I am about to order one of these and found this useful information on another site.
"All lead-acid batteries can outgas hydrogen. In the case of AGM/Gel, it only happens during an overcharge situation, typically. Statements to the contrary are urban myth.
ANY battery must have its terminal charge voltage carefully controlled, or the battery will be damaged. In the case of Lead-acid (All types) an overcharge condition is also potentially dangerous. In the case of Li-Cobalt (laptop/cell battes) over-voltage charging can lead to thermal runaway (fire). Shorai LFX use LiFePO4, which are NOT subject to thermal runaway due to over-voltage charge conditions. Over-voltage charging will damage Shorai LFX, as it will any other battery, and that is it.
LiFePO4 have exactly the same charge requirements as a typical lead acid battery, 14.2~14.6V, 14.4V nominal, and the same charge curve, CC/CV.
CCA Ratings for lead-acid don't translate well in comparison to SHorai LFX, because we typically hold up to 2V higher during cranking than an equivalent-rated lead-acid battery. Since it is WATTS that starts your vehicle (A*V), this means that we crank much better than our CCA specs indicate."
"No, no joke. "Amps" never started a single motorcycle. Watts (V*A=W) start motorcycles. And batteries don't supply "CCA" in the real world; they supply the current drawn by a starter motor, which is based on the load on the motor, and the voltage delivered from battery to starter.
As for voltage, 12V is a "nominal" rating. A fully charged AGM will provide about 12.8V, a fully charged Shorai LFX about 14V.
Since lithium batteries start with a higher nominal voltage, and our LFX hold voltage under load better than the lead-acid we replace, we deliver more watts per CCA rating. As stated in our FAQ, if you are interested in actual cranking performance rather than a CCA rating designed for 12.8V lead-acid batteries, you can multiply our CCA by a factor of 1.5 for a closer comparison to lead-acid CCA ratings, in terms of delivered cranking speed.
To re-cap, CCA ratings were never intended to convey anything but the relative voltage performance of lead-acid batteries, under a given "real world" load. Since the voltage delivery of lead vs lithium can be very different, CCA ratings alone do not provide a full indicator of relative performance.
When you buy a battery, you are buying DELIVERED (not nominal) "Voltage per $", or "Voltage per gram (oz)", or a combination of those mixed with lifespan considerations.
PS: I really don't want to get into a flame war here, but your statements regarding the fire hazard threat of LiFePO4 chemistry aren't right. The web is full of inaccurate statements on this point. A voltage of 24V PER CELL is required to push LiFePO4 into liquification before a fire is possible. That means the charging system would have to output 80V+ to even enter the possibility. No motorcycle will continue to run at anywhere near 80V. Ignition systems would be likely to fail at anything above 18V... As for "oxidation-induced life problems" that Lithium have, that is just saying that lithium age like everything else on the planet. It isn't a "problem" nor does it imply a short life."
