Shorai battery and charger

Bmacleod · Jul 25, 2020

My 3 year old yuasa AGM battery gave up with no warning. I was a little ticked as it wasnt cheap when I got it and it never gave any warning. SOOO, i decided to spend 50 bucks more than what I payed for that yuasa and try a shorai. I knew that I would likely need a charger from them as well, but I thought id wait a bit. I mentioned to my son that I was going to need a special balance charger and he said "I have one you can use". Turns out there are generic lithium chargers that do the same functions and more than the shorai charger at 1/2 the cost. I have the Imax b6, like this https://www.amazon.ca/Premium-Balance-Charger-Armouries-Battery/dp/B07D97491X/ref=sr_1_7?dchild=1&keywords=imax+b6&qid=1595729173&sr=8-7. I had to make a balance cable, since the battery plug AND the charger plug are male. I bought a 3 pack of 4-cell charger extension cables and cut the female ends off of 2 of them and soldered them together to make a cable with 2 male ends. Today I hooked up the charger and balance charged my new battery... worked like a charm. this charger can do different types of batteries, besides LiFe. It has a storage mode as well. It can handle 2,3,4,5 and 6 cell lithium batteries. This charger ranges in price from 30 CAD to the 70 CAD like the one I posted. There are a few iterations. Some have AC and some use a power supply that plugs into the wall. Thing is, they are much cheaper than the shorai charger for the same functions. I just wanted to point out that there are cheaper options for lithium owners than the factory chargers.
Please note that some will say that basic "dumb" chargers will work but are not optimal, but this is an actual "smart" balance charger like the shorai charger, just cheaper. Hope this helps some that are unsure if they want to go lithium for the cost reason

SMSW · Jul 26, 2020

Saw your post and, after our private discussion about batteries I worried your post was your new Shorai had gone south already. Thanks for posting which charger you used and your cable matchup.

Bmacleod · Jul 26, 2020

SMSW said:
Saw your post and, after our private discussion about batteries I worried your post was your new Shorai had gone south already. Thanks for posting which charger you used and your cable matchup.

HAHA, nope, working good so far.
I will add... I have read and seen different thoughts on the power of these. Some say they dont have the cranking amps of the AGM and some say the ratings are different as to CCA vs. CA. At the end of the day, this lithium cranks the starter at what seems to be twice as fast as the AGM it replaced... in the warm weather, which is all that concerns me. When the temps get down near freezing, my bike is indoors. It rarely sees temps below 10C and never below 5C, thats just crazy...LOL

SMSW · Jul 26, 2020

Bmacleod said:
HAHA, nope, working good so far.
I will add... I have read and seen different thoughts on the power of these. Some say they dont have the cranking amps of the AGM and some say the ratings are different as to CCA vs. CA. At the end of the day, this lithium cranks the starter at what seems to be twice as fast as the AGM it replaced... in the warm weather, which is all that concerns me. When the temps get down near freezing, my bike is indoors. It rarely sees temps below 10C and never below 5C, thats just crazy...LOL

Glad you are having good luck with it so far. As for temps, lots of folks go ice fishing, there is a stalwart crowd who run screws through their mc tires so they can go ice racing on motorcycles, in upstate NY, there is a large contingent of ice boaters and once upon a time, very large iceboats plied the Hudson River (probably hard on the mast unless you hit the center span of the Tappan Zee Bridge). And we won't dwell on the hardy souls that take a quick dip in the ocean on New Years Day or the legions of snowmobilers.