lithium battery
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Cruiser
Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 108
Likes: 2
From: Pearland, TX
lithium battery
It looks like it is time to replace the batter in my '14 Road King CVO. I am thinking about a lithium battery. Does anyone have any experience with one of these in motorcycles? The specs look good but they are expensive. Since I am doing the battery, I am going to install larger cables too.
Road Warrior
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 1,255
Likes: 585
From: Arkansas
I don't have any experience personally, but I've got some buddies that own a motorcycle shop in Memphis. They've been in the business for many years. They built bikes and were good friends with Elvis. They sell lithium batteries and say they are great. I know they are in the business selling things but I trust their judgement. Maybe somebody will chime in with personal experience.
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 21,718
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From: Driftless Area
Don't trust them yet. Heard too much about the Chinese-made ones blowing up.
E-cigs, phones...If it decides to blow in your bike, you aren't gonna be taking it out very quickly. Very lightweight though, checked them out at a BatteriesPlus outlet. They say not to use a regular Battery Tender on a lithium battery, because a regular Tender can't read the state of charge on one of those.
E-cigs, phones...If it decides to blow in your bike, you aren't gonna be taking it out very quickly. Very lightweight though, checked them out at a BatteriesPlus outlet. They say not to use a regular Battery Tender on a lithium battery, because a regular Tender can't read the state of charge on one of those.
Last edited by RHPAW; Dec 19, 2016 at 09:53 AM.
Road Warrior
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 1,800
Likes: 414
From: Ellensburg, WA
There was a thread on here awhile back with a number of pages, it was about 50/50. Tried on on my ultra (460 cca or 520 don't remember), would not adequately turn the bike over. Now it's in the lawn mower and works great. One of the idiosyncrasies of the LI batteries, per instruction sheet, is the need to "warm" the battery by applying draw for a number of minutes (ignition full on) to achieve full power. Still wouldn't crank the ultra.
Road Warrior
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 1,817
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From: Raleigh, NC
What I don't like about the lithium batteries is that while for sure they crank the bike, they have more of a voltage drop than a regular battery while cranking. The impact of this is that voltage sensitive things can lose their settings. I see this happening all the time to a friend with a Triglide. She likes to leave her digital read on Trip A, but after a crank it always resets to the odometer because that's the default, just as if the battery was disconnected. It didn't do that before her old man put in the lithium.
Grand HDF Member
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 3,971
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From: Omaha
IMO the technology is too new to trust in a vehicle especially a vehicle that is cherished.
Power tools are fine, you're generally holding it in your hand so if there's a problem you know it, plus when it dies you can just reach for another one.
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Cruiser
Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 108
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From: Pearland, TX
Thanks for the quick answers. I thought about lithium because they are the new technology. The experience here suggests I stick with the traditional battery. At least I know what I have with one of them.
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It looks like it is time to replace the batter in my '14 Road King CVO. I am thinking about a lithium battery. Does anyone have any experience with one of these in motorcycles? The specs look good but they are expensive. Since I am doing the battery, I am going to install larger cables too.
Elite HDF Member
Joined: Mar 2014
Posts: 4,214
Likes: 661
From: Prior Lake, MN
To me the advantage of Li is light weight and size for the battery capacity- not really a big enough of a benefit in the Limited to offset the extra cost. Coming from the old school lead/acid "sport" cranking batteries that were in bikes and snowmobiles a couple decades ago- those batteries were tough for me to keep going for more than a few seasons.
With the AGM batteries they have now, and possibly benefiting from being on a tender when idle, I'll take the AGM. I got 8 years out of the AGM battery on my Ricer, and if I get that kind of life out of the battery in the Limited, I'll stick with that and give it a few more years to see how Li batteries evolve.
With the AGM batteries they have now, and possibly benefiting from being on a tender when idle, I'll take the AGM. I got 8 years out of the AGM battery on my Ricer, and if I get that kind of life out of the battery in the Limited, I'll stick with that and give it a few more years to see how Li batteries evolve.