Which Lithium Ion battery maintainer - same Lead acid tender, or a new Li tender?

[johnv50]

For those of you who have upgraded to a Lithium battery, are you using the same tender you used with the lead acid battery, or did you need to buy a new maintainer ??

 

[zich6]

Same, all I use is Noco.

 

[RayBJ]

Lithium batteries need a battery tender/charger designed for lithium batteries.
Tradition tenders/chargers can damage a lithium battery.
Caveat: Some Lithium batteries are 'smart' and can survive traditional tenders.

 

[BertRemington]

There are three separate issues specific to "lithium" batteries here:

Charging: a good quality battery charger for any chemistry with a "motorcycle-specific" charge rate can be used to recharge the lithium battery no longer than 8 hours.

Maintaining: a good quality lithium-specific battery maintainer can be used for long-term maintenance of a lithium battery.

Balancing: some lithium batteries (eg Shorai) offer a specific interface through which the cell-to-cell balance can be restored. The specific charger for this purpose can also be used for maintaining.

 

[racoon]

I use a Battery Tender Jr for the original battery in my 2024 Spyder.

There is also a Battery Tender Jr that allows you to select the battery type you're maintaining, so you can maintain "lead-acid (AGM, flooded, or gel) or lithium (LiFePO4)" batteries.
You do have to push a button to switch it to the correct battery type.

https://www.batterytender.com/produ...electable-lead-acid-lithium-battery-charger_7

 

[Snowbelt Spyder]

For those of you who have upgraded to a Lithium battery, are you using the same tender you used with the lead acid battery, or did you need to buy a new maintainer ??

Any Lithium battery designed as a "drop in" replacement for a lead acid battery (flooded cell, AGM, etc) in a vehicle / power-sports machine, has an electronic system on a circuit board, usually at the top of the battery. Called the Battery Management System - BMS. That makes the lithium battery compatible with a vehicle's standard "float charge" type charging system. So, I guess you could call that a smart battery. But, it's not that smart.

Most any high quality charger or maintainer has a "de-sulfation mode" as part of their charging profile. This will either damage a lithium battery, or confuse the BMS and shutdown the battery. Thus, you should use a charger or maintainer that is designed to accommodate lithium batteries. Some do both, some just do Lead Acid, some just do Lithium. It will state that in the documentation for the unit. I think this is always a good choice for dedicated lithium battery use:

https://optimate1.com/product/oml4s1a/

or for both types:

https://optimate1.com/product/om2d/