Well, the OEM is no longer holding a full charge, so its time for replacement.

How have these been working out for y'all?

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Duc's WeeStrom Vlog

Bumpage.

BTW, going to Shorai.com, they don't list the $89 one as compatible for the DL650.

They list the LFX14A1-BS12 or LFX18A1-BS12 which are around $170 on that site, rather than $89.

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Duc's WeeStrom Vlog

I've been running one for a couple weeks now - I went for the LFX18A1-BS12, the higher capacity 18 amp hour one for the Vstrom. Weighs just over 2 pounds, is considerably smaller than the stock battery. They come with a bunch of foam to pad your battery holder so it fits properly; I used some foam and packed in other things around it such as a space blanket (Figured extra storage was a bonus).

My headlights seem brighter and it starts way quicker than with the old battery, but that's probably just due to the old battery not holding a full charge. Absolutely no complaints except price, but I only paid ~$150 on amazon. (MSRP is $187)

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I'm a Stromtrooper, and I ride on the darkside.

very interesting. . .
any downside?
should a battery tender still be used?
life expectancy ?

Shorai FAQ

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2009 DL650A
2008 Tiger 1050 ABS

webBikeWorld did a review of a couple of LFP batteries a few months ago: Shorai Motorcycle Battery vs. Ballistic Motorcycle Battery Comparison - webBikeWorld

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DL650AK9
"I am enthusiastic over humanity's extraordinary and sometimes very timely ingenuities. If you are in a shipwreck and all the boats are gone, a piano top buoyant enough to keep you afloat that comes along makes a fortuitous life preserver. But this is not to say that the best way to design a life preserver is in the form of a piano top. I think we are clinging to a great many piano tops in accepting yesterday's fortuitous contrivings as constituting the only means for solving a given problem." - R. Buckminster Fuller

The downside is cold start. Internal resistance is high when cold, so you might need to try to crank the bike, wait a few seconds for the heat pulse to spread through the plates and try again before it'll start.

Then again, given the better cranking performance of these anyway, it might never be an issue for a DL.

Pete

They don't need a battery trickler the loss is minimal. They are pretty $$, and I got 6 years out of my old YUSA without any problems, so I don't really much point changing unless the cost was close to the same.


Sent from my Motorcycle iPad app

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K4 DL650

Cold start is not stellar for sure. The battery does hold a charge much better though. The battery posts on the older Shorai's are rather flimsy. I'll see how it goes.

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2009 ABS DL650

I have one of the Shorai batteries in my DRZ400-S and so far I LOVE it. It spins the motor very fast, does not loose a charge quickly, and is MUCH lighter than the Yuasa it replaced. It is also much smaller, and as mentioned, they give you a bunch of foam to fit the battery to the OEM box.

Something that is typical of Lithium batteries is it does not loose voltage as the battery drains down. I had the situation off needing to crank the bike quite a bit the other day and it just kept on cranking at the same speed or even a bit faster as the battery "wore down". I race RC cars that use very similar lithium based batteries and they will hold their voltage until the very end then drop very quick.

I have not tried it in extreme cold as it doesn't get that cold in SoCal. I plan to use one of these Shorai batteries in my Vee when I need to replace the lead acid battery in it now.

I have used my Deltran battery tender to charge the Shorai in my DRZ and it works fine.

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06 Suzki DL1000
09 Kawi KLR650
00 Suzi DRZ400-S
95 KTM MXC300