Lithium pack

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Lost my ST13's battery a couple of days ago,,, just came out of the Home Depot,,, pressed the button,, and "what !!",, nothing was left on,, it just gave up suddenly,, as others have found. The solution was to call buddy,, and have him drive over with my battery tender. He has an inverter in his pickup,, so I just powered off that,, and plugged the tender into the power feed that normally runs my electric vest. Actually,,, I run the tender there all the time. 5 minutes on the tender,,, which has a variable max output of about 2amps,,, and Blue STar happily started right up. I put a new battery in the same evening,,, but the event has me thinking about getting a lithium pack for trips. If I could use it by just plugging into the same vest/tender line,,, that would be pretty convenient. Some of the packs have 12v outputs,, for up to 10amps,, which sounds like it would partially charge a flat main battery in 5 to 10 minutes. My tender/vest power line has a 15 amp fuse inline. A bit of wiring work would eliminate the need for using the big battery clamps,, and the need to remove seats and side cowling for battery post access. Also,,, having some portable power would be useful in other ways,,, lighting,, charging devices,, etc ?? Maintaining polarity would be a concern,,, but could be addressed with connector designs. Should work,,, no,,, looking for input,,, Cat'

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01J5G8PF6/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ARYTEB27KZJVB
 
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Of course what you are proposing would work. The only change I would make would be to have a dedicated plug, SAE or battery tender type (Accumate, anyone?) under the pillion seat. That way you could use one of these battery packs to jump the bike if necessary. The wire from the SAE connector would have to be #10 or larger, I'd think. Not sure what the current flow is when jumping, but in any case it would be for a fairly short duration. Can anyone else weigh in?

I do know that trolling motor hookups are available with a large crimped eye on #10 awg with an SAE connector. Hook one of these up to the battery and leave it under the seat until needed. This could be doubly useful if you have the mating connector on both your compressor, Lithium power pack, and battery tender. I always hook my bike up to a bat tender when I park it in the garage.
 
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May I suggest that you consider one of these? Forget about using your battery tender line to start the bike, go ahead and remove the side panel for access directly to the battery and do a jump start with the included jumper cables.
 

T_C

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Some of the packs have 12v outputs,, for up to 10amps,, which sounds like it would partially charge a flat main battery in 5 to 10 minutes.
Might, might not. You need a big enough voltage differential to push the power form the lithium pack to the weakened battery. The higher the idffernece the faster the push. I doubt you'll get enough for this to work. the tender is probably going up to about 14~15 volts.


Also,,, having some portable power would be useful in other ways,,, lighting,, charging devices,, etc ??
Yes, just be aware the capacity advertised is at the USB port, not the 12v outlet side.


The wire from the SAE connector would have to be #10 or larger, I'd think. Not sure what the current flow is when jumping, but in any case it would be for a fairly short duration. Can anyone else weigh in?
125 amps (give or take) to spin my cold ST over on a 75° day.
You could use the SAE connector.... but... there are no current carrying design specs for it. I'm using Anderson power poles myself.
 
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Catmandu2
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Thanks for the reply, Don. Yes,,, I had no intention of trying to jump start the bike from a Lithium pack. If I did,,, rh side cowl removal and using the packs jump clamps would be the way to go. I just wondered if the pack could re-charge the depleted bike battery over a reasonable period of time. My concern is that the wiring be heavy enough for that task. If the bike's existing tender/vest/sae line has a 15amp fuse in-line then the bike should be protected,,, no ?? Obviously,,, the flatter the bike's battery,, and the higher the pack's charge,,, then the more a charging current is going to want to flow. I doubt that the pack regulates that,,, Cat'

btw,,, the link that I posted in #1 lists two different pack,,, and I was thinking that the 800a unit would be best

May I suggest that you consider one of these? Forget about using your battery tender line to start the bike, go ahead and remove the side panel for access directly to the battery and do a jump start with the included jumper cables.
 

ST Gui

240Robert
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Random thoughts:

As I've never seen SAE connectors on wire capable of handling 125A I'd avoid them for jump starting.

We should clearly differentiate between:
jump starting—using the alternator/battery of one vehicle to assist in cranking the engine of another) and
remote charging
(?)— using the alternator/battery of one vehicle to assist in the charging the battery of another and then letting it crank on its own.

Most Battery Tender® leads are fused at 7.5A. Does a temporarily dead battery draw current or is it 'pushed' from the donor source of 13-14VDC? Because of the depleted state would that blow the fuses in the BT leads? A Tender proper wouldn't exceed 7.5A but any other donor source might/would.

Separate unfused or 30A fused leads (fused for lead capacity) might be in order?

I made a reversing jumper from a 12ga SAE jumper. This allows me to connect two bike with BT leads together for remote charging. I also have a 12ga connecting cable to use with those leads or a BT. 12ga may be a bit heavy for that purpose and it's a little bulky. Maybe 14ga?

In all my years of years there's only been one instance where a battery couldn't be revived enough to get home most often with a bump start. Doing that on my own these days is pretty much a non-starter without a decent downgrade.

A pair of battery clamps connected to an SAE lead is next. My riding buddies have BT leads but someday someone might not and need a direct connection.

Do these various portable jump starters actually jump start a vehicle or do they remote charge it? I only used a bike to start another by running mine above idle to charge the other battery for about 5min. A bump start might have worked (quicker even) but nobody seemed interested in trying.
 
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Catmandu2
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The various Lithium packs available are intended to jump start automotive engines up to V8 and smaller diesel engines, and come complete with smart battery clamps (that can not be polarity reversed). They are also designed to deliver charging voltages, up to 19v, for electronic devices. I still have my old ST lead acid battery,,, as I have not turned it in for core rebate as yet. If I was to get a Lithium pack,,, I guess I could test it by doing a test charge on that battery. Problem is, there is not nearly the selection of booster packs available here in Canada yet. So I don't know if that can happen soon,,, Cat'

Random thoughts:

As I've never seen SAE connectors on wire capable of handling 125A I'd avoid them for jump starting.

We should clearly differentiate between:
jump starting—using the alternator/battery of one vehicle to assist in cranking the engine of another) and
remote charging
(?)— using the alternator/battery of one vehicle to assist in the charging the battery of another and then letting it crank on its own.

Do these various portable jump starters actually jump start a vehicle or do they remote charge it? I only used a bike to start another by running mine above idle to charge the other battery for about 5min. A bump start might have worked (quicker even) but nobody seemed interested in trying.
 
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I keep a pig tail off the battery for the tender, if I have a no start, 10 mins on a donor battery is enough to get going. You don't need a 100 amps for a jump just let it charge thru the tender port for 10 minutes.
Power pole connectors are a great goof proof solution, but a cheapo sae connector works if you pay attention to polarity. 2 bikes with an sae connector can't be plugged together.
 

MajorTom

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I carry a couple of 4' pieces of 12 gauge wire with alligator clips in my tool kit. Last summer I used them to jump start my buddy's Gold Wing when he left the key on outside the cafe for an hour.
 

ST Gui

240Robert
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st1300r said:
2 bikes with an sae connector can't be plugged together.
That's why I made the reversing jumper for my charging cables. It pays attention so I don't have to. Then two bikes with SAE connectors can be plugged together. That's the whole point.
 
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That's why I made the reversing jumper for my charging cables. It pays attention so I don't have to. Then two bikes with SAE connectors can be plugged together. That's the whole point.
+1 I did this as well. It works in a pinch.

Even better: Last year I bought a lithium car jump starter battery pack from Amazon [link]. It started my neighbor's minivan when he ran the battery down, NO PROBLEM. It also has a small flashlight built in, a couple USB ports, and my laptop can run off it too. It works great and has LOTS of power to spare AND it fits in a side bag, top case, tank bag or backpack. I highly recommend everyone to have one of these handy packs as a backup. If nothing else, it will charge your phones.
 

ST Gui

240Robert
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Last year I bought a lithium car jump starter battery pack from Amazon [link]
That looks pretty compact! How do you use it in practice? Do you 'charge then start' the vehicle or can you truly 'jump start' it? This could be just the thing to plug into a Tender harness for a CtS.

What about charging the charger? Would that be too much for a typical USB charger (approx. 2.1A) I'll read up on the link a little more.
 

ST Gui

240Robert
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I read some Amazon reviews and got my answers. Thanks for the fish.
 
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When I jump started the neighbor's minivan, I hooked it up to the battery, waited 15 seconds, and turned the key. It came with the little jumper cable clamps and lots of adapters.
 
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Catmandu2
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I have been thinking that the best way to accomplish the main goal I described at the start of this thread,,, using a lithium pack to charge (not jump start) my ST13's battery, if need be, via my tender/vest line,, would be as follows. I could just make an 18" long adaptor cable, to run from the L-ion packs booster clamps to my tender line's SAE connector. Polarity would be important,,, but the L-ion's pack has polarity protection while using the jump clamps. I would also put a 10amp line fuse in the adaptor,,, too protect the 15amp fuse and 12ga wire in my tender/vest line. The worst that could happen is that I blow the 10amp fuse,,, no ?? Cat'
 
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Update! The battery in my Silverado went ka-poot on Saturday. The truck wouldn't even crank. It just clicked and moaned.
My little lithium pack that I posted about above was able to start the 5.3L engine THREE TIMES that morning before my errands were done and I could get home. After three starts it still showed three out of four bars available. I'm still amazed. Highly recommended.
 

ST Gui

240Robert
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My little lithium pack that I posted about above
How would/do you connect it to your ST? The included battery cables and clamps? I'd be willing to wait a few minutes to charge the battery instead of using the pack to jump start it if it meant that I could connect the pack to an SAE connector and not pull off the side cover to access the battery terminals.
 
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How would/do you connect it to your ST? The included battery cables and clamps? I'd be willing to wait a few minutes to charge the battery instead of using the pack to jump start it if it meant that I could connect the pack to an SAE connector and not pull off the side cover to access the battery terminals.
The clamps will work, but I'm with you. I hate removing plastic to get to the battery. I think an SAE connector (battery tender connection) would work to boost the battery. A few minutes of boosting over the tender connection would likely be sufficient to get things started again.
:07biker:
 
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