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Monday, August 22, 2011

Shorai batteries

My C5 appears to have a finicky starter relay. Anything less than 13V and it will not engage. Since the US version of the C5 does not have a kickstarter, that means I cannot start it. Due to travel and constant rain in Louisiana in the summer, I am not riding nearly as frequently as I want. That means the Enfield sits there for long periods of time and eventually the battery voltage diminishes enough that it won't start. I thought I would solve the problem with a Battery Tender, but bafllingly, it failed to work. My theory is that it stops charging at 13V and that is not enough to engage the starter relay. I confirmed this by charging the battery with a regular battery charger instead of the Battery Tender and had no problem starting.

Then I read about Shorai batteries. These are extreme-rare lithium iron prismatic cell batteries (chemistry LiFePO4). These batteries are incredibly small and light (1.6 pounds) and claim to keep their charge for over a year. They come with a bunch of self adhesive rubber pads so you can fit it snugly in the battery box (in the right in the picture, where I also compare it with the stock Enfield battery). They are not cheap (MSRP $153). But it seems to be working as a charm. It was also nice to see Royal Enfield in the pull down menu of their website as one of the options!

3 comments:

  1. Their FAQ is very interesting. They are about 4.5 pounds lighter than standard and can be mounted in any position, since they don't contain liquid. Seems like this might be good for folks who want to relocate their batteries. They recommend against using a tender. And the knock that a lithium battery won't be a powerful in the cold shouldn't apply since the first cranking attempt warms the battery and subsequent tries warm it more. Interesting.

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  2. Any info if it is available in India ?

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  3. Any information if it is available in India?

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