Lightweight affordable lithium battery
 

I found a new choice for a lightweight battery, lithium at a lower price and longer life that the competition.
The CBS is roughly 4.5 x 6 x 7 inches. and weighs about 6 lbs plus mount. Comes in two versions base race or street car, both are same battery internals except street version has a voltage minder to cut off after extended discharge. Warranties range from 1yr (race) to 3 or 5 (street), full replacement not pro-rata.


http://www.chimerabatteries.com/

P.S. I am not associated with Chimera in any way, just a car owner sick of short life of lwt solutions.

Nice until you look at the price - $600 for the "race" battery, $900 for the street battery.

OUCH.

Those ARE cheaper that some others on the market. Right now this is still just a very high end product. It will take time before the value is there.

Dale

What about one of these?

http://www.shop.antigravitybatteries...G-YTX12-20.htm

I've been considering one for my DSP project.

Check this out
http://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-f...d-battery.html

That stuff is still way too damn expensive. Especially with the very small weight savings.

Hell, I run a Miata battery in my car. I can get it at most any parts store for $60 or so, I can easily pick it up with one hand, it's compact, and it's dead reliable. It's not worth it to me to sink a bunch of money into an exotic battery so I can shave off a few pounds. I'd rather put the money into something that makes a more substantial difference to the car. And, when the battery goes out, it's not another big chunk of change to replace.

Dale

I looked at the Miata batteries, and they *do* offer some weight savings for not much money. The specs I've read show them at 25lbs vs the stock Group 35 running 35-38lbs. Unfortunately, the CCA rating for the Miata battery seems a little low.

What intrigues me about the Lithium batteries is that, for 2-3X the cost, they shave another 20lbs, have a stock (or higher) CCA rating and supposedly have a really long service life. It seems the cost might work out about the same over time. Even if not, I have won and lost several AutoX'es and hill climbs by hundredths of a second. Spending $10/lb for weight reduction doesn't hurt my feelings at all.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net...90815632_n.jpg

I have this Bosch battery that I've been using for my HKS V-Mount. The Vmount was just sold and the battery out. I'll measure it and weigh it when I get home.

i have no idea what car it's for, I just needed a small battery and saw this in Pep Boys

I have a Braille No-Weight battery and it works quite well. Unfortunately regular chargers are not good for AGM batteries, so plan on buying an AGM compatible digital charger like a Noco 7200. My Noco rescued my Braille after a long tough visit at the body shop.

If it's lithium then it may be even more important to have the right charger for it.

David

Sealed Wesco Miata Battery here. $100

Even have room for a nice fuse block and circtuit breaker.

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w...D/DSC00282.jpg

Still using an Odyssey PC680 in my FD.

The only failure in 3 yrs has been when the pulleys got a bit oiled from an overflowing catch can. :blush:

It is not a street car, and the battery is disconnected when the car is in the garage.

Guy on honda-tech makes them too
http://honda-tech.com/showthread.php?t=2917547

Julian, this something you planning on purchasing or just thinking about? I'd be interested to see an install : )

Price is more reasonable on this one.

https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/pr...asp?RecID=9405

Jack

who aside from the lambo guys really pays $1k for a battery?

I've been looking at the shorai batteries for a while now. and now that im having battery issues on my 7, it may be time. Id rather have a lithium battery in the bin than even a sealed battery.

IMHO, lithium batteries right now are a waste of money. They don't give you any bang for the buck. Get a regular battery and spend the money somewhere else on your car where it really needs it.

The battery linked above is $260 which is getting better but from the description sounds BARELY adequate to use in our cars.

The Braille type batteries are proven, weigh like 9-11 pounds, are physically small, sealed, and are MUCH cheaper.

Dale

I'm actually very interested in a lithium battery setup. I've spent some coin trying to get my car lighter through carbon fiber and other means while still keeping it a street car. And when I think about the weight savings vs how much I spent, the lithium weight savings seems like a bargain. When you calculate weight to dollar, lithium batteries is probably the the cheapest dollar per lbs.

I've been waiting for the price to come down on this one...

http://www.braillebattery.com/index....tteries/b128l#

It's 5.5 lbs lighter then the chimerabatteries.com equivalent. (30-32 ah, 90-96 lah). The site doesn't list if there is a price difference between their 3 models.

thewird

only reason why I'd ever buy a lithium battery for my car would be to convert it to eletric. (60k-90k for A123 batteries for a sub 10sec 1/4 mile dragger).

Can you explain why? I read that other places and it does not make sense to me. Is it just because the chargers for AGM batteries have peak voltage detection?

The reason I always wonder about that is because you do not have to change your alternator if you switch to an AGM battery so why is a conventional charger no good. I have used a conventional charger on my braille battery and did not notice any affects because of it.


Sometimes I wonder if it is a ploy to get people to buy the special charges from the companies selling the batteries.

I don't specialize in electrochemistry so I can't give a technical answer. But what I do know is that AGM manufacturers are pretty clear on this point and my experience using a conventional charger and a digital charger on the AGM show a massive difference.

I've pondered the comparison between alternator voltage and charging voltage myself. That's the thing that doesn't entirely add up. But keep in mind most alt's charge at 15v and conventional chargers don't go up that high.

David

http://www.shoraipower.com/p-209-lfx36a3-bs12.aspx

This is the one I chose. I recieve it Wednesday, and will report back when it's installed.

Put my Shorai LFX36L3-BS12 in yesterday. Car cranked strong on the first try. Will post pics and update as soon as possible.

My mounting in the bin right now is temporary until i find a good method.

https://i47.tinypic.com/30uvbb9.jpg

I have been looking at Deka http://www.dekabatteries.com/. I have a V8 so need a little more cranking power so was leaning towards EXT-18L? They are who manufacture a lot of Braille batteries but are about 80% less.

Anyone looked into using a lithium motorcycle battery? Something suited to a goldwing or such seem to have ample capacity and cold cranking, probably less than twice the price of a pc680 (should make up for it in longevity) but looks like max charge will be way too low for an rx7 alternator.
Is there a way to put a resistor or something in somewhere so that a lithium bike battery that is rated to a max charge, of say, 30A can take charge from a 80A alternator safely?