Best Motorcycle Battery? Lead-Acid v. AGM v. Gel v. Lithium

Probably gonna try lithium next time which is right around the corner next spring. Seems like my lead acid original battery only lasted three and a half years.

I use cheap ($6) Harbor Freight float chargers on my bikes. They use about $10 of electricity/year and allow me to use cheap batteries that last 4 or 5 years, even on my 1290SAS which is notorious for eating them.

I bought a 2006 Kawa KLX250 in 2014 or early 2015 that had a Shorai Lithium in it. Battery had been in it about a year. Used the bike to teach my daughter to ride and then nearly ignored it for the rest of the time I had the POS. Sold the bike in 2022 with the SAME battery in it and it would still crank like mad. Sold me on the things.

My 2006 Yamaha FZ6 got one this spring. Not going back.

I'll never fit another Lithium battery to any bike ever again, sure they save a pound or two in weight, but the fire risk is way too high, having had one literally expand and wedge itself in the bike and come very close to exploding it's a chance I'm not willing to take. If you're worried about the weight, you'd do better to lose those two pounds off your waistline. AGM for me, GEL second.
ps. Loved the clip of the "Play it safe" advert from HEC Tasmania. 👍

Interesting video. Thanks a lot for the work done !
I am however not convinced about the suicide mission when the time for complete discharging is checked.
Lithium may discharge itself quicker, but from what I know, lithium should have less irreversible damage.
compared to Lead acid battery that will have irreversible damage, or even be dead dead.

I notice a lot of complaints about retrofitted LiFePo4 bike batteries. LiFePo4 cells get permanently damaged if discharged below 2.5v per cell. They are also less tolerant of overcharging. For a bullet proof battery an LTO pack might do well if space is available.

Building an 85 CB450SC cafe racer, with a rear monoshock conversion. I went with an antigravity lithium ion battery for it. Its tiny size makes it easy to hide somewhere.

wheel bearing grease on lead terminal never corrodes lithium starts fire right after starting bike driving in - 12 deg fahrenheit . all stick with lead thanks

Interesting stuff about batteries. I'm currently testing LiFePO4 batts in my lab at work. In another lab next door they've been doing it for 10yrs. They had their 10yr old batteries xrayed and chemically analyzed to see what their charging methods were doing to the batteries. 10 years of incorrectly charging the batteries. This means removing cold weather protection from the internal BMS. Basically the batteries stayed on and took charge and discharged regardless of temp. In our field work we have batteries at high altitude and artctic/antarctic conditions. They have similar situations in their deployments. The results showed that the batteries were damaged but that it was so miniscule that it didn't matter. They made it 10 years. So they didn't really need the xray exam or chemical analysis to point that out. But they got it done. Great video. Side not I run li Batts on my vehicles and house.

The answer is to buy the same size lithium as your normal motorcycle battery.

would love to see this revisited

I would like to see a vibration test on the batteries. It's been my experience that MC have higher vibration issues than cars. I replace more batteries in my bikes than my cars. ??????????????

I put a Lithium battery in my ATC 70 (125m motor ) bolted sideways up in the frame in 2013 & never looked at it since.2024 it still cranks fast & never gone flat.

This is 4yrs ago. I believe lithium batteries are now cheaper and has higher capacity.

I'm betting there's a few reasons why the lithium battery charged longer.

1: Modern lithium batteries quick charge up to 80%. Beyond that, they'll switch to a trickle charge, but we don't know if that charger is capable of quick charging either.

2: The charger doesn't "know" the battery, unlike your tool batteries with matching charger that can quick charge because the electronics are tuned to each other. The charger could be set to "play it safe" mode.

3: Who knows how the battery is constructed. A lot of cheap lithium batteries out of China are usually made cheaper (therefore, more dangerous) and are often rated lower than their stated capacity (and in some cases, higher).

It's not fair the lithium battery is not the same physical size as the others but smaller

Yea so gel battery it is

Please redo this test with the more appropriately spec'd LFX18A1-BS12. You used the second smallest capacity battery in their lineup and then complained about capacity... lol... come on Ryan!

That's like putting a 300cc slapper up against 650 twins, and complaining about torque!

PS: I'm glad I wore my D30 armour a couple weeks back. Direct hit to elbow and knees... guess what... not even a bruise and was at the gym same night! ;)

The best tip I have about batteries is to not hook them up backwards. It can easily be done if not paying close attention to which terminals are positive and negative. It can damage electronics beyond repair and difficult to diagnose which components will need replacement.

So if you have to get a special charger for a lithium battery... how can your bikes charging system charge the lithium battery safely without modification?

This is to much fixking science. I wanna know in short story what’s the best battery lol

Gel had a faster recharge time than Lithium? Really? Stuns me.

If you live in a climate that allows it (or just don't care how cold it gets) and ride throughout the year, the sitting discharge advantage of lithium becomes irrelevant. Thus, year-round riders only need to choose between AGM or Gel.

As soon as I hear "Lithium Battery" in connection with a vehicle I remember all those videos of electric scooters, motorcycles, public buses, etc. catching fire and burning like a small volcano.

I have a MotoBatt battery in my suzuki bandit 600. This battery has never let me down. Cold starts in the snow and even after being sat up for 2 years, after a few hours on the charger, it still started the bike. USA Motobatt is absolutely amazing. I will always buy this battery on any new bikes i purchase. Even a brand new bike i would get rid of the stock battery for a motobatt because theyre so good.

The lithium battery on my bike has 290cca and 4ah. Designed to last 2000 cycles or 10 years, can be charged with a normal 12v car battery charger, sit in any orientation and can sit unused for a year without losing charge.

Lithium is far superior IMO, especially in the right conditions - Sydney, Australia has a subtropical climate so 8°c is about the lowest it gets and I'm not running any accessories.

Well today this would be completely different with Lithium.
I'd like to see a retest

Because you didn't use a big enough charger on the Ilfepo4. It can take a way higher charge rate. I think for average guy it doesn't matter. You are going to throw the Lithium on a charge once a month over night to top it off, so a few minutes doesn't matter. But you definitely could go with a 3-amp charger on the lithium vs an 800 Mah charger and charge it in 40 mins.

Ty this is a very excellent vid!

this should be revisited

Motobatt AGM has always done me good

Fantastical. Thank you.

Soo lithium is best for the most part ?

Think I want to try a lithium battery with some kind of an adapter frame so I can use the saved space. A place to store some roadside godsends

is there any possible problems from upgrade to lithium battery on the bike that was built for lead acid/AGM battery, since they both require different voltage for charging

did not mention how BMS in Lithium can decide on the dime to turn the battery off and leave you stranded

Love how lithium battery users lying them selfs that battery last much longer, and there is weight saving. What will be lighter is only your wallet after buying one of those. It will last x time longer x times price you paid. And your weight saving won’t be noticeable after first taco or kebab you ate on your day out

Nah, I got an Antigravity ATZ-7 Restart model (has built-in jump start tech) for $76 to my door. You can't kill it, the low voltage cut off enters sleep mode creating a reserve, just enough for a couple starts after you hit the "restart" button.😁 Saved 4 lbs off my crf300, will never be stranded and don't have to winter battery tend any more! Gotta know how to shop around, find deals and choose wisely!😉

Haven't watched the video. Lithium is prime.
Also, 5 years later, and you can find a 3A battery for $40.

given current prices, I find it crazy that non lithium stuff still exists

so many real-world variables wrong with this. 1st people aren't buying garbage lithium so the 3 ah comparison was a fail.. most lithiums I shopped are double that. a battle born lithium for example can discharge 100 amps of power in an hour and recharge it at a similar rate. quality of lithium builds is everything, whereas the others are pretty much standardized.

BUUUUUUUT the lithium isn't dead after discharging to complete zero, only if left there. If you catch it after just an hour or so, it can be saved

We need a revision on this exact topic. Battery technology has evolved a lot in 5 years

Another great video, Ryan. Remember how much faster the lithium battery completely discharged with the parasitic load? Keep that in mind if your bike has, say, a clock that will always draw some power. You can kill a lithium battery before you know it if you don’t religiously keep it on the charger while it is connected to your bike. That was an expensive lesson to learn the hard way…

Forgot to mention one very important detail, the lithium battery he uses (as with most well made aut use lithium batteries) is they have a BMS built in. That's a Battery Management System that keeps a lithium from reaching dangerous temperatures, within cold or hot, preventing it from catching on fire. In fact Lithium-Iron (again most well made lithium auto use batteries are made from) is near explosive proof. Never buy a lithium ion WITHOUT a built in BMS otherwise they are just as safe as a lead acid to use .

Dear Ryan F9,

May I request an update to this video comparing the different types of lithium batteries for motorcycle application?

Like, what are the different use cases for lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) vs lithium polymer (LiPo) vs lithium cobalt oxide (LCO) vs etc?

Sincerely,
One of your many fans.

So, if you're stuck in the cold with Lithium... you'd need to heat up your battery before you can jump start it or add power to it? Otherwise if the battey is below 0 it'll cause a fire? First time i'm hearing about this. As no one mentions it & with how popular EV's are. I'd say it's necessary infomation. I was always under the impression Lithium was better in the cold stronger power & more efficient. At least that's what the big EV companies would like to suggest to me that it is..

anyone know the show at the end?