So as some of you know I bought the EarthX lithium iron phosphate (LiFeP04 ) battery recently and there was some interest in my evaluation of it once I had time to ride with it in for a bit, mainly in hot start situations.
Well I took Marilyn out to stretch her legs over the past few days as the weather here in Northeast Florida was absolutely beautiful, 86° and no rain (eat your heart out Scott (my polish Brother)).
Although it was not extremely hot the way it gets in the middle of summer here I am still glad to report that after stopping for gas 2-3 times on both days the bike never once hesitated to start, you can just breathe on the starter switch and she roars to life.
I will keep you all posted how she does this summer in the 100°+ temps but I don't forsee this being an issue.
For those of you who may have missed my posts in the other thread about "what replacement battery did you buy" here is the link and info:
ETX36C - EarthX Motorsports
This is the biggest (cranking amp) baddest battery that I could find as a direct replacement battery for our bikes.
It is physically the same size as our stock battery but puts out almost 3x the cranking amps and also has 36AH rating vs our stock 11.4AH battery.They also sell a direct replacement size comparable to our stock CCA and a mid grade that has a bit more CCA than the one previously mentioned and they are a lil bit cheaper but I figured if your gonna go you may as well go all out and get the big one and not worry about hot starts ever again.
It also has its own built in BMS (battery management system) so there is no special charger needed as with other LiFePO4 batteries. You can maintain it off of any lead acid battery maintainer as long as it doesn't have a desulfation mode. But in reality if you are riding on a somewhat regular basis there is no need for a maintainer because with the built in BMS it self regulates the charge from the bikes alternator and balances all the cells within the battery. And if you are storing the bike for the winter just disconnect the battery from the bike as these batteries don't have the high self discharge rate like lead acid batteries do. The company claims a 10% voltage loss over a 1 year period when there is no parasitic drain (such as our clock on our bikes) so on a fully charged battery (13.4v) you would only lose 1.34 volts in a year so you would still have 12 volts when you go to start the bike a year later.
It is also ALOT lighter, weighing in at only 3.5lbs compared to our lead acid AGM type batteries which are in the 10-12lb range.
It comes with a full 2 year warranty for manufacturers defects. If your battery craps out within 2 years they will send you a brand new 1 for free. Its not a prorated warranty like most manufacturers offer. And they claim that this battery should last approximately 8 years since the BMS keeps the cells balanced for good battery health.
The BMS also has overcharge protection so if your rectifier/regulator goes bad and lets the alternator overcharge the battery will shut off the power coming in.
It also has low voltage protection so if you forget your key on and your headlight runs your battery down it will shut the power off (at a certain voltage) coming out of the battery to keep the battery from entering a fatally low charge (if you kill a LiFePO4 battery just once it is junk and not recoverable) its kinda like flipping a circuit breaker.
I know this is kind of a long post but here is the best part in my opinion.
Its made in the U. S. A.
Is it a little on the pricey side? Yes
Does it make me feel better knowing that some poor working class guy like me was able to make a paycheck by building this battery here in the good ole USA? Abso-freakin-lutely
Is it worth the money? I would say yes because it is very annoying when you stop for gas and everyone wants to come over and talk to you about your beautiful gorgeous sexy bike and ask 1.7 million questions about it and then when you go to start it and CLUNK it won't start so you have to put it in gear and roll it backwards to get the engine off the compression stroke so the starter has enough gumption to turn the engine over. With this battery (so far) that is no longer an issue.
And lets be honest, we spend $8-k$14k for these bikes, are we really gonna miss a meal over a $350 battery? Why skimp on something that important?
Well I took Marilyn out to stretch her legs over the past few days as the weather here in Northeast Florida was absolutely beautiful, 86° and no rain (eat your heart out Scott (my polish Brother)).
Although it was not extremely hot the way it gets in the middle of summer here I am still glad to report that after stopping for gas 2-3 times on both days the bike never once hesitated to start, you can just breathe on the starter switch and she roars to life.
I will keep you all posted how she does this summer in the 100°+ temps but I don't forsee this being an issue.
For those of you who may have missed my posts in the other thread about "what replacement battery did you buy" here is the link and info:
ETX36C - EarthX Motorsports
This is the biggest (cranking amp) baddest battery that I could find as a direct replacement battery for our bikes.
It is physically the same size as our stock battery but puts out almost 3x the cranking amps and also has 36AH rating vs our stock 11.4AH battery.They also sell a direct replacement size comparable to our stock CCA and a mid grade that has a bit more CCA than the one previously mentioned and they are a lil bit cheaper but I figured if your gonna go you may as well go all out and get the big one and not worry about hot starts ever again.
It also has its own built in BMS (battery management system) so there is no special charger needed as with other LiFePO4 batteries. You can maintain it off of any lead acid battery maintainer as long as it doesn't have a desulfation mode. But in reality if you are riding on a somewhat regular basis there is no need for a maintainer because with the built in BMS it self regulates the charge from the bikes alternator and balances all the cells within the battery. And if you are storing the bike for the winter just disconnect the battery from the bike as these batteries don't have the high self discharge rate like lead acid batteries do. The company claims a 10% voltage loss over a 1 year period when there is no parasitic drain (such as our clock on our bikes) so on a fully charged battery (13.4v) you would only lose 1.34 volts in a year so you would still have 12 volts when you go to start the bike a year later.
It is also ALOT lighter, weighing in at only 3.5lbs compared to our lead acid AGM type batteries which are in the 10-12lb range.
It comes with a full 2 year warranty for manufacturers defects. If your battery craps out within 2 years they will send you a brand new 1 for free. Its not a prorated warranty like most manufacturers offer. And they claim that this battery should last approximately 8 years since the BMS keeps the cells balanced for good battery health.
The BMS also has overcharge protection so if your rectifier/regulator goes bad and lets the alternator overcharge the battery will shut off the power coming in.
It also has low voltage protection so if you forget your key on and your headlight runs your battery down it will shut the power off (at a certain voltage) coming out of the battery to keep the battery from entering a fatally low charge (if you kill a LiFePO4 battery just once it is junk and not recoverable) its kinda like flipping a circuit breaker.
I know this is kind of a long post but here is the best part in my opinion.
Its made in the U. S. A.
Is it a little on the pricey side? Yes
Does it make me feel better knowing that some poor working class guy like me was able to make a paycheck by building this battery here in the good ole USA? Abso-freakin-lutely
Is it worth the money? I would say yes because it is very annoying when you stop for gas and everyone wants to come over and talk to you about your beautiful gorgeous sexy bike and ask 1.7 million questions about it and then when you go to start it and CLUNK it won't start so you have to put it in gear and roll it backwards to get the engine off the compression stroke so the starter has enough gumption to turn the engine over. With this battery (so far) that is no longer an issue.
And lets be honest, we spend $8-k$14k for these bikes, are we really gonna miss a meal over a $350 battery? Why skimp on something that important?