Lithium battery safety reminder

[TX-SANDMAN]

I have always been nervous about batteries under the seat like wr450f and crf450x.... sure do like the stock drz400s battery location.

[74jimbo]

What seems to be skipped here, is the op grossly over discharged it, knew it was bad, and continued to use it. Any battery subject to that abuse could have have a near same result.

Lithium batteries (in all the different chemistries available now) are pretty safe.

Lead acid for me though, haha....

Oh, and I build cars, with lithium batteries

[Savage422]

5 minutes ago, 74jimbo said:

What seems to be skipped here, is the op grossly over discharged it, knew it was bad, and continued to use it. Any battery subject to that abuse could have have a near same result.

Lithium batteries (in all the different chemistries available now) are pretty safe.

Lead acid for me though, haha....

Oh, and I build cars, with lithium batteries

Exactly. 

The point was that I discharged it beyond what was safe. For those that don't know lithium batteries, that is when they are dangerous.  Due to my own fault, I forgot to remove it when I was working on my bike and luckily I only ended up having to clean up some mess. It could have been much worse. 

I use lithium batteries in all kinds of stuff including cars. This was just a problem that could have been avoided. A normal battery run too low ( which everyone does) isn't dangerous.  

Edited February 18, 2018 by Savage422

[74jimbo]

Even a regular battery over discharged and then rapidly charged can have pretty violent results

[Beta300REcat]

8 hours ago, zig06 said:

Nothing personal (really) but your battery is a LiFePo4 = Lithium (Li) Iron (Fe) Phosphate (Po4). 

Thanks. ?

[jjktmrider]

I've had a 8cell Ballistic(gen2) for 4years now , give or take a few months can't remember the exact date , it's still going strong as is the second one I got about 8-10months later , the third one, the first gen3LiFe-PO4, was fine till I left a key on and completely discharged it ,a new Lithium specific charger seemingly has fixed it after a couple weeks but I don't trust it as you have found out . My fourth is now happily cranking my 525KTM over . I also have a Shorai and BT-240 now , thus far the only one that seems to be weaker than I think it should be is the Shorai in my TE510 , doesn't crank it over like the Ballistic that was in there till I moved it to my LTR, where I left the key on.

 

It's a good reminder to be careful with these batteries , I had to ride my ltr home after it had been drained dead so it could have burnt down in a similar fashion , but was then taken out and has been sitting on the charger since, took about a month and the indicator lights have finally settled on all green where-as before they had been showing continued testing-saving-balancing-testing-saving-charging-holding-ect..ect...

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Edited February 18, 2018 by jjktmrider

[Savage422]

10 minutes ago, jjktmrider said:

I've had a 8cell Ballistic(gen2) for 4years now , give or take a few months can't remember the exact date , it's still going strong as is the second one I got about 8-10months later , the third one, the first gen3LiFe-PO4, was fine till I left a key on and completely discharged it ,a new Lithium specific charger seemingly has fixed it after a couple weeks but I don't trust it as you have found out .

Brings up a good point that I have been thinking about.

My standard battery is 120cca. The 4 cell mini ballistic is 135cca. Is there any really benefit of me going to the larger size? I'm still running it under my seat where it was before so I need the smaller size. Even that crappy moty 4 cell turned my bike over fine when it worked. 

[jjktmrider]

If it cranks fine and your not riding in colder weather and/or have higher compression with no decomp,  the bigger size only benefits a little bit of faster cranking speed(which lets it start just a little bit faster) with a bit more extra reserve capacity for times of a flooded engine or some issue that requires a bunch more cranking to get started. For me up here I generally go bigger for the cold weather and having that extra reserve for heated gear ect....

That first Ballistic paid for itself in the one bikes high comp motor and no decomp system that all my normal batteries couldn't get it to turn one revolution past the first compression stroke . It's built beyond what the stock carbs can handle with air velocity going through the little feeder passages for the pilot jet and choke so in wet weather/damp roads/melting snow the carb freezes up and  several times I've had it shut down too far from home to push so I waited, cranked, waited, cranked, ect... that battery cranked for way,way, beyond any lead acid one could and was always able to go long enough till the airway thawed and I could get it started and make it home .

 

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Edited February 18, 2018 by jjktmrider

[FormerBaller321]

I was the guy that bought a 2x2 QD from MOTY and was never responded to, currently in a claim with PP. I guess it’s good that they haven’t answered, yikes. I’m just going to keep with the stocker and use the free power mod after hearing these horror stories with Li Batteries.

[Erik Marquez]

9 hours ago, Savage422 said:

Brings up a good point that I have been thinking about.

My standard battery is 120cca. The 4 cell mini ballistic is 135cca. Is there any really benefit of me going to the larger size? I'm still running it under my seat where it was before so I need the smaller size. Even that crappy moty 4 cell turned my bike over fine when it worked. 

Li Ion batteries are not rated the same, you can not compare CCA of a lead acid to a Li Ion as there is no such rating, even if some idiot at a battery marketing division put one in the ad....its BS...

[kcposty]

Latest issue of dirt bike has an add for antigravity batteries that has a built in jump start feature as well as cell balancing, over discharge and thermal protection. Interesting

[habs]

Had a deep charge 800 marine crank amps lead acid battery explode 3 feet from me , no fire , just explosion , I always complain that I never win at loteries, i can’t believe how lucky I was this time , couple off plastic peices hit me in the forehead , no major injuries, no acid burns , looks like all batteries need some respect . 

[shuswap1]

12 hours ago, habs said:

Had a deep charge 800 marine crank amps lead acid battery explode 3 feet from me , no fire , just explosion , I always complain that I never win at loteries, i can’t believe how lucky I was this time , couple off plastic peices hit me in the forehead , no major injuries, no acid burns , looks like all batteries need some respect . 

What was the cause?

[habs]

4 hours ago, shuswap1 said:

What was the cause?

Probably me . I was changing the water pump on a floor scrubber , this thing runs on 2 x 12v bat connected in series to produce 24 v , had one battery out for more room to work . After reconnecting I was missing 1 nut to secure the cable from 1 positive pole to a neg on the sec battery , so I simply decided put the ring terminal over the pole without the nut , it was only for a couple off seconds to test   The pump , after switching on , nothing happened for 2 sec and just as I was getting my head closer to the battery to check on wire , boom . The half closed hood saved me from acid but there was not a lot of spray , mostly flying plastic that bounced before hitting me . Still could have lost a eye or both . Take note I’m no mechanic or battery expert and was told that the wire should have melted or caught on fire , for some reason the battery exploded . I had 1 new battery connected to 4 year old end off life one , it’s the old one that exploded. Wow , I need a drink now , took all my energy to right this in English . Be safe 

 

 

[shuswap1]

Merci Beaucoup, Mon Ami!

Edited February 19, 2018 by shuswap1

[nishi]

Another reason why I still prefer a carb over F.I.

[Beta300REcat]

7 hours ago, nishi said:

Another reason why I still prefer a carb over F.I.

???

[nishi]

^^ No battery = no efi= no starter = stranded.....

[74jimbo]

I have a carb, and a battery, and a starter.......

?????

[jjktmrider]

4 hours ago, nishi said:

^^ No battery = no efi= no starter = stranded.....

Do you know how many bikes run off their battery not the stator so no battery=stranded also , not efi dependent . Even those that run off the stator , with a bad/shorted battery they won't run either including the drz .

 

 

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