Battery chargers - normal and lithium

[iceman]

It seems most battery chargers sold for cars and motorcylces say for any type of car/motorcycle battery including Gel and AGM but not to be used with lithium types of batteries, of which normally you need to purchase a seperate lithium charger. Thing is, I believe some people have fitted lithium replacement batteries to their PCX and they seem to charge and work fine.

I understand the different chemistries and how the charge cycle differs for the charges/cells, I just wonder how the simple bike charging circuit can cope with both types of cells?

[Spaguar]

I had similar doubts in my mind. I have my original lead/acid battery now but my next battery might be Lithium. That's why I purchased a charger that covers both battery types. Here's the link http://products.batterytender.com/Autom ... DL-WH.html .

[Jge64]

forget gel, they really dont exist anymore, the choices are agm, lead-acid or lithium. and all the bikes these days charge at 13.5 to 14.5 which is fine for all 3....I currently use a lithium shorai battery, half the size and twice the cranking power. agm's now charge like lead scid batts.

[easyrider]

Yes,you will need a charger that specifies 12 v.Lithium . They require higher v charging specifications to do it right.

[iceman]

Thanks, this was just pondering why a simple alternator-regulator circuit on the bike works fine yet microprocessor dedicated chargers nearly always state not for Lithium, even the more expensive ones (at least one exception named above).
My original battery is fine, bike is nearly five years old, done over 17,000 miles, is kept outdoors all year round and starts first time, every time. Never trickle charged it or removed it and sometimes I plug the air-inflator to it to re-fresh the tyres with the bike not running.
I see normal PCX batteries on sale for £20 now so not expecting to go down the Lithium £100+ route.

[iceman]

Found this article, explains why it's a very bad idea to try and use a normal charger on Lithium cells.
http://www.enerdrive.com.au/can-charge- ... d-charger/

[Jge64]

I certainly understand that if you have a lithium battery that needs recharging from dead flat the way you're going to get the maximum charge is with a lithium battery charger. I bought one. However normal use in a bike is never going to be a problem at all if your battery is lithium. The PCX charges between 13 and 15, which works out fine to re-charge a lithium on the bike. Mine is going on 1 year in the pcx, and then I moved it to the xmax 3 months ago.The shorai that will work perfectly for a PCX is The LFX14L2-BS12 from AMZN. There is also a lithium battery that will automatically cut off all current if the battery is going to go below a start value of 12.0. Then you push a button on the batt and you have a jumpstart situation.