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I may be in need of a new battery and saw a couple of L ion batteries, they are almost twice the price of a Motobatt which does the job and lasts a few years, so are they worth the extra bucks ?

2 problems are that:

If it goes flat it's knackered - could be a problem on a falco with its parasitic battery drain.

It can't be charged with a standard bike battery charger like an optimate.

They are a lot lighter though so it would mean you could have a bigger breakfast!

Get a MotoBatt, the yellow AGM type, I have had one for three years now and it has never failed.

Thanks guys, did a bit more nosing, specific charger needed..
Motobatt it is then, if it is spanked but bike fired up fine after a two week lay up (oil leak ) and yours truly had forgotten to plug in the solar trickle charger.
New oil cooler fitted with new guard, no leaks, all good

spiderwheels wrote:2 problems are that:

If it goes flat it's knackered - could be a problem on a falco with its parasitic battery drain.

It can't be charged with a standard bike battery charger like an optimate.

They are a lot lighter though so it would mean you could have a bigger breakfast!

*ahem* I beg to differ.

I put a Li-Ion battery into my Falco and promptly forgot all about the trickle-drain that the dash / ECU causes. I went out one night to see about starting her up and the side-stand warning light barely glowed. Out with my house-mate's smart battery charger, a day's wait, and the battery was fully charged and operational again.

One other advantage of the Li-Ions is their amazing cranking capacity - I was amazed at how quickly the starter spun the engine over.

Well that's an interesting opinion and always good to hear another side of the discussion.
I've just ordered another Motobatt because they work, they're reliable and dont need any special charging facility.
Perhaps when this gel filled yellow box needs to be replaced L.Ion will be the new dogs bollox.

The new yellow thing arrived today, complete with a flyer with all the details of the next generation Motobatt...
They are Lithium Iron Phosphate,they boast..
80% lighter,90% charging in 6 mins,retain a charge for over a year of inactivity,overcharging/over discharging protection,
I will try and be happy with the old model

Sounds great. Let the market test it out for the next year or two and get the bugs ironed out, then buy when it's stable...

Nice info Fatboy, I'll be having a look at those as I've been thinking about a LIon battery

Mates use them in their race bikes, one is an old Honda CB750 running a total loss electrical system so his batteries get a fair bit of punishment and don't seem to suffer any ill effects.

Forgot to add...
The CCA on the MBTX12U is 200, the Lithium version MPLX12U HP now jumps to 375.
Yep Graham, by the time I have killed this new battery they will have the next generation totally sorted

Hasn't anyone ever seen a l ion battery explode? Not sure I want to sit on top of one of them!

fatboy wrote:Forgot to add...
The CCA on the MBTX12U is 200, the Lithium version MPLX12U HP now jumps to 375.
Yep Graham, by the time I have killed this new battery they will have the next generation totally sorted

That's a serious jump in CCA! My battery is fairly new, so I reckon I might be in the market for one of them in a few years. There's an old saying in the IT industry - 'Pioneers get arrows in their backs'...

mangocrazy wrote:

fatboy wrote:Forgot to add...
The CCA on the MBTX12U is 200, the Lithium version MPLX12U HP now jumps to 375.
Yep Graham, by the time I have killed this new battery they will have the next generation totally sorted

That's a serious jump in CCA! My battery is fairly new, so I reckon I might be in the market for one of them in a few years. There's an old saying in the IT industry - 'Pioneers get arrows in their backs'...

That is almost double the CCA, in the manufacturers claims. I would like to see it work in real life before I did two things which are..
buy one.
ask Dale to sit on top of it