PhysicsDude55

I had searched before about putting a lithium-Iron battery in a C5, and there isn't hardly any information about it on this forum. There's a few mentions, but not a lot of details.

When I put a rear mount turbo setup on my C5, the charge pipe went through the stock battery location and I put a rear mount battery with 00 size welding wire (big thick wire!). The setup worked OK, but I often go for a few weeks without driving (like most of us here) and the rear battery setup was a PITA. The car cranked slower, charged the battery slower, etc. etc.

I decided to make the jump to a Shorai Lithium-Ion battery (LFX36L3-BS12). They're technically designed for motorcycles, but the battery is rated for 540 cranking amps, which should be plenty for a LS motor (I have a low compression LQ9 with stock starter).

I've had the battery installed for a year before posting to see how the setup works long term. It works GREAT. I was able to fit the battery on the other side of the fuse block from the stock battery location. The battery is like 1/3 the size of the stock battery and weighs less than 5 pounds. You can fit it in a variety of spots.

From my reading, the big disadvantage of Li-Ion batteries is it can severely damage the battery if you let it drain all the way. I added a battery disconnect switch under the hood that I disconnect if the car is going to sit for more than a week. The battery holds >90% of its charge after 6 months so you don't even need a trickle charger over a long winter. I've let it sat for 2 months at the longest and it started no problem after I turned the switch on. I've left the battery plugged in for 2 weeks without starting the car with no ill effects either. As most of you know, it usually takes 3-4 weeks for a C5 to drain a battery while sitting. I have not yet had a case where the battery was drained to a point where the car needed jumping.

The battery has NO ISSUE starting the engine. In most cases it cranks faster than the stock battery because it has less voltage drop. The stock charging system charges it just fine.

The battery is ~$270, so its a bit of an investment, but for modified cars its a great advantage. If you're tight in underhood space, its easy to relocate, plus no dripping acid on your ECU. It also saves ~50lbs, so ~$200 to save 50lbs on a track car or what have you is not a bad payoff at all, MUCH cheaper per weight saving than carbon fiber parts!

Just thought I would post up my experience in case someone else out there was thinking of switching to a Lithium Ion battery.

Evil-Twin

IN my opinion, lithium ion chemistry is still in flux... its not a lock that it is safe.. the potential is there so much that the US postal service will not ship lithium ion batteries.. while many LI batteries have been proven safe, I would be more skeptical of an LI battery in my Corvette. I can get 8 years out of a Red top, and @ 180 dollars, that good enough for me.

Electric vehicles (EVs) have also taken advantage of lithium-ion technology and were also under scrutiny last year after a series of crash tests on the Chevy Volt resulted in fires.


— nfpatoday.blog.nfpa.org

A fire that destroyed a Tesla Model S near Seattle last year began in the vehicle's lithium-ion battery pack.

— nytimes.com

Sox-Fan

I've been using a 15 lb AGM Braille for the last few years. Tiny foot print, plenty of start power, no leaks. Not quite as expensive as Li-ION.

PhysicsDude55

All EV LI battery fires were the result of the battery cells being punctured. A battery in or near the stock C5 battery location has almost no chance of puncture even in an extreme accident. To my knowledge there are no instances of Shorai batteries ever catching fire.

The (plastic) C5 gas tank is probably about 1000X more likely to catch fire in an accident than a 36AH lithium starter battery.

Yes I looked into Braille and Odyssey AGM batteries - they are a solid choice. I went with the LI-ION battery for 2 reasons: The very low self-discharge so that I don't have to put a tender on it, and I wanted to try the LI-ION battery because I was also thinking about getting one for my motorcycle (which I will).

The real test is how long the battery lasts. I'm hoping it will last quite a long time since I only drive the C5 about 3000 miles a year and I keep the battery switch off when not using the car. We will see!

Vetteman Jack

Hope the Lithium Ion battery works out for you long term. I've been happy with my Diehard Platinum, but it is interesting what the LI-ION battery could potentially offer.

95wht6spd

Thanks for the feedback. Battery technology has really advanced in the last 10 years. I bet it won't be long before the Li-Ion or other new tech battery replaces the old, heavy, leaky, lead acid in new cars. Please post an update when it finally dies.

TrackAire

I just received a Deltran BTL35A480C lithium battery to try on my track C5. It weighs in at 3.2 lbs on my shipping scale. Between this battery and an aftermarket hood, I should be able to drop right around 50 lbs off the car which is the main goal of trying the battery. I used an Odyssey PC680 on my last track car for nearly 4 years and it worked great and only weighed about 16 lbs. But since it went with the track car when sold, I figured I try a lithium battery this time.

Having said that, I do not trust the aftermarket lithium battery technology yet (fires, suspect charging circuitry, etc)...almost all are made in China and who knows how reliable and constant the quality control is. I will continue to use the standard lead acid battery on the street. When not in the car, the lithium battery will be on a lithium battery maintainer in a noncombustible storage spot in the shop.

I'll know next week if I made the right choice when I put the car back together and try it out.

PhysicsDude55

I've read its closer to 2000 cycles if you keep the battery above 50% charged, but I very much agree that the battery is more likely to last so many starts rather than so many years. Since I only drive my C5 once or twice a week on average, I think that means I'll get a pretty good life out of it. The battery really does seem to start the car effortlessly. A normal start probably only drains the battery 5 or 10 percent, its not like a cell phone that you drain all day and recharge at night. Again, we will just see! The batteries are new to the market so guinea pigs like me will have to see how they perform in the real world.

I wasn't clear about this on my first post but I don't think a Li-Ion battery is a good idea for a daily driver at all. I think they're great for track cars, modded cars that don't get a lot of miles, motorcycles, etc.

I have similar concerns. I went with Shorai because its probably the biggest manufacturer of automotive li-ion batteries, and they all get great reviews on amazon etc.

I tried looking up how their internal charge circuitry is, but there isn't really any information about it. Apparently most people just charge it with regular chargers and vehicle charging systems, and the batteries seem to handle it fine. I suspect you'll get much better life out of the battery if you balance charge it at least once a year. And Li-Ion batteries don't like the cold, but I don't drive the C5 when its below 40 degrees, so that's not really an issue.

smokinstorm

http://www.lithiummoto.com/

I contacted this company and they got back with me and offered to build me a special battery with twice the power needed to start the car and weigh less than 5 pounds. It's expensive but I'm going to get one when the funds avail themselves.

gilbos440rt

One thing about the fire risks is that in the electric cars it's not just one battery, but a rack of them. just a single small ion battery I don't think would carry much risk JMHO though

PhysicsDude55

I think you're kind of overkilling it. Yesterday actually my steering lock relay started acting funky, and I started the car at least 10 times within a 10 minute period to try and reset it (which eventually worked!).

My 540 CA battery had NO ISSUES at all starting the car over and over again.

Lithium batteries are different from lead acid batteries in that their voltage doesn't really drop when they get a heavy load. So the conventional cranking amps and cold cranking amp ratings don't really provide an apples to apples comparison between the batteries.

I will say for sure that my 540CA Li-Ion battery cranks the starter faster than my old 800CA interstate battery, because cranking amps means how much current the battery puts out before it drops below 7.2 Volts! My 800CA interstate battery put out 800CA at 7.2 volts, but my 540CA Li-Ion battery puts out 540CA at 13 volts, major difference!

Because Li-Ion batteries put out so much current without dropping voltage, they are prone to overheating from it. That's the only real danger, you have to have the battery sufficiently large enough that it can crank the starter without overdrawing its cells and overheating.

My personal opinion is that you don't need bigger than a 600CA li-Ion battery for a C5, but a bigger battery definitely doesn't hurt anything, except maybe your wallet!

RocketRod

Any updates on this, assuming you're still using it? Would you still recommend it for track car or weekend cruiser?

USAZR1

OP has not been on this site, for three years.

RocketRod

I know, I sent him a message also, but thought others may chime in with any feedback they had to offer.

juanvaldez

Another update . . . Lithium batteries are now shipped USPS. My latest battery for the airplane came snail mail. The battery has a little copper plate that you bolt in after receiving the battery that completes the circuit.

493lszosix

I’ve been using the 5lb lithium battery for a few years, I put it on a trickle charger if don’t drive for a few days, if it goes all the way dead then it’s done

0Antigravity

Hi All,

We've been a Member/Vendor on the forum for a good few months,I have been posting on the Board for a while.... but if you want to know anything about lightweight Lithium Batteries we are the company, Antigravity Batteries. I don't say that out of being a braggart, I say that because we offer the widest line of Lightweight lithium Ion Battery products for Motorsports by a fairly big margin. We also offer the technologically advance Lithium Batteries for Motorsport on the Market... for example our batteries have a full Battery Management System that protects them from over-discharge and many other issues. We also offer the Small Sizes as well as OEM Automotive sizes of Lithium Batteries.

Our FULL BATTERY MANAGEMENT system in our batteries, is a long way beyond what Shorai and most other companies offer. It has Low-Voltage Cut-off so you can't over-discharge and damage the battery , and most our models offer built-in jump starting so you will not be stranded by a dead battery EVER.... even if you leave you lights on!

And our latests batteries get even more in depth with our Automotive Specific batteries offering WIRELESS built-in Jump Starting so you will never be stranded again. But we also offer our Smaller Batteries with built in jump starting but its not wireless,but still have a full BMS so it can't be over-discharged and damaged...

I put a video below of our flagship model for Cars but you can check out all we do here.... https://antigravitybatteries.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4zZ0ZAIRkc

Stingroo

I am also looking into this - timely thread bump. I want to get a lithium battery to better power my car audio setup in the car, but I've been told that I need my alternator to charge at least 14.8 volts to be effective.

@Antigravity Batteries - is this the case, or can we use your product with an otherwise stock charging system (new alternator in my case, 1/0AWG wire throughout for the audio).

0Antigravity

Lithium kicks butt for this application... but it not ready for prime-time.... XS makes lithium Batteries as well as some other companies... but they don't KNOW lithium because they are putting out Battteries without a BMS... which is utterly lame, a little big dangerous and just show how they are not a real Lithium company. The reason being is because if you drain a lithium battery below about 8.5 v and lower you are severely damageing the cells. And a Car highwatt Car Stereo will easily and quickly over-discharge a battery system if something is accidentally left on. And your $4000 dollars in a killer battery set up will be useless. If you have a system with built in low-voltage cut-off that makes it safer. But not body is really doing it correctly. We are trying to now but we have many many months of testing still.

Our current auto batteries won't work since we have the low-voltage cut-off set to high for a deeper discharge you would want for a Stereo. Best bet and cheapest is still Lead/Acid... but if you smart you can use lithium.

Last I can't get into this since it would take pages...... but for fact it is NOT only about a higher voltage and wattage output from the Alternator... you actually should be charging your system outside of the car charging it if you have a very large system... because the Alternator will not keep up with charging a larger battery system, and it puts significant stress on the alternator. Last go to you tube and look up Lithium Batteries for Car stereos... unfortunately some of these guys don't know ANYTHING and are completely ridiculous but you will glean the basics about it from some respectable guys. As I said I don't want to go to deep into Lithium for Stereo until we have it... but just be wary. I've seen the Limiteless and XS stuff opened and it has not protections or BMS inside.... that is a DO NOT PASS GO warning.

Stingroo

I can respect that answer. I've used high output alternators in other cars and charged my batteries in the trunk weekly. I know there are guys out there building 16v charging systems, etc. etc. which is all fine and good, but I am not ready or willing to do that to this car. Been there done that - too much weight (last car was a Buick Century with six group 31 AGMs - it was loud, it was fun, but I still track this car. I just wanted it to be loud (I actually built it so the box is on a quick disconnect and easily removable for fun days). I was thinking about one of the little Limitless 15ah batteries, but always up to support a forum vendor if at all possible.