosion ... its not pretty)


hope this helps..
 
#13 ·
I just connected a Tender Jr to my new 2018 ATAS (painful and somehow lost the negative screw but had a spare). (I have a habit of keeping a tender on my battery and get 8-10 years out of them).

Is it ok to use a regular Tender Jr on this battery?

It just says:
Perfect for charging all 12-volt lead-acid, flooded or sealed maintenance free batteries (AGM and gel cell) and safety timer-80 hours
 
#16 ·
The original poster had me thinking when he suggested that keeping a lithium battery indoors may be too warm for it.
Honda sell their bikes to countries where temps exceed 34C for months on end and the bikes are ridden in these conditions with the addition of engine heat so I would imagine that the inside of a dwelling with heating on would be unlikely to have any detrimental effect.
I suppose cheap lithium would possibly be dodgy if the quality control was lacking.
 
#17 ·
They know heat

Honda sell their bikes to countries where temps exceed 34C for months on end and the bikes are ridden in these conditions with the addition of engine heat so I would imagine that the inside of a dwelling with heating on would be unlikely to have any detrimental effect.
Agreed. And Japan itself regularly exceeds 35C in the summer, so it's not as if Honda is culturally blind to high-temperature environments.
 
#18 ·
I was just talking about lithium battery storage in general - what I read and found; most of it not specific to motorcycles, just the batteries.

And *ideal* scenarios.

But the takeaway from my research is that these things are fairly bullet proof and amazingly resilient. Thus my idea just to leave the thing alone, not even bother with trickle charging.

The battery on my ATAS is probably the lowest thing on my list for maintenence. I plan to just flat out leave it alone and see how well it behaves over the years (maybe disconnect the neg. lead for winter storage). I'm guessing the difference between going crazy and storing away from the bike in ideal temps at ideal charge levels makes little real measurable difference. But that's just me.

Gary

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#19 ·
The battery on my ATAS is probably the lowest thing on my list for maintenence. I plan to just flat out leave it alone and see how well it behaves over the years (maybe disconnect the neg. lead for winter storage).

Gary
Be interesting to see how the European bikes deal with the winter hibernation considering that they come equpped with an immobiliser, which I presume is active and (also assume) places a small drain on the battery. If after 20 weeks of not being touched the bike fires up without undue extra effort, there's your answer.

I believe this immobiliser isn't standard in the US.?
 
#21 ·
I'm not worried at all... This winter, here in my part of the U.K., we had snow that lasted 2 days, all winter. I've lived in this house 18yrs and in all that time the longest I've been off the road due to snow was an 11 day stretch. I was thinking about countries elsewhere in Europe that become snowbound for months at a time, or Scandinavia.
 
#23 ·
Guess it wasn't obvious, but what I meant was, "If 'one' is worried about any draw on the battery."

But for me, it's not just snow that keeps me off my bike. It's cold weather too, and rain. Just not into riding in the cold or wet anymore. And with the wild winters we've been having around here lately, snow, sleet, cold cold cold, I'm off the bike for closer to 4 months or more in the winter. I'm an unapologetic fair-weather rider.

I just recently did my first startup since mid-November, the bike nearly 5 months sitting. For winter storage all I did was top off the tank, added a few ounces of stabilizer and pretty much left the battery alone. (I left it alone for the first two months, then bought the trickle charger and finally did connect the charger, figuring, why not? But I noticed the battery showed topped-off within minutes... so, I removed the charger and just let the bike sit with the battery's neg. term disconnected. I reconnected the neg. term but I did NOT top off the battery with the charger prior to first start. The bike started up like I'd just ridden it yesterday--no extended turnover, no lag, nada - not a single issue or problem; started up and purred like a kitten. Yes, it's only a year old, but still, the battery was perfectly fine going nearly five months idle.

I'm going to do the same next year. No charger. Just disconnect the neg. lead and reconnect at the end of the winter and see how she starts up. And I'll keep doing it until the battery finally eventually fails... how many years will that be? We'll see.

But all my reading on these fantastic lithium-ion batteries leads me to believe there are pros and cons to using trickle chargers on them. And it seems to me, there may be more cons than pros. If you're fanatical about it, and want to squeeze every last start out of these batteries, from what I've read, it involves partially discharging and storing indoors (or at a certain temp range). But I'm not fanatical. And I'm guessing that gets you maybe a few months more from the battery when all is said and done. I could be wrong and I'd love to compare my results to anyone who is doing something else: using a trickle charger every winter? Partially discharging and storing indoors?

Time will tell. Ride safe, Gary

...
 
#25 ·
Could you post a photograph of it?


personally.. i would only use a Lithium specific charger.. minder. but so far there hasn't been any need for one. No stsrting problems at all.

If the ABS unit is from Bosch (or of a similar design).. then as part of its start-up it will perform a battery diagnostic check. so should give a warning that the battery isn't perfect, by not turning off the indicator symbol on the dash. This is generally the first symptom of a faulty battery and happens usually before actual engine start issues develop.
 
#28 ·
I live in central Texas. Today was the first one in 3 days where there wasn't ice all over my porch - but it's normally warmer. The longest bouts of freezing weather we have is 2 or 3 weeks. The problem is that when we do have it - we have ice rather than snow. I'll ride on snow - but I'll take the truck when there's ice...
 
#29 ·
Well I looked into actually asking the manufacturer of these batteries ( https://www.eliiypower.co.jp/english/contact/index.html ) but for some reason they don’t do email you can however call them but I’m not sure of language issues.. ANYONE fluent in English and Japanese?
 
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