Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Matt on April 6, 2011 at 10:14am

I would be curious to know where you found one for $150? Most of the 12V/18+Ah batteries I am finding cost more, sometimes up to twice as much. 

 

This is the closest I could find. Any thoughts about this one?

 

http://www.nicecycle.com/Shorai-Motorcycle-Battery-p/lfx18a1-bs12.htm

Permalink Reply by Todd Allen on April 6, 2011 at 1:43pm

If the Shorai battery uses high quality cells then that would be a good price.  If the battery spec'd 400+ CCA then one would have high confidence it had high end cells.  As it is only 210 CCA they might not be very good.  However, the current may not be limited by the cells but rather by the internal electronics in the battery.

Permalink Reply by Matt on April 6, 2011 at 7:34pm

No Shorai batteries to be had at present.

 

http://blog.shoraipower.com/shorainews/production-delay-announcement/

 

Wednesday, 23 March 2011

Production Delay Announcement

Shorai LFX have gotten tremendous reviews from our customers who have used them, and our initial sales were much higher than expected. We are currently out of stock. We have decided to upgrade the LFX batteries, including tougher terminals which are 50% thicker and do cell revisions for even better performance at high and low temperatures. But we are facing a substantial delay due to the new tooling required, and so it is likely that we not be re-stocked with LFX again until about the last week of April 2011.
We will post an announcement a few weeks before the next shipment arrives, and will re-enable the “Buy” buttons on the Shorai website then.

We apologize for the delay. In the long run, we believe that continuing to improve the best powersports battery can only be a good thing for all. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Shorai Inc.

Permalink Reply by Matt on April 7, 2011 at 10:08am

These Shorai batteries are really interesting and I would be interested to know what the two of you (and anyone else who might be lurking about) have to say about what I have found.

 

http://www.shoraipower.com/t-faq.aspx?

 

The entire FAQ is interesting reading, even for a novice such as myself, but specifically, Todd, regarding your comment about CCAs:

 

"At actual cranking currents - which are always well below CCA, LFX deliver up to two volts more than an equivalent-CCA-rated lead acid battery. Current alone won't start anything. It is the current multiplied by voltage that does the work (watts). In reality, this means that you can multiply the LFX CCA rating by 1.5x to compare to a Lead Acid battery CCA. For example, our 270A CCA LFX18 series provides about the same cranking voltage as a 405A-CCA-rated lead acid battery (from a quality lead-acid maker; some CCA specs we've tested on the cheapest lead acid seemed to be plucked from thin air)."

 

I looked for an independent review (at least I hope so?) and these appear to be glowing.

 

http://www.triumphrat.net/speed-triple-forum/161257-shorai-life-bat...

http://www.batterystuff.com/knowledge-base/index.php?action=article...

 

In the FAQ they also discuss their charger, which is not yet for sale and does not have a price. I recall in an earlier post Todd discussed batteries that would discharge over time and die sooner than sealed lead-acid. On the surface this appears to address that with a "storage" mode, but as usual I will defer to the expertise of the two of you.

 

While I feel it is finally time to build a new system, and I am hesitant to trust their battery will become available when they say it will, it is certainly tempting to wait.

Permalink Reply by Spencer "Thunderball" Thayer! on May 5, 2011 at 9:52am

I too really want to know how these Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries perform. I'll ask Todd about it next time I see him in person.