Best Lithium Ion Battery

I have no idea, but personally, I wouldn't put one into a car not designed for one, due to the increased risk of fire. As far as I know, there are no overcharging battery monitors in any Ferrari (other than the LaFerrari), at least not the type designed to avoid lithium ion battery fires, such as found in a hybrid or electric car.

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I was going to make a thread about this. Lucky to see that someone else has pulled the trigger. I had some difficult time starting my italia today because of the battery after letting my car rest about 2 weeks. It is only 16 month old but as everyone else know, the OEM battery of the 458s sucks big time.

I'm curious about the weight of the OEM battery and which lithium ion battery makes more sense for a replacement.

 

the oem battery will last 6 years or more if you use the tender consistently.

 

A Lithium battery is not a good choice for a car that isn't in very regular use. You can't trickle charge them and if the voltage falls below a certain point (3 volts on the Braille ML30 I use) they can't be recharged. You also need to recharge using a suitable Li battery charger.

They are also physically pretty small so you will need a custom battery mount for most of them.

 

richard:
you really shouldn't create the same thread in two sections!
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/360-430/437276-best-lithium-ion-relaible-battery.html

 

and don't forget about the 787 dreamliner!:
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My car came with a fresh interstate. 575m. Keep it on a built in trickle charger. When it becomes time for a new battery I will put in an Optima YELLOW top. Plenty of reserve power and far better than the cheap red top. No acid puke to worry about. GTS Bruce

 

I use a Shorai in my lotus, it had 36 ah and 550 cca. The battery is designed for a Honda goldwing, which is a pretty hefty bike with lots of doodads and a big alternator. It weights 5lbs and can be charged with a regular charger, just not one that has a de- sulfating feature. There is also a shorai charger maintaner that plugs in to the battery and does all the maintaining for you.

The danger is in runnign one of these down, because if you do they are toast. So if you car has an alarm or big draw and is not plugged into a tender for more than a few days the battery will be toast. Also look to see what your draw is at idle with ac lights and stereo on, because suualy the battery is needed to maintain power at idle..

On the vette Forums a few people have used this battery to start that big ol V8, the issue for them is alarm draw, 5 days and the battery is toast. Others have used two of these in paralell. Question is how important is it to loose say 40 lbs on a 3500lbs car? Probably not very.

 

I put a yellow top in my Mondial and it was ok at best. The advantage of the yellow top is that it is deep cycle and is supposed to be able to deliver a lot of current and can handle many drain/charge cycles. I found the yellow top was pretty poor in terms of cold cranking -- it had noticeably less cranking power than the regular battery it replaced. For the drain/recharge capability, you really need to charge it with an external battery charger set to "deep cycle" mode to get the full effect, so if you let the car sit for a while and can still crank it up, it will recharge from the alternator, but it's probably not as good for the battery as if you used a deep cycle charger. Maybe this is why mine usually felt weak in cranking. The warranty on yellow tops is also shorter than red top. All in all, I had 2 Optima reds and one yellow. The red tops perform better than the yellow, but all of them failed earlier than they should have. Sorry for distracting from the lightweight battery topic, but wanted to pass along my yellow top experience since I also went into it thinking yellow top was the best thing out there. I use Interstate batteries now and am much happier than I was with Optima.

 

First of all, the OP gives no indication of the application, but let's assume that it's for a car and that weight saving is the goal.

As far as I know, all lithium batteries are designed for deep cycling, i.e. providing power for extended periods of time. Starting batteries in cars are designed to provide a surge of power to start the vehicle before immediately being recharged by the alternator (which also provides the power for ignition, lights, etc.) Therefore, compounding the overcharging thermal issues described above is the fact that the charging / duty cycle for which Lithium Ion batteries are designed is totally different from that of a standard automotive battery. If you are looking at LIon as a starting battery, it will likely result in a difficult conversation with your insurance carrier. Not nearly worth the risk if you're trying to save 25 lbs. or thereabouts.

I see that the OP is from Switzerland, so recommending Interstate or other U.S. brand is likely a non-starter (excuse the pun), although I believe that Optima is marketed over there. By the way, how many of you know that Interstate is not a manufacturer?

 

I am using an Antigravity in my 348 "http://antigravitybatteries.com/ytx12-24/".

 

Commercially available Lithium Ion batteries would incorporate cell balancing (BMS) and charge control - no need for external intelligent charge control.

And besides - it's been done before, but spending $1700 on a battery is painful.

Porsche's New $1700 Car Battery: What You Get

OP mentions reasonable price: how does $2945 sound?

http://www.suncoastparts.com/product/LITHIUM.html?Category_Code=997TURBO

 

on the lower priced end, Jegs and Summit have some stuff (hmm.. my Optima is due for a replacement.. and these are reasonably priced):

http://www.summitracing.com/int/parts/lpp-l3400

Lithium Pros 12-Volt Lithium Batteries - Free Shipping on All Orders @ JEGS

 

I have a Ballistic Performance EVO2 16 Cell Battery in my daily driven Elise - was $225 about a year ago.
It doesn't need a special charger and won't die if accidentally let to run flat. It seems to hold a charge for about two weeks which is slightly less than the lead acid battery it replaced.

Photos show its size vs the original battery as well as installation (on its side - doesn't need to be upright ). It did need a new hold down bracket (not shown).
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So Steve...is the Ballistic Performance EVO2 16 Cell Battery still hold up? Any idea what the weight savings is?

 

Sorry to keep this semi dead thread alive but if I was living in Switzerland I would choose a battery made by Varta, a suitable one from the Silver line.

 

The Shorai batteries are incredibly light. It blew my mind when I took the one out of my Ducati! If this inquiry is for your 430 you might want to check into the Odyssey PC925 which happens to work well for the 360 racing guys. You will just want to get up to speed on what trickle chargers to use and make plugging it in a regular part of your routine but it is half the weight of the stock battery. I have been running one in my 360 for 18 months with no issues, but I keep my car plugged in when I am not driving. I am not sure if the 430 starting/charging requirements make this a bad choice for you just mentioning it since I have had such a good experience.

 

Anyone try a Voltphreaks battery? A few guys on the P-car forums recommend them -- VPH900 is 7lbs and has 530CCA / 33Ah capacity. They also come with an auto cut-off that will shut the battery down @ 12.5V (ie so you can flip a switch to reactivate and still start the car on the remaining juice).

Have not gone the LI route but am tempted. The auto-cut off seems to address the main concern with running a lightweight battery.

 

I have a LI-ion battery in my motorcycle, made by Deltran Battery Tender...amazingly small and light, and actually higher powered than the stock battery. One WARNING, you must use either a specific LI-ion battery tender, or a battery tender that DOES NOT have a desulfation mode. (beware most newer battery tenders have a desulfation mode) Otherwise damage will result to the battery.

 

1. Pull car out of mothballs & disconnect maintainer
2. Start engine. (Starter turns with gusto).
3. Drive car ~5 miles. Pull in parking lot. Park and shut off engine.
4. After ~1.5 hours, Start engine to leave. (Again starter spins strong and engine starts easily.)
5. Very gently, drive out of parking lot and stall motor when f-wheels peak over speed bump. (~1 minute after start).
6. Motor won't re-start. Everything is silent. 20-30 minutes of checking and head scratching.
7. Nearby shop v. kindly loans me DVM, and the 7 yr old battery reads -zero-!
8. Shop orders new Interstate for me and has it delivered. Problem solved.

So: How does battery go from 12V and ability to deliver ~200 amperes, to -zero- inside 1 minute?

Sounds like some battery internal jumper broke? Zero volts ?

 

Old batteries accumulate sediment at the bottom, and the plates can crack. Running over the speed bump may have sloshed things around enough to short out your 7 yr old battery. Be sure to have your car's charging system checked to be sure it's charging as you drive.