Lithium Battery in 3 1/2

[Doughnut]

Hi Folks
Has anyone put a lithium battery into a 3 1/2?

Mine is a 1976 strada.

Any issues foreseen screwing up the charging system?

Tia
Alan

[Steve Brown]

I have fitted them to electric start 500 Morinis with success, and the charging seems fine. You'll need to make sure your alternator and rec/reg are working properly and then make sure the battery has a built in BMS (battery management system). The lithium Ion batteries can be wrecked or even dangerous if they are over or under charged. The BMS seems to take care of things and despite the predictions of doom It has worked on the 3 bikes I've done so far. A 76 Strada is kick start only, so you can use a smaller battery than I did and if your charging system is good I expect you will have no troubles.
What is your reason for wanting to do this?

[Carts]

Oh interesting, watching thread to see other opinions. Was wondering myself. Have heard various opinions on other sites

[Carts]

Oh interesting, watching thread to see other opinions. Was wondering myself. Have heard various opinions on other sites

[Andy_C]

FWIW - I have fitted lithium batteries to a couple of my bikes over the years, both are electric start so need a decent battery.

No issues with charging on either bike, the first bike was a 2016 Triumph 865 Speedmaster, the other which I still have is my 2019 Enfield Himalayan, the lithium has been on that for nearly 4 years as the OE one failed pretty quickly.

After fitting the lithiums both started on the button with no problems, biggest thing I noticed with the lithium batteries is the weight - or lack of, they are incredibly light.

I did buy a lithium compatible charger, but I only leave them on charge if I am around, I dont think I would ever leave a lithium on charge overnight given the bad press lithium batteries have for catching fire / exploding.

Back to Morini's, I have a Motobatt fitted to my electric start 3 1/2, no idea how old the battery is, but there are no problems with it starting with the electric starter, I just give it a charge from time to time while the bike is layed up for the winter.

At the end of the day I guess you pay your money and takes yer choice.

If buying a battery I would recommend Tayna Batteries, they have a very good range, price is hard to beat, and they have a very efficient delivery service. I am nothing to do with Tayna by the way, just always had good service from them.

[Ming]

I have always found Motobatt batteries to be good value - from a 125 scooter to an 850 BMW oilhead, with a K2 Sport as well. Never considered a Lithium on an older bike, though I have an electric bicycle with an 8 year old battery and 16000 km on it (not many of those km down to me!).

[simonnorthroad]

Ive bought two bikes with Motobatts fitted and bought one myself at one point, and none of the three lasted much more than one year.

I wont buy another

I know from Guzzi (etc) forums (fora?) that experience with Motobatts is VERY polarised however!

[Stempy]

Hi

Always been happy with Odyssey AGM Extreme PC680s and lasted 3 years plus

Cheers
Rick

[Vitesse]

Ive bought two bikes with Motobatts fitted and bought one myself at one point, and none of the three lasted much more than one year.

I know from Guzzi (etc) forums (fora?) that experience with Motobatts is VERY polarised however!

There has been a lot of talk of fake Motobatts.

[Galligaskins]

I'm a bit guarded about Lithium batteries and much prefer Odyssey AGMs.
For the last 20 years I've been sprinting and hillclimbing a Westfield car with quite a high spec 2ltr Vauxhall engine which needs a good battery to crank it over. In that time I've used two Odyssey PC680 batteries and they each lasted 8 years and performed faultlessly. Two years ago, in the endless search for lightness, I bought a lithium battery of a suitable spec. I was immediately dogged with unreliability. One moment it would spin the motor over remarkably easily and all's good, the next, it was dead. Initially, the dashboard would light up, and the fuel pump would prime, but the moment you hit the start button and the solenoid tried to actuate, everything died. It would take up to 15 minutes before the battery came back again, and you might get lucky and it would crank fine, or would just repeat the cutout. No good when you're being called to the start line. I always kept the battery charged up with the supplied charger and followed the correct regimen. I gather that the lithium batteries have a self protection circuit built in to prevent them from being over-discharged. I know of four other competitors who have had the same problem, and none who have had issues with AGMs. My lithium battery lasted 18 months (about the same as the other guys') and I've since gone back to my 8 year old AGM. Maybe we all underspecced our lithiums?

For a kickstart only Morini, you'd probably be ok as you won't be putting a sudden heavy load on it.

Another vote for Tayna as a battery supplier, though.

[Steve Brown]

I'd agree that Tayna is a good source of quality batteries too. I can also say that my Lithium Ion batteries (I fitted one to a 500 road bike that a friend now owns and rides regularly) are holding up well. It's worth stressing that this is on my trail bike which gives the battery and the starter a good test. This as I regularly have to restart the bike after multiple gates to open, and more importantly after I've fallen off yet again and flooded the engine. Worth mention too is that the bike never gets to rev very high as I'm riding it on the low rev torque most of the time, so the alternator isn't at max output much of the time. The battery I use is of similar size and power to the PC680 so I wonder if the issue others have is down to needing a higher capacity battery? As they all seem to weigh nothing it can't hurt with a car to use something physically larger?
My kickstart is still there and working, just in case-but I haven't had to use it since I was on the Isle of Man last year and that was only after the starter friction clutch was soaked in a few dozen puddles.