Lithium Battery problem

[Quent]

Hi all, so this is a conundrum. Having read so much positive information about lithium batteries i went and bought one and fitted it. Within 5 miles of riding the dashboard starts having a hissy fit, flickering and warning lights for abs and tc flashing which is a bit unnerving to say the least. I thought, oh sh#t, loose connection so stopped and checked the battery. All OK, so headed home and nearly stripped the bike completely looking for a bad connection. Found nothing obvious and took it for a test ride and all seemed OK for a few miles then it started again!!! I wondered if the voltage regulator had gone tits up, so put the voltage on the nav screen. I noticed that the voltage would spike at 16 to 17 volts So found the reason for the dashboard hissyfits. As I did not have a spare regulator to hand I thought I would put the regular Yuasa battery back on to see what happened and low and behold all is well again with the regulator at a steady 14.7 volts. So it seems the lithium battery was upsetting everything which is disappointing!!! anybody have similar experience?

[BobT]

Ran a Lithium on my 2017 Ducati since it was nearly new with no problems at all. The voltage regulator regulates the voltage and does not know what type of battery is fitted if you don't tell it.

[Winger]

I run 5 bikes with lithium batteries and never had the slightest problem in fact the one I have on an XT660X is either 7 or 8 years old...that’s the good news.

The one glitch i’ve Had was on an old Tiger 955, put a lithium battery in it and the dam thing stopped on the M6, got mates to pick me up in a van got home for much head scratching...suddenly realise i’d Put an aftermarket Reg/Rec on by a company called Electrex down near Oxford, phoned them up and they had a hissy fit  , have a look on their website and in red letters now not for use with lithium.

So if your bike is original i’d Be checking the battery cuz my bike list is wide and various and they are all good, even the Tiger will be cuz i’ve Just changed the reg/rec.

[Quent]

Bike is completely original and I suspect faulty battery. Will be sending it back for warranty. 4000 mile old bike running perfectly until lithium battery installed. Removed lithium battery and bike running perfectly again.

[Crosshairs]

Originally Posted by Quent

Hi all, so this is a conundrum. Having read so much positive information about lithium batteries i went and bought one and fitted it. Within 5 miles of riding the dashboard starts having a hissy fit, flickering and warning lights for abs and tc flashing which is a bit unnerving to say the least. I thought, oh sh#t, loose connection so stopped and checked the battery. All OK, so headed home and nearly stripped the bike completely looking for a bad connection. Found nothing obvious and took it for a test ride and all seemed OK for a few miles then it started again!!! I wondered if the voltage regulator had gone tits up, so put the voltage on the nav screen. I noticed that the voltage would spike at 16 to 17 volts So found the reason for the dashboard hissyfits. As I did not have a spare regulator to hand I thought I would put the regular Yuasa battery back on to see what happened and low and behold all is well again with the regulator at a steady 14.7 volts. So it seems the lithium battery was upsetting everything which is disappointing!!! anybody have similar experience?

Have one fitted on mine since I brought it home last year....... 23,000 miles later and not a single problem

[garyculb]

Lithium Battery comes on the 2021 XR Sport. No issues!!

Best,

Doc

[orbits]

At the end of the day you can only go with the evidence you’ve got; lithium giving problems, AGM/LA not.

I bought the recommended Shido and it was not a convincing start, so I stuck a new Yuasa AGM in and it was like a new bike, so there are occasional issues I guess.

Bit of info here about RR’s. I’ve never had cause to get familiar the XR charging system, but fig 2 (IF applicable to XR) highlights a case where over regulation is possible based on bad connections.

https://www.electrosport.com/pages/technical-resources-how-motorcycle-charging-system-works

[BobT]

Ignore any talk of the Reg/Rec as BMW fit a Lithium as an option and use the same Reg/Rec for all battery types. The Reg/Rec determines the voltage that the bike runs at and if you don't tell it, it will not know what type of battery is fitted.

[PaulS1000XR]

Originally Posted by Quent

Bike is completely original and I suspect faulty battery. Will be sending it back for warranty. 4000 mile old bike running perfectly until lithium battery installed. Removed lithium battery and bike running perfectly again.

I think you are right - may well be a defective battery - fitted a Shido Li to my Gen 1 and all was absolutely fine

[Antares]

Originally Posted by orbits

At the end of the day you can only go with the evidence you’ve got; lithium giving problems, AGM/LA not.

I bought the recommended Shido and it was not a convincing start, so I stuck a new Yuasa AGM in and it was like a new bike, so there are occasional issues I guess.

Bit of info here about RR’s. I’ve never had cause to get familiar the XR charging system, but fig 2 (IF applicable to XR) highlights a case where over regulation is possible based on bad connections.

https://www.electrosport.com/pages/technical-resources-how-motorcycle-charging-system-works

Motobatt AGM died in my kawi in under a year, over the course of the last week of it's life each time it struggled more and more to start the bike until eventually it'd need a jump, checked charging was steady 14.2V, after you turn the key off and unhook the battery, it'd be at 11.9V and in an hour (still disconnected) it'd be down to 10.7V you get bad apples everywhere.