0Antigravity

Hi Everyone,

Antigravity Batteries here and we just signed on recently as site sponsors and wanted to drop some information on our NEWEST Line of Lithium Batteries and accessories...

We wanted to make our new line of batteries accessible for more vehicles and customers.so we started with multiple direct OEM fits in the H5, H6, H7, Group 35, and Group 51 sizes and we'll expand out from there. We have also made the batteries available in different amp hours. The Amp Hours Capacities available for the H6/Group48 model, which you'll find in your C7's are 24Ah, 30Ah, and 40Ah. By offering different amp hours the Customer can choose a battery that is more tailored to what they are looking for. For example people who track and want the lightest weight possible might want the 24Ah, a person who wants to have a solid Ah yet still benefit substantially from Lightweight can go with a 30Ah and a person who might have some Cameras, Radar Detectors and other stuff on the car might want a 40Ah Battery. Keep in mind if you use a 24Ah battery you will not have as much time that the car can sit in storage compared to a 40Ah model.

SUPER COOL NEW FEATURE ALERT!!! So one of the ULTRA-COOL items we developed into this latest battery (yep, first in the world) is aWIRELESS KEYFOB REMOTE that is used to operate our RE-START feature. If you are not familiar with our RE-START feature, it's basically a built-in jump starter for the battery, so in the event you ever come back to a dead battery you can awaken the battery with the Keyfob and start the car and drive off. So in effect you would never be stranded with a dead battery.

Availability....So our original run went over extremely well...in fact so well that it put us out of stock on many of our sizes, the good news though is that we should be looking about mid to late June to start seeing availability for those sizes to be back in stock.
As we mentioned earlier, for the C7's most of you will be looking to the H6 size battery. Those with previous year models may need a H5, Group 35, or it is possible we may not have a direct fit at this moment. That doesn't not mean however that we still might not be able to find a solution for you if you are looking to change to light weight high power lithium as we'll always do our best to cover every available option and we always encourage you to reach out to us directly with any questions you might have.

We also wanted to let you know we now make a new Bluetooth Battery Monitor. It will track your real time voltage and 31 days of historical voltage and send it to you phone if you are within 30 ft of the car. So if you walk by the car not even thinking of it you will get your data put on your phone. This also means you don't have to check the car to see real time voltage, just open the app. It will also send you an alert if your battery is getting low, so you know to put it on a charger. And if you review your historical data while the car is in storage then you can see how fast your car drains during storage and get an idea of how long you can let it sit before it needs to be put on the charger. Lastly it also has a Cranking Test and an Alternator Test... We make them for Lead/Acid Batteries as well as our Lithium-Ion Batteries...but they can work on Cars, Motorcycles, RVs or any 12v system to track your batteries health and you can even track up to 5 Batteries on one Phone.

So if you are unfamiliar or have any questions on using Lithium Batteries or any of our products please feel free to reach out to us here at the forum or directly.
Thank you! Chad - chad@antigravitybatteries.com

Foosh

Thanks for the info. Interesting stuff!

Steve Garrett

^^^ +1....welcome to CorvetteForum.

dmaxx3500

cool

and now for the bad news

how much?

DracoDan

Totally unrelated to these forums, but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE MAKE A MARINE BATTERY!!!

fatsport

I bought one last week, have not installed it yet. 5lb 1.2 oz including foam casing from Katech

0Antigravity

Hi dmaxx3500, so the new automotive options will range from $659.99-$829.99 depending on size and capacity...there are some other options if we starting into strictly race applications but that will always vary on a case by case basis.

We are actually currently working on our Deep Cycle option which would fall into this category....we're hoping to have those options available in the next 3-6 months.

Apocolipse

So you already know what battery is in the C8?

rjacobs

Thats what I was thinking...

And isnt it rumored to have the new 48v electrical system?

ArmchairArchitect

Question- are any cars using lithium starter batteries OEM from the factory? Eg. supercars/hypercars to save weight? Seems like a no brainer to easily shed weight and the more expensive sports cars have the budget to absorb the higher cost of these.

0Antigravity

Sorry guys...getting a little ahead of myself...The C7's use the H6 and yes, as you mentioned, the C8's are yet to be determined.

69427

I'm in the market for a lighter battery this season. How 'bout some usable technical info on a few of your models (CA, weight, charging requirements/limitations, warranty info, typical life, etc)?

ChargedV90

I have yet to see any supercars use lithium for a primary battery.

There are some issues with using lithium in a simple 12v system, to mitigate these issues would require expensive electronics which inflate the already EXTREMELY expensive lithium battery costs.

ChargedV90

Lithiums are really cool tech, but they aren't quite ready for the prime-time mass market OEM replacement yet IMO.

Automotive electrical systems are harsh places, and if you treat a lithium like you'd treat a lead battery, it WILL go bad on you.

With lithium:
You hook up a charger with a high amp battery starter feature in it, or just a cheap charger in general. Dead.
You let the battery completely discharge. Dead.
Battery too hot. Dead
Battery too cold. Not enough power.
No internal cell management system: Dead
And when I say dead, I mean the battery is junk. Buy a new one.

Even with proper treatment, Lithium can only be expected to last 6-8 years. If you treated a lead battery this well it would last up to 12 years.

Now AntiGravity seems like a reputable company because they actually put a Battery cell management system on their battery. MANY 12v lithium battery mfrs are crooks and do not do this. And if this system fails it's covered under warranty (prorated) So props to them. However, it's not user accessible so if a CELL fails the entire battery is still junk. You cannot just replace the bad cell.

They also seem to include a partial over-discharge protection system. But over-discharge is NOT covered under warranty.

IMO for a lithium battery to be ready for prime time mass 12v automotive adoption, It would need a thermal management system (for cold climates) a battery cell management system that indicates bad cells, full over-discharge protection, high voltage protection, and voltage spike protection.

You don't want to know how much that battery costs lol.

ChargedV90

That being said, if you're into racing and motorsport, the ATX30 ($400) is a good choice and should start anything but a diesel. But don't expect it to run your stereo without the engine running for very long.

If you're even more hardcore and you're running a bone stock engine, or a low compression turbo engine (possibly even a blower engine) I would even recommend the ATZ10 ($200). It should have just enough energy to start your engine and is half the size and weight and more importantly half the price. It might be advisable to start your engine with an auxiliary battery outside the vehicle to save wear and tear. And you might have an occasion or two where you need to jump start your car if you have engine issues with an extended crank. But like I said, it's half the price.

In either scenario, you need to always monitor system voltage. Preferably test or monitor it with an oscilloscope to verify there are no serious voltage spikes in your electrical system. Keep the battery under 160*F. And basically ALWAYS keep it on a lithium charger or disconnect it whenever it's not in use.

PROTIP: Usually there are commercially available lithium cells used in batteries like this. If your lithium battery dies, then tear it apart and check the voltage of each individual cell. Any that significantly deviate from the average (or any that are under 3v or over 4.3v) replace with EXACT manufacturer replacements. This way you can potentially get much more life out of your lithium battery pack.
CAUTION: Lithium batteries can be very dangerous. And cell replacement might require delicate work and electrical soldering.

andersnor

which one is that? I also have a katech box, does it come with poles? remote start? start button?

previous owner has a 70ah battery in my z06 c6, awesome for starting, but not so awesome for track.

To antigravity, Im trying to figure out what "large" 40ah of your products would fit c6 z06.

0Antigravity

Hi guys, so I'll try and touch on the responses as much as I can to cover your questions and provide some more information. If I miss anything or you have more questions related towards your application please feel free to email me directly at chad@antigravitybatteries.com and I'd be happy to help any way I can. Plus it's sometimes a little easier and quicker than catching it on the forums.

So to start, Andersnor, I think we can use either an H5 or Group 35 for your Z06 , I would just want to go over a few more details and see what you have physically for space in the car in regards to clearance to see what would work best.

Now to elaborate on the batteries, lithium is not for everybody and we totally understand that. From a performance standpoint there are some huge advantages, but from a recreational perspective it might not make as much sense to make the change. Some of the advantages to consider are,

1. Lightweight-This is the obvious one, in an automotive application you can easily drop 30 or more lbs in comparison to the stock lead/acid battery. From a cost standpoint when you compare it to exhaust system upgrades or what the cost is to change components to light weight materials like carbon fiber it's a much more cost effective solution.
2. Performance-besides the light weight advantage in this aspect lithium also performs at max output and efficiency. To elaborate lead/acid will decrease in output the longer it's drawn upon and steady decline and slope down where as lithium does not and the output stays constant and plateaus at the top end unit it reaches end of capacity and then drops.
3. Lifespan-typically a lead/acid battery will be rated from 1000-1500 cycles..yes you can by all means get longer but performance will eventually show, lithium will be rated for 2000-2500 cycles so over all you should get a longer life out of the battery.

Now some additional info in regards to the comments, questions, and concerns. I'm not aware of anyone using lithium yet as a stock option off of the floor but you do have options with some manufactures like Porsche which offer a factory OEM option for a lithium battery. And while motorcycles are not the same in comparison to systems and functionality they are a vehicle and we've seen many manufactures start to use lithium as a stock battery in newer models.

When it comes to charging the battery an automotive stock vehicle system is going to do the job just fine and operate well within the parameters of lithium's profile. You'll usually see output voltage from 13v to 14.5v coming from the system when charging and lithium rests at a voltage of 13.2v so this is right in the battery's wheelhouse. It's when we see voltages higher than 15v that we need to look and see if something else might be going on that needs to be addressed. Now when using a remote stand alone charger it's our recommendation to use an intelligent one rated specifically for Lithium Iron Phosphate such as the lithium option Ctek makes. The reason being a standard lead/acid charger has a different profile that may not correctly identify or properly charge the battery. In many cases these chargers provide topping off at the end of cycle and a lithium battery discharges at an extremely slow rate in comparison to a lead/acid so you can find the battery being over charged. In addition some lead/acid options will also have a desulfate mode which uses high voltage to clean the plates on a lead/acid battery, again something that can damage a lithium battery. Lastly, if for some reason the lithium battery is over discharged it needs to be massaged up very slowly until it is returned to a normal state otherwise it can be damaged, and a lead acid charger can to that by charging to too fast.

Now in regards to temperature, excessive heat can damage any battery period plain and simple. What advantage you have with our automotive and Re-Start options is that there is also thermal protections built in to protect the battery from excessive conditions. and to be honest it DOES have to be very excessive. We've run our batteries in race applications for the last 10 years so we know most of the time this isn't something we run into unless there's another underlying issue. With the cold it's a little bit different in that it can be considered another advantage over lead/acid..but that's provided you understand how lithium functions in that environment...to be honest, lithium runs sluggish in colder climates, think closer to freezing temps in that regard, but it can be self warmed to reach full functionality. In other words, you can turn on the ignition or engage the lights for say 3-5 minutes, something that draws off of the battery and this will take it out of it's dormant state and begin to "self warm" the cells allowing the battery to reach full capacity at which point then you'd be able to attempt starting and turning the engine over. With a lead acid battery in colder conditions if you are unable to start out of the gate the decline I mentioned earlier starts to come into play..the longer it's drawn on the more it goes down and the less power you have to start.

Lastly, to touch on warranty...so our automotive batteries have a 5 year warranty. 3 year full replacement and 2 year prorated. Over discharge is not covered by warranty but let's clear that up a little. The BMS (battery management system) is designed to protect the battery from letting this happen but we have to state it in the warranty because it is not impossible for someone to abuse the battery and put it into this state. If someone for example has a starting issue and continuously hits and enables the Re-Start feature even though the vehicle is not being started it will continue to drain the battery down, granted it would take time and effort to do this but it can be done. So of course as with any product warranty you have to cover all aspects.

Again sorry if I missed anyone's questiond or was a little lengthy in the details but please let us know if there's any other questions or anything we can do for you.

0Antigravity

Well the 40Ah model would work well in Marine for the STARTING BATTERY only.... but you should have the Deep Discharge batteries on a battery isolator for the other electronics and stereos and such. The maxium capacity , at this time is the 40Ah battery and it has alot of cranking power , but the Ah capacity is low. Most use a battery isolator so the Starter Battery won't get over-discharged.

0Antigravity

Hi Fat,

Can you tell me what model that is... my problem is that that particular model is one of our Powersport Battery sizes.... and while a number of people use them in their Performance Cars, they do have a much lower Amp Hour Capacity and we do not want to recommend them for Street Use IF the user doesn't understand the limitations of the Smaller Batteries. So I just want to make that clear. It appears to be a ATX20... but I'm not positive. So I just want to make clear that this size is very small, and depending on the Year of the Vette it might not play so well with the stock system because on the latest Vettes, they want to see an ability to be able to be drawn down to less than 12.5v.... and the smaller batteries like these don't like that so much. So if you could reach out to use and let us know the use, and car you plan on putting it in. We want to make sure it right for your application. You can write to chad@antigravitybatteries.com and scott@antigravitybatteries.com.

Doctor Mark

FYI lithium batteries are standard equipment in all McLarens, some Porsche models and the Ferrari Pista.