Lightweight lithium battery?

Has anyone tried a lithium iron phosphate battery (LiFePO4) on their bike? They are advertised as direct replacements for the OE battery, and much lighter so for ~£130 you save around 4kg in weight. Also supposedly work OK with standard battery optimisers. The technology is more robust than laptop type Li-on batteries so hopefully they won't burst into flame! So apart from the price they look quite tempting. The only downside is the lower amp-hour rating so not good if you leave your bike standing for ages with an alarm and no Optimate as it knackers them. Same goes for a standard battery to be fair.

[tigersaw]

There was a complete thread with good debate about it the other week, then one morning it had just vanished off the face of the inter sv650web

I did a search and couldn't find anything - it must be a conspiracy to stop us buying them, "they" are watching us I tell you, damn those Ducati riders!

[tigersaw]

Originally Posted by tim8061

I did a search and couldn't find anything - it must be a conspiracy to stop us buying them, "they" are watching us I tell you, damn those Ducati riders!

I can provide a link, but it wont help, its been deleted. Even when I look at my history its been deleted from there.
Not sure what happened to offend the mods.
However, the (or should I say my) rough conclusions were: The batteries are too fragile. Let them go flat and they are foobar.
They are too expensive. A faulty reg/rec will destroy it very quickly.
Plus points were the way in which the power is delivered when it comes to prolonged or repeated cranking.

[yorkie_chris]

I saw that thread, could not decide if guy was asking about them or selling them.

If you want to see details there is a good thread on svrider, search for maviryk battery

[TamSV]

That guy was pretending to ask about them but was, in fact, advertising his own products. I think he got called on it, followed by thread deletion. It's a shame the rest of the discussion was lost.

[andrewsmith]

Those batteries were good!

Shame it gone as it has the info i was wanting to have a look at in the New Year, was there

[Sid Squid]

They have no benefit for a bike that's being used, and if you're not using it you need to keep a lithium iron phosphate battery charged, so... how is this better than needing keeping a lead acid battery charged?

And as for better cranking, well if you need the extra cranking power that a lithium iron phosphate battery might, repeat; might, give then wouldn't it be better just to fix the bike so it starts properly? If the bike doesn't start right then 130 notes on a battery isn't going to help.

[SoulKiss]

Originally Posted by Sid Squid

They have no benefit for a bike that's being used, and if you're not using it you need to keep a lithium iron phosphate battery charged, so... how is this better than needing keeping a lead acid battery charged?

And as for better cranking, well if you need the extra cranking power that a lithium iron phosphate battery might, repeat; might, give then wouldn't it be better just to fix the bike so it starts properly? If the bike doesn't start right then 130 notes on a battery isn't going to help.

BUT ITS 4 KG LIGHTER !!!

£130 in gym fees isn't going to shift that many pies !!!

HTH

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by Sid Squid

They have no benefit for a bike that's being used, and if you're not using it you need to keep a lithium iron phosphate battery charged, so... how is this better than needing keeping a lead acid battery charged?

And as for better cranking, well if you need the extra cranking power that a lithium iron phosphate battery might, repeat; might, give then wouldn't it be better just to fix the bike so it starts properly? If the bike doesn't start right then 130 notes on a battery isn't going to help.

They apparently hold charge a bit better, but that makes no odds, the selling point is the weight reduction.

I wouldn't bother unless I was building something particularly special. For something meant for the track it would be a definite.