High_Plains_Drifter said:
My gel cell won't hold a charge time for a new battery. Has any one tried the Shorai Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery?
Yes. See details here:
http://www.bmwlt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=62343&highlight=shorai
I do need to update this. I found out this spring that the Shorai charger had stopped working sometime during the late winter. I can't remember when I last checked it, but apparently it had been INOP for 8 weeks or so as the Shorai battery was down to less than 7 volts.
I contacted Shorai and they admitted that the charger has a flaw that sometimes prevents it from recovering from a power failure without manual intervention. We had occasional power glitches in the winter due to ice, trees on the lines, etc. and I never have had a charger that didn't come back online after a power outage.
My battery would not take a charge so Shorai replaced it under warranty. They offered me a new model that has a larger case (for an additional $40). I thought the person said it was the same size as stock so it would not require all of the foam shimming and that made it worth the $40 as the foam is a pain to deal with. It turns out that this isn't the case. The width is the same as stock, but height and length are still less so two sides still require foam. And the top of the case is actually slightly wider than stock making it very hard to get the clamp in place.
At this point, as much as I like to use new technology and as good as the Shorai support folks have been thus far, I would not buy a Shorai again anytime soon.
The only real advantage I have seen thus far is less weight, but everything else is a disadvantage: cost, nonstandard case size, proprietary charger that has a firmware flaw, very inconvenient charger connection location and non-automotive quality cables and connectors (looks like something you would find in a PC), etc.
Maybe in a few more years someone will get Li-Ion done right for our bikes, but the Shorai is not it.