Report about your Shorai Lithium Battery in your Tenere

[creggur]

Shorai install continued:

After unclipping the cool little rubber strap from the underside of the battery it slid right out. Per the Shorai instruction sheet I used the nifty foamy things that came in the Shorai box to match the dimensions of the Shorai battery to the OE battery. Width and depth were the same, but the Shorai has some vertical challenges so I just stacked the foam under the Shorai one piece at a time until the batteries were the same height. Here are some dimension and weight comparison pics:

That's a weight savings of 5.6 pounds, or nearly a 1% reduction in overall bike weight!

Okay - five minutes or so into this project it's time for a short break before jumping into the real challenge of installing the new battery.

 

[creggur]

Shorai install continued...

Now, I needed to get the foam pieces and peel the white wax-papery stuff off to expose the sticky stuff on the gray part so I could stick it to the battery box to ensure a snug fit for the Shorai. I ended up using three pieces, and the cool part is the foam stuff is already cut to the dimensions of the battery so it's a peel-and-stick operation:

The next step is to remove the amber plastic from the Shorai's terminals. This is where you want to start being very careful not to short the exposed terminals in any way. There are a number of warnings about how fast these batteries will discharge creating a very real fire/explosion hazard and a really powerful arc welder. Probably good for someone like Jaxon to make an emergency frame repair in the field...not so good for someone like me sitting in my garage:

Next I retrieved the little baggy of screws and washers and selected two of each for the install:

Once I strapped the Shorai in and connected the positive terminal, I noticed an issue with the negative terminal. The bend in the battery cable terminal kept the cool little holes from lining up properly. These things never go as smoothly as the instructions suggest they will, and this could potentially be my Waterloo. What to do?
Adapt and overcome, Craig...adapt and overcome dammit!

After 20 seconds or so I came up with an idea. The stuff I needed to fix this problem were hanging on a pegboard not three feet away the entire time:

After carefully bending the negative terminal thing on the battery cable I was able to get the little holes lined up so the screw would pass through properly. SUCCESS!

 

[creggur]

Shorai install continued....

Before jiggling the plastic cover back onto the right side of the bike I wanted to conduct a thorough test to ensure everything was working properly. I turned the key on.....and everything worked. Gotta reset that damn clock, though - these things never go as smoothly as the instructions say...

Fortunately it wasn't too long ago I'd reset the clock for daylight savings time so I remembered the complex series of button punches to get the clock reset to the proper time. Whew! Saved me the hassle of remembering my Yamaha login to access the online owners manual and find those instructions. With password resets and such this had the potential of doubling the time of the entire project.

Next was the big test - would the bike start? Or was I about to arc weld the bike to the workbench in my garage? Here goes nothing!

The bike fired right up, turning over much, much quicker than it was with my weakening OE battery. All good.

The only thing left was to reinstall that plastic cover, and slap one of the cool stickers on the tool box.

Nothing like completing a project, especially when it requires some creative solutions to overcome issues you run into during the project. Very, very satisfying.

 

[snakebitten]

I'm sure you missed something.
There has to be more to it than that.

You are amazing.

By the way, it's a good thing you don't live where there are REAL winters.

 

[creggur]

I'm sure you missed something.
There has to be more to it than that.

You are amazing.

By the way, it's a good thing you don't live where there are REAL winters.

What are you talking about, "real winters"? It's going down to 47 here tonight, and with the humidity, it's a "wet cold". Brrrrr...

 

[avc8130]

So how much does all of that foam weigh... ::024:: ::025::

 

[creggur]

The remaining nine pieces of foam weigh exactly 0.0 pounds. Since I used only three it would probably put the foam weight in the negative... Bonus weight reduction! No?

 

[Karson]

Good write-up creggur! I swapped my LFX18 in for an LFX19 and William over at Shorai is really good to work with. New LFX19 was enroute before I even had mine out of the bike. Not entirely convinced the little extra oomph will be enough in "iowa cold", even when stored in my attached garage. But, we'll see.

The price point for Shorai LiFePO4 being so close to the stocker's Yuasa is what helped make the decision to try these out. Although, if folks reading are a regular sub 20-25F degree riders, I'd tell you to stick with AGM's. Either that or go with a 36 AH (pb/eq) LiFePO4 battery, which in our case I think you'd have to go with an EarthX to fit in the S10's battery compartment and spend ~$200 more ($350 for the etx36c model).

Glad to see threads like this pop up - helps with vetting on whether or not these are ready for prime time in the S10's

These big coffee can twins are not the easiest on batteries at startup.

 

[creggur]

Good write-up creggur! I swapped my LFX18 in for an LFX19 and William over at Shorai is really good to work with. New LFX19 was enroute before I even had mine out of the bike. Not entirely convinced the little extra oomph will be enough in "iowa cold", even when stored in my attached garage. But, we'll see.

The price point for Shorai LiFePO4 being so close to the stocker's Yuasa is what helped make the decision to try these out. Although, if folks reading are a regular sub 20-25F degree riders, I'd tell you to stick with AGM's. Either that or go with a 36 AH (pb/eq) LiFePO4 battery, which in our case I think you'd have to go with an EarthX to fit in the S10's battery compartment and spend ~$200 more ($350 for the etx36c model).

Glad to see threads like this pop up - helps with vetting on whether or not these are ready for prime time in the S10's

These big coffee can twins are not the easiest on batteries at startup.

Have you had issues with cold weather starts, Karson?

Not really an issue for me as we've likely seen the coldest weather we'll see already this year - (one day with a high of 39 and a low of 25) - you northerners and your damn Polar Vortexes, or vortices, or whatever-the-hell-the-plural-of-vortex is...

Just curious for those it may affect.

My biggest concern is summer storage when the bike is hanging out in the garage most of the week. I'll find out this summer how the heat affects it, but so-far-so-good...

 

[creggur]

Post First-Ride Report (and Scotch)

Well, the Shorai has successfully started the bike four times, which is likely three more than the OE battery had left in it. Calling this one a short-term "Win" - time will tell on the long-term results.

Cheers!

 

[snakebitten]

Glenlivet?

 

[creggur]

Glenlivet?

Sometimes....absolutely.

This was The Macallan...a good friend on occasion.

 

[Karson]

Have you had issues with cold weather starts, Karson?

Not really an issue for me as we've likely seen the coldest weather we'll see already this year - (one day with a high of 39 and a low of 25) - you northerners and your damn Polar Vortexes, or vortices, or whatever-the-hell-the-plural-of-vortex is...

Just curious for those it may affect.

My biggest concern is summer storage when the bike is hanging out in the garage most of the week. I'll find out this summer how the heat affects it, but so-far-so-good...

Back in Jan 2013 when I ordered mine, I really didn't start riding until April so I missed thoroughly testing its cold weather performance. In fact, the LFX18 was the duration series battery back then, and ironically enough it's now the standard model and the LFX19 is "heavy duty" one. Shows Shorai is always actively improving their product and even though I was technically 4 days outside the 1 year warranty, I simply paid $10 for the new duration one and shipped my old LFX18 back.

Some various testing I've read shows that LiFePO4 cells lose about half their amperage when temps dip below ~15*. Something to think about and plan accordingly if you're ever on an arctic endeavor, I suppose.

At any rate, I was pumping nearly 150W for 3 minutes from the battery in my attempt at the cold start procedure these batteries need in my garage. Ambient temps were probably ~20F in there. The kicker is it sat without a tender/smart charger for close to a month prior to me trying.

I'm honestly not worried about it in the long run, if I was, I'd be back to an AGM.

I can't dump $350 into an earthx 36AH (pb/eq) where I'd be 110% confident in the battery's capacity at low temps. Once the salt starts going away for the year and I pick up daily riding again, I'll be sure to vet whether or not back to back days of starting in cold weather works better. I imagine it will, my month w/o riding any relevant distances test was probably setting myself up for failure, regardless.

As to issues in higher temps for ya, as long as it's not sitting in direct sunlight at Sahara desert temps for a month or more at a time, you'll be A-OK. These only discharge at about 3%/month.

I'm gonna keep on keepin' on

 

[snakebitten]

Truth is, cold starting worry only applies to those who are someplace you can ride when it's cold.

Lots of guys are in places much colder, way colder, so colder that you don't ride. For weeks\months.
These guys don't have to worry about the battery letting them down. They aren't going anywhere.

I suppose these guys just have to keep their batteries trickle charged? Just like anything that is in storage.

 

[Karson]

Truth is, cold starting worry only applies to those who are someplace you can ride when it's cold.

Lots of guys are in places much colder, way colder, so colder that you don't ride. For weeks\months.
These guys don't have to worry about the battery letting them down. They aren't going anywhere.

I suppose these guys just have to keep their batteries trickle charged? Just like anything that is in storage.

Well said! I was going to say earlier that if I'm in a place camping where it's so cold my battery is a liability, I've failed at so many other aspects of the trip. Thirty degree nights are about my lowest threshold for moto-camping where I'd be at any risk of encountering a true cold battery related hard start.

I'd hope I had the commonsense to be at a cozy motel drinking some of that hooch creggur's picturing...a little makers on the rocks is sure to solve any problems one could have

 

[creggur]

...a little makers on the rocks is sure to solve any problems one could have

That's worked for me over the years...

 

[coastie]

Installed mine today. It took about 20 minutes with AltRider CrashBars and Unboxing. I did not even mess around trying to get the old battery out with the crash bars tightened down. I removed the fasteners on the battery side and loosened up both of the front bolts, and that gave me more than enough room to slide the battery out the back side. Slid the new battery in and connected it. There are instruction regarding cold weather starting, for those of you who live in frozen hell for many months. They say just to turn ignition on with headlights and let the battery warm up a minute or so, then hit the starter. So cold weather should not really be a reason for not purchasing. Anyway since I know most of us can't read very well and like to look at pictures, here you go.

 

[Karson]

You didn't mention not having to fumble with nuts for the battery bolts! The threaded terminals come in handy, just don't get too tough and cross thread 'em.

 

[avc8130]

There are instruction regarding cold weather starting, for those of you who live in frozen hell for many months. They say just to turn ignition on with headlights and let the battery warm up a minute or so, then hit the starter. So cold weather should not really be a reason for not purchasing.

...except the Tenere headlights don't come on until the motor is running...
ac

 

[Karson]

...except the Tenere headlights don't come on until the motor is running...
ac

Heated gear, accessory lights, or any switched moderate current draw works fine, too.