No but I would like to get my hands on the little shits responsible as they are giving the rest of us a bad name!!
On some Ducati sports bikes the regulator is in a pretty hot place (next to the horizontal cylinder exhaust) further the design is right on the edge of the design envelope. If you change the battery technology on that bike it is the Ducati that suffers and not the battery..... This is a critical point that many are missing.
Nothing more than i’ve followed Shorai’s instructions for the last 5 years. It can be charged by a regular charger ( not earlier optimate types). Or their own dedicated charger which plugs into a port on the battery. Extinguisher for comedy effect. I’ve never said other brands of lithium battery can be treated this way. Imagine the torrent of posts if it ever goes up in flames.
Lithium, best mod I did to my 749 as I wrote before, I would like to know how many bikes caught fire because of a lithium battery, and not just the line "I heard about one or my mates mate heard" did anyone on this forum suffered first hand melt down because of a lithuium battery, dont forget a faulty reg will also blow a lead acid to. Chances are I will crash my bike before the battery sets me on fire!
The only thing you are missing is a birds dried custard powder & an upto date newspaper. And you'd of won the internet!
Had my Shorai in my 999 for 2 years now, no issues so far. You will have to warm the battery up in freezing conditions if your bike is left outside(ignition on/off/on/off with headlights on) i have had no problems with starting between rides(longest period just over 3 weeks). I only use the Shorai charger.
I Agree the chances are that the bike will be crashed before the fire. A faulty regulator can also cause a Lead acid to bulge and leak acid.... it won't catch fire, the leads may. The most likely cause of failure on a bike with an internal gen' set is the stupid external connector from the stator to the regulator circuitry. It would have been better to keep the whole lot in the oil bath. The fact that people aren't seeing a problem, doesn't mean there isn't one. To see the issue you need to measure the temperature of the regulator during normal running and then put a fully charged Lithium battery on the bike and check again. You'll see a marked increase in the running temperature of the regulator due to the nature of the two batteries against terminal voltage. If your motorcycle has a design that is working well within limits then you may be ok. I've personally attended to a recent expensive road race Ducati motorcycle that caught fire due to the fitment of a Lithium battery. Two or three other people on this forum are party to what happened. They may or may not wish to be involved, so I cannot name them. As far as I'm concerned one motorcycle was one too many. I've a small collection of Dukes and none will ever be fitted with Lithium. If they need to shave a few pounds off the road weight I think I know the best place to start... I'm based near Heathrow in West London. If you want to bring round your motorcycle and both batteries I will show you this issue. PM me and I'll we can arrange a time. You can buy me one Guinness for my trouble, but only if you are convinced.
You'll see an increase on the reg temp with a fully charged lead-acid battery as well... That's how the regulator works you know. The terminal voltage on LiFePo batteries is higher than on a conventional lead-acid battery so why would the reg run hotter with a LiFePo when the battery is being charged to a higher voltage (=more energy converted to electric potential instead of heat)?
Some useful info here on lifepo chemistry. https://www.powerstream.com/LLLF.htm so on balance is it perfectly safe. Probably not. Is it safe enough. Considering all the other risks two wheels entail. Probably. I bet bad maintenance and fuel leaks account for more “lost” bikes. As an interesting aside about 20 years ago I worked for Sanyo and sold batteries. Mostly into power tools. About 5 million of them all told. NiCd. Also very nasty stuff when not treated with respect.
Sorry fella, but you don’t. A basic charger will do. It only does what your alternator does. Put it on for 10 minutes and it’s fully charged from flat. Lithium all the way for me. I have three of them and have had them on bikes for probably 4 years now. Maybe longer
Moving electrons at 13V is moving electrons at 13V. It’s only trickle chargers that are an issue for Lithium.
749er don't ever leave it connected and only charge it for a short period of time and you should be ok. However don't mention it if you try to claim for a new battery or worse need to contact your house insurance company. The issue is about current and voltage tolerances. You may want to read this http://www.enerdrive.com.au/can-charge-lithium-battery-lead-acid-charger/ to see why it is sensible to get the right charger
