Lithium Battery?

I got one of these for my KLV1000. Haven't fitted it yet, so no thoughts to give on how it performs. I just wondered if anyone on here has fitted a lithium battery to their Silverwing, and if so, what brand and part number?

All I can say is that they are so much lighter - around 20% of the weight of a lead acid type. They're also around 40% smaller, but spacers are supplied. They can be used in any orientation.

The price seems to be coming down to the region of a quality lead acid one so I thought I'd try one. The brand I bought is JMT (off ebay.co.uk) who also make the lithium batteries fitted to KTM bikes - or so they say.

I'll update with initial impressions when I get my KLV1000 back on the road.

Flyingpanman wrote:

I just wondered if anyone on here has fitted a lithium battery to their Silverwing, and if so, what brand and part number?

http://shoraipower.com/lfx18a1-bs12-p86

Worked flawlessly and gave me peace of mind because it has significantly higher AH and CCA than the stock.

I put a Battery Tender Lithium battery in my 08 SWing last year and really like it. In the middle pic you can see all the dense foam spacers that are used to take up the extra space. They have self-stick tape on them and work great. I would guess the two sets of battery "posts" are for hooking up extra stuff as needed. I also use the Battery Tender Jr. to charge it with. It's cheaper than the Lithium charger that they sell and the person I talked to said it would work just fine to charge it.

I have my concerns about Lithium batteries catching fire. When I use to fly on commercial airlines, I was required to include my Lithium batteries for my tools in my carry-on luggage. That way if it started smoking, the airline staff could dispose of it.

Easyrider wrote:

I have my concerns about Lithium batteries catching fire. When I use to fly on commercial airlines, I was required to include my Lithium batteries for my tools in my carry-on luggage. That way if it started smoking, the airline staff could dispose of it.

ANY battery can cause a fire - usually due to shorting out. The more powerful the battery, the risk is greater.

Google is your friend. The battery in the photos above is 51.2 Watt Hrs., mine is 48 Watt Hrs. Installed is not a problem. Spares up to 100W Hr. must be in hand luggage with protected terminals.

In the two years I've had my Battery Tender Lithium in my SWing I've never had a problem with it.

I've never had a problem with any OE scooter batteries I've connected to an Optimate. The Honda CN 250 Helix I bought in 1996 still had the OE Yuasa battery on when I sold it in 2004. The next three maxi scooters were all on their OE Yuasa batteries when sold. The Yuasa that's on my Silver Wing now is six years old and is fully charged, maybe it's my Optimate that's getting a bit tired and weary at diagnosing and conditioning the battery.

Let's not forget the Silver Wing was designed and came into production in 2000, long before lithium batteries became available. They may work fine but has anyone had one installed for more than a couple of years? There's plenty of other sealed maintenance-free batteries out there that you don't have to stick a 'fat suit' of spacers to so it sits snugly in the battery space, and will last a good five years minimum.

Meldrew.

Looking at your posts, I'm sure you alone must have been the inspiration for the sitcom character of Victor Meldrew.

Okay, "If it isn't broken, don't fix it." is a pretty good saying, but if we all thought that way we'd get nowhere. When the wheel was invented it worked great, but it didn't come into it's own until some guy thought of adding another... bread became better when it was sliced... ice-cream when placed in a cornet, etc, etc.

I have a 7yr. old Yuasa battery on a Honda bike (never used an Optimate) but the Motobatt in my KLV1000 was 4yr. old and died. That battery sits high up in the frame, so a lightweight Lithium battery would help lower the centre of gravity. Similarly, a lighter battery in a Silverwing would help reduce the overall weight making it easier to push around and get onto the centre stand. In the words of Bruce Forsyth (?) "Every little helps".

Lithium batteries have been used in R.C. aircraft for 10 or more years now so I have no real qualms about their reliability. In the 16 years since the Silverwing arrived, things have moved on - as you said to me once, "Get with the programme".

Flyingpanman wrote:

Easyrider wrote:

I have my concerns about Lithium batteries catching fire. When I use to fly on commercial airlines, I was required to include my Lithium batteries for my tools in my carry-on luggage. That way if it started smoking, the airline staff could dispose of it.

ANY battery can cause a fire - usually due to shorting out. The more powerful the battery, the risk is greater.

Google is your friend. The battery in the photos above is 51.2 Watt Hrs., mine is 48 Watt Hrs. Installed is not a problem. Spares up to 100W Hr.  must be in hand luggage with protected terminals.

I did not mean fire from shorting. Airplanes were grounded because Lithium batteries over heated and caught fire. The new Samsung phones are being recalled due to it catching fire when charging. Some hover boards caught fire just sitting at display stands. Airlines do not allow Lithium batteries in checked luggage (if they knew). My OEM battery is only three and a half years old and not in need of replacing. I may someday switch to a Lithium battery, but for now I will watch, research, and learn. If anything, the prices should be less and quality should improve.

[quote=In the words of Bruce Forsyth (?) "Every little helps"[/quote]

I thought that was Tesco

You thought it was Tesco, I thought it was ASDA from a voice over advert by Brucie. That's why I put the (?).

It's no good - I've got to google it...

Okay, I'm back and it WAS Tesco's strapline. Give that man a beer! (No mention of Brucie).

I put a MMG#4 lithium Ion in my 02 silverwing. Works better than the stock Yuasa. Weighs MUCH less and has 300 cold cranking amps which is about 50% more than the stock Yausa. Also it has a built in button that tells you how well the battery is charged built into it. It also fits like a glove without any spacers.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00O17FJ0Y/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

nachturn, thanks for the link that's decent shipped price and for me it may well be a " lifetime " battery After my brother passed I inherited a Lithium battery powered weed eater, not sure how old the unit was but for giggles I charged the batteries, wow that was two years ago and they still preform well no telling when he bought it.

One thought about the " special " chargers, we put these in a scoot that has ran a sealed wet cell / AGM ect battery and the charge just fine so why the need for a special charger?

Just for info. I talked to a Battery Tender rep and she said the Battery Tender Jr. will work on these batteries. I picked mine up at O'Reilly auto parts here in town.

Dale I'll be using a regular battery tender and odd's on it will preform just like the Jr. Think about it like it was said the S'Wings came before the Lithium batteries and they built the batteries for the S'wings charging system.

This may help with the fire fear of Lithium batteries, I have 4 now soon to be 5 with 0 problems. Remember we are using just the battery but not all the rest of what's found in an operating system.


Samsung was forced to issue a global recall of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphone after faulty components caused some models of the phone to set on fire. The fires sent at least one person to hospital and caused airlines to issue bans on the devices.

oldwingguy I agree. The only reason I got the Jr. was because it was about 1/2 the price of the regular and I didn't have the cash on hand for it.

oldwingguy, sorry for the slowwww response. Well its been about a month and my scoot hasn't burn up in a glorious lithium flame yet. From reading, it looks like you just have to be carefule when chaging the thing and don't let it sit chaging forever on a trickle down or something. Although certain types of tenders are ok. But so far i like the new battery.

That's true of most batteries, I have one trickle charger that I seldom use and when I do it's on a timer the rest are auto shut down or Battery Tender type.

From my understanding of Lithiums, an old fashioned, straight-forward type charger is fine. But not a modern 'pulsating-recovery-mode' type of charger.

Mine has been on my KLV1000/V-Strom1000 for months now without being used while I rebuild parts of the bike. I did fire it up about a month ago just to move it a few yards and it was very eager to turnover the engine. I've never connected a charger to it since it came in the post. A full charge was indicated then, and still is now.

I hope to have the bike back on the road in a couple of weeks, so I'm hoping the battery will still have power to kick it into life after such a long 'rest'.

From my understanding of Lithiums, an old fashioned, straight-forward type charger is fine.<<>> which no doubt is why the S'Wing charging system works well with them. If spring decides to return I'ff fire up mine with the new battery.

Thought i would log in again and share my experience with a lithium Battery. Its been slightly over 3 years since i put an MMG#4 lithium Ion Battery in my bike and it is simply the best thing ever. Its WAY lighter, has WAY more cold cranking amps and is less expensive than the ones that come with the bike. I have never had to charge it and have never had it not start, ever after it sitting in cold winter for 5 months. Highly suggest it.

Well it's 2020 now and my Lithium is doing fine so I'm headed for 4 years, once a month until it goes on float with the Battery Tender. I have one for a weed eater that's over 8 years old but last year I noticed it wasn't lasting as long when running the weed eater.

There are many types of Lithium batteries. Cell phone ones are mostly the problem with overheating and fires. Lithium IRON are much safer and bike batteries are these type. Cells short and battery gets hot fast. They are great starting batteries as long it's not really cold. Colder than most would ride anyway.

Thanks for the feedback! It helps to hear from those that have actually tried out new technology so the rest of us can learn!

Just a quick update to my 2016 post near the top of this page.
The Battery Tender Jr. charger stops charging once the battery is charged so no worry about over charging.
Here's a link for the charger: https://www.batterytender.com/Battery-Tender-Junior-12V-0-75A

Dale most all my chargers have the go to float or shut off once charged, only my old Sears from wayyyyyyyyyyy back doesn't shut down.