8 cell ballistic battery in a Harley sportster 883 XL

Domon

Domon

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Hey guy, I have a 8 cell ballistic battery for sale and I selling to my friend we put it in his Harley sportster 883 and bike fires up no problem the only difference is that the 8 cell is 4.6Amp/hr but the recommend a 16cell for him which is a 9.2 Amp/hr. Cca is higher too. Should I just take the battery back I don't to have issues later.
 
Domon said:
Hey guy, I have a 8 cell ballistic battery for sale and I selling to my friend we put it in his Harley sportster 883 and bike fires up no problem the only difference is that the 8 cell is 4.6Amp/hr but the recommend a 16cell for him which is a 9.2 Amp/hr. Cca is higher too. Should I just take the battery back I don't to have issues later.
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I usually go even one model larger than what is recommended. 8 cell for my bike, I went 12! If you put too much stress on the battery you can unbalance the cells, and if you don't have their super spiffy balancing charger your battery won't live a long life at all :(
 
So I should just take it back and he should get the larger 16 cell one. Ballistic only sales 16 cell as there highest one
 
Domon said:
So I should just take it back and he should get the larger 16 cell one. Ballistic only sales 16 cell as there highest one
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It's twice as powerful as the one you have, I would recommend that's what you do.
 
880 cc twin is wice as hard to start as 880 cc 4 cyl.
Bigger battery needed.

My Fireblade starts fine with a 8 cell....will barely crank over my KTM
 
so hes used the batter twice so far will that damage the battery? we plan on take it out tonight.
 
Domon said:
so hes used the batter twice so far will that damage the battery? we plan on take it out tonight.
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Only if he cranked it over for long periods of time and/or if the battery wasn't at a very high charge level. And if anything it'd probably just need to be balanced, no permanent damage done yet.
 
hpvchewy said:
Only if he cranked it over for long periods of time and/or if the battery wasn't at a very high charge level. And if anything it'd probably just need to be balanced, no permanent damage done yet.
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This is a little of topic to what a started but is there another battery charger that can balance each cell other than the ballistic one.($70 bucks)
 
Domon said:
This is a little of topic to what a started but is there another battery charger that can balance each cell other than the ballistic one.($70 bucks)
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I know my friend uses his remote control plane battery charger to balance the 4 cell ballistic battery in his track bike. The local hobby shop even had the BMS adapter so it'll plug right into the funky port on the battery. Not sure if they make hobby chargers that work with 8 and 16 cells or not, and if they do I doubt it would be cheaper than the $70 unit that ballistic sells.
 
hpvchewy said:
I know my friend uses his remote control plane battery charger to balance the 4 cell ballistic battery in his track bike. The local hobby shop even had the BMS adapter so it'll plug right into the funky port on the battery. Not sure if they make hobby chargers that work with 8 and 16 cells or not, and if they do I doubt it would be cheaper than the $70 unit that ballistic sells.
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Check out hobbyking. Tons of lipo balancing chargers for $30+.

What you have to ask yourself here, is it turning over the motor and how well is it turning over the motor? Will lowering the ambient temp and subsequent thicker oil be too much?

The LifePO4 cells that are in there only really start to become unbalanced when they are reaching their lower voltage. As in, they all start to fall off the cliff at different capacities. Dont come close to reaching their capacity limits and they will stay pretty balanced.
 
LifePO4 cells are more tolerable to stress than your standard LiPo cells. Assuming the batteries voltage doesn't drop below 12.5V I honestly wouldn't worry all that much. Mind you, no lithium based battery likes the cold so as long as you don't start the bike when its below 5-10 Celsius I wouldn't worry much about getting the larger pack. The cold is where lead acid batteries become king.

4 cells in series:
Full charged voltage: 14.4V
Working Voltage 12-13.2V
Dead: 11.2V

I'd LIKE to assume Ballistic chose a technology of LiFePO4 that becomes inert if penetrated/damaged, so I wouldn't worry about fire/leaking/explosion from over cranking the battery.
Although if the warranty on the battery isn't at least 2 years (unconfirmed) I'd personally not take any risk... that just displays a lack of confidence in their product and quality control.

P.S. hobbyking is brilliant, but reviews are also important when selecting a charger (I hated recieving one that didnt meet advertised specs; was tolerably close though not worth the trouble of an exchange)

Red_Liner740 is correct about the cells only going out of balance under low capacity conditions. Assuming your stator/rectifier is keeping the battery topped off I wouldn't worry one bit.... you can get away with never balancing it, otherwise they'll have a swarm of complaints for not advertising it was mandatory.
 
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