New Product: Aliant Ultralight Lithium Batteries: 3.6 lbs., 5 inches x 3 inches!

[Captain Snooze]

Originally Posted by tennisfreak

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO......................

@JRitt can you please respond to any of the questions posed in this thread?

Thanks!

Believe it or not Jeff doesn't spend all his time just
patrolling this forum. He will give his usual comprehensive
replies when he is able.

[Calum]

Originally Posted by wparsons

How viable are these for daily driven cars? The CCA looks like it could actually be kept in during winter months in Canada too!

I ran a car for two years on a lawn tractor battery with all of about 180 cca. As long as you're kind to your charging system (Don't run the rear defrost with the blower on high kinda thing) and use synthetic oil, you should be find with that battery.

[Stumpygt86]

Just a couple of questions

1, can you provide a picture of the battery mounted in the car with the terminals attached
2, Is the charging system of our cars suitable for this battery, ie, will can it over charge the battery
3, If the battery gets below 8v, does this mean it has to be replaced
4, what type of trickle charger should be used as I would rather not be resetting the ecu every week (I work away, 8 on and 6 off)

Cheers,

Jeff

[JRitt]

Hi Guys,

When you say recommended, you mean for a track application, or for a DD?

I kinda doubt you can bolt this battery into your DD and have it perform like the stock battery in these situations:

-leave the car for a week or two on vacation, lead acid will still have lots of power despite the parastatic draw
-start the car when it is -35F outside (which does affect some people on these forums)
-jump start the car when you (doooooh!) leave a light on and kill the battery

You can use this battery for road and/or track application. No, you don't want to leave your car sit for two weeks while you're on vacation with the battery connected. In that case you'd want to disconnect it or hook it to a trickle charger.

The battery is designed to operate down to -22 degrees F, so not a good choice for winter use in Canada or other frigid climates. My recommendation is to stick to your OEM for that...or just move south you crazies!

If you leave your lights on and kill it, it's pretty much toast and unrecoverable.

In regards to this:
• Do I need to do anything with the battery while my car is sitting idle?
The battery should be disconnected from your vehicle when it is not in use (it is also possible to disconnect a cable or to install a master switch for the battery / isolator). In fact, if the battery is not disconnected from the electrical circuit of the vehicle, its life cycle will reduce considerably due to current drain from the vehicle's electrical circuit. You shouldn't forget that a vehicle is never completely turned off. Even though battery maintenance is not necessary, it is IMPORTANT to disconnect the vehicle cables from the battery terminals. Otherwise the lithium battery will be TOTALLY DISCHARGED in 3-4 weeks.

Does this mean any time the car is not on? As in over night or when parked somewhere like work?

Also, what is the typical life span of a battery like this when it is not exposed to extreme conditions or operated out of what would be considered normal conditions?

It's fine to leave the car sit overnight or a day or two in most cases (that obviously depends on the specific car and which model battery you're using). The more electronics on the car that are continually drawing power, the faster the battery will drain. For the average guy parking his car in his garage overnight or for a day or two, the car will fire right up as normal when you go to start it.

When using the battery under normal conditions, life expectancy is 5-7 years.

Another question. If it is left to sit and goes below 8V static, you can't just boost the car and let the alternator charge it?

Is there an affordable Ctek option here in NA? I see the xs800 seems to be a model from the other side of the Atlantic.

On a side note... these things are exxxxxxxpensive judging by what they go for on small aircraft sites.

No, if you discharge the battery pretty much all the way it is shot.

Yes, we offer two different chargers here in NA. Both of these are in stock in our warehouse in Charlotte, NC.

Aliant CB1210 charger- Main 10 amp charger

Aliant CB1203 charger- Smaller 3 amp charger that won't charge the battery as quickly, but would be good as a trickle charger.

Both chargers have auto-shutoff to prevent overload, etc.

Porsche offers a small Lithium battery as a factory installed option in some of their cars for about $1700. If you buy it after the fact, it's about $3k. Therefore at roughly 1/4 of the price, the Aliant is actually pretty darn reasonable compared to OEM and other aftermarket options.

How viable are these for daily driven cars? The CCA looks like it could actually be kept in during winter months in Canada too!

They are completely viable for a daily driver. See my temp ratings above for cold weather...and they're good up to 140 degrees F on the hot end of the spectrum, so no issues in AZ, Cali, FL, etc.

1, can you provide a picture of the battery mounted in the car with the terminals attached
2, Is the charging system of our cars suitable for this battery, ie, will can it over charge the battery
3, If the battery gets below 8v, does this mean it has to be replaced
4, what type of trickle charger should be used as I would rather not be resetting the ecu every week (I work away, 8 on and 6 off)

No, we sold our BRZ a long time ago, so we can't offer any pics of it installed. Sorry!

Yes, the battery can integrate seamlessly into the car without any issues. There is a microprocessor controlled BMS (battery management system) built into every battery to extend cell life and make the use of the most common chargers and maintainers possible, prevent overcharge, etc. Very nice and reliable technology.

Yes, if you accidentally discharge the battery completely, it's shot. If you're driving the battery on a regular basis, it will be recharged by your alternator just like your OEM one is. If you plan to leave it sit for a while, disconnect the battery or hook it up to a trickle charger.

The Aliant 1203 charger is a great (and inexpensive) trickle charger that would work well in your situation.

Believe it or not Jeff doesn't spend all his time just
patrolling this forum. He will give his usual comprehensive
replies when he is able.

Lol...I do spend some of my time patrolling here. I'm also on the M3 forum, mustang forums, corvette forums, NASIOC, EvoM, Focus...argh...I need to clone myself.

Sorry I didn't get back sooner. It's tougher for me over the weekends when I'm trying to spend time with my family, etc...and they were all sick with the flu this weekend..wheee!

[cjd]

Looks like one of us will just have to pony up and install to share pics. It's great to have options.

Any benefit to one mounting position over another?

I'm intrigued and may try it out (how many options are there? and a nice tray option with this) but that probably won't be for another couple months at least (maybe more!) Depends on timing on the other stuff I need, and weight savings is at the bottom of my list - I will likely be slow anyway this year, no amount of weight savings will help. Guess it depends just how competitive STX is here, and how much I remember from my years past.

[LittleBlueGT]

Originally Posted by JRitt

If you leave your lights on and kill it, it's pretty much toast and unrecoverable.

Well that would be one expensive "forgot to turn my lights off" day!

There are other lithium-iron-phosphate batteries that have a slightly different BMS that will not allow you to toast the battery this way.

I think that is a BIG deal.

[JRitt]

Here are some customer pics of an Aliant X4 installed in an FT86:

[Yoniyama]

This is so exciting!


Of course $400 is expensive for a battery. But it is acceptable for a weight reduction exercise, at about $16/lb or $35/kg.


I have a personal goal to reduce weight of the Toybaru by 100lb (45kg), without giving up any practicality.


I am still about 30lb away. I think this lithium battery will help me reach my goal.


Thank you for bringing this to our attention.