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LFX TROUBLESHOOTING AND BATTERY MAINTENANCE

 

 

 

LFX TROUBLESHOOTING AND BATTERY MAINTENANCE

 

 

SHORAI LFX Batteries are designed exclusively for Powersports STARTER Battery Applications.

Want to know how to keep your Shorai LFX™  Battery performing at its optimum?  Please check out our Top 10 to increase the longevity of your battery for years of fast-cranking starts!  If you have a 6V battery, please halve all voltage readings stated as voltages mentioned are for 12V.

 

1. Do you have the CORRECT BATTERY for your powersports vehicle? For the most up to date recommendation, please visit www.ShoraiPower.com/display to confirm before installation.  Other websites’ recommendations may be incorrect or outdated.  Vehicle not on our finder?  Call customer service (ph.  888-477-4848) **We do not recommend, nor warranty, usage for cars, Vtwin motors over 110Ci, aircraft, boats, electric scooters/bicycles, and other total loss systems.

 

2. VOLTAGE TOO LOW: This is the #1 reason we may see a return. Leaving your key on isn’t the only way to drain a battery.  Repeat crank attempts, non-use, and accessories (such as alarms), even your clock can cause your battery to fall below 12.86V (resting voltage) over time which can damage your battery over time.  LFX™ batteries should be recharged whenever resting voltage drops to 13.1V, or sooner.

 

3. KEY-OFF DRAW, or PARASITIC LOAD: This is almost always the culprit behind batteries discharging while not in use. While the Shorai LFX™ battery has a very slow discharge rate (it will hold at or above 13.1V for approximately 1 year without a load), if installed in a vehicle the electrical system draw can discharge the battery over time.   Standard draw is about 1-3 mAh on modern motorcycles, with some vehicles having as high as 20-30mA!  Damage due to overdischarge is not a manufacturing defect and is not covered under warranty.

How much does YOUR bike having running in the background?

  • Switch your Digital Multimeter to DC mA, 20m/mA is usually sufficient unless you have a considerable key-off draw—if so switch it to 200m/mA.
  • Disconnect the negative terminal from the battery to your motorcycle.  Do not touch the positive terminal connection.  Keep it as is, covered and protected.
  • Place the Negative (black) Multimeter probe on the negative post of the battery and the Positive (red) probe on the ground wire (and together with any others that were connected to it; accessories like a Power Commander or alarm, lights).  You may hold the ground/negative wires together with your hand when checking, it will not shock you.
  • The digital readout should read no more than 4 to 5 mA.  If the reading is higher than 4-5 mA, the vehicle will need more frequent charging.  Most motorcycles are less than 1 mA.
  • Accessories such as GPS, computers, and grip warmers which are left on, and even stock anti-theft deterrents will discharge your battery extremely fast.  Please ascertain all non-anti-theft, or non-essential device accessories can be turned off and note that you will need to charge your battery more often while using even the factory anti-theft device.

 

4. VEHICLE CHARGING SYSTEM OUTPUT: If your vehicle’s charging system is not working properly, the battery will be discharged while in operation. 

How to check your vehicle’s charging system output (You will need a MultiMeter):

  • Connect a multimeter to the fully charged battery while the bike is running. The voltage should read no less than 13.3V at idle.  Turn on any accessories you may use normally and determine if it is at, or above, 13.1V.
  • Check the voltage when the bike is running.  The voltage should read 13.6V-14.4V at ~2000 RPM to be an ideal output for our Shorai LFX batteries.  It is typical to see the voltage rise/fall when the rpms do so, respectively.
  • You should also perform a voltage output check with your normal accessory usage to determine if your battery can remain charged while using your accessories.

 

5. ACCESSORIES: Lights, Radios, Phone Chargers, etc. should not remain on when the vehicle is not running.  Accessories are designed to run off of the charging system of the vehicle, not the reserve of the battery.  If you have several aftermarket, or high-draw OEM accessories on the vehicle that creates more of a draw than your charging system can restore to the battery, your battery will begin to drain.  Once this happens, your vehicle may not start or run correctly.  If you continue to attempt to crank the motor or use the vehicle to charge a deeply discharged battery, you can cause physical cell and possibly battery case damage.

 

6. CHARGING: Although we recommend the Shorai Charge and Store Battery Management System to keep your battery at its healthiest, you can use a 2 amp or less, 3-stage, compatible Charger that does not have a desulfation mode as long as your battery has not fallen below 12.86V. Charging a deeply discharged LFX battery on a non-balancing charger can result in cell imbalances and possible case damage if too much voltage goes into the cells too fast.   Please remove your battery from the charger as soon as it is fully charged.  Never use a charger if it has an automatic recovery, or "desulfation mode", which cannot be turned off as this will damage the battery.  A nonbalancing charger may charge (or overcharge) only one or two cells completely which then “tricks” the charger into determining that the battery is fully charged.

 

7. We do NOT recommend most battery chargers/tenders//trickle chargers FOR STORAGE/MAINTAINING: Ideal storage voltage is 13.3V.  Most common retail battery chargers do not maintain a high enough voltage and may cause damage to the cells over time.  If you are not going to use your vehicle for long periods, don’t have a Shorai charger, or won’t be able to start your bike occasionally (at ~2000 rpm) to keep it charged, you can instead charge the battery to full (~14.4V) then disconnect the negative terminal lead from battery to bike.  This will prevent any key-off draw from draining your battery during non-use.

 

8. PHYSICAL CASE DAMAGE (leaking, bowed, or opened battery case): Physical battery case damage is caused from too much voltage and/or current. This can occur from excess starter current if you have too small of a battery for your vehicle.  Starter current should be 25-50% of the battery’s CCA rating.  It can also be caused by a deeply discharged battery being “jumped” or  roll-started and then allowing the motorcycle to charge the battery at a high amperage/voltage the rest of the way.  Physical case damage may also be indicative of a faulty regulator or very strong charging system output of over 15.2V at the terminals.  Damage can occur if a non-balancing charger is used on a very deeply discharged battery (or on a battery that has been internally shorted due to cell damage) you may risk cell/case expansion if too much voltage goes into one or two cells.

 

9. CORROSION: Although not very common, we sometimes receive batteries which show signs of corrosion, either at the charging/diagnostics port covered by the gray cap on the front of the battery.  Corrosion generally happens for two reasons:  1. Moisture introduced during water crossings, pressure washing after rides, repeat exposure to frost and thaw, or storage in high-humidity areas.  Corrosion due to moisture can be somewhat remedied (other than full on drops in the river), by occasionally replenishing the dielectric grease in the charging/diagnostics port.  For off-road vehicles or watercraft, you may also and increase water resistance by applying liquid electrical tape or RTV silicone on the case split seam and around the base of the terminals.  2. Corrosion can also happen due to sustained deep discharges.

 

10. PIN DAMAGE / SHORTING (WARNING – DANGER!): Please be careful when inserting the SHO-BMS01 charger cable, Battery cell checker cables, or closing the gray charging/diagnostics port door.  If you force either of these into the port when misaligned it can cause the pins to become damaged and possibly break off, or bend towards one another, thereby shorting the battery.  Once this occurs, the LFX battery cannot be charged correctly using the Shorai charger, nor balanced, or recovered.