Lithium Battery lightweight

[Aevus]

Thinking of replacing the heavy battery by a lithium one, and I found that one that delivers 700 amp of starting power

https://no.co/nlp30


any possible issue with that?

[LCatGA]

Sounds too light especially for such a big engine

[LCatGA]

You might get away with 2 of them in parallel
1400 cranking might be enough. Or not.

[LCatGA]

https://www.golithium.com/product-page/go-lithium-16v-racing-battery

I'd say this is a bare minimum. 1250 might not be enough. But even single small one might work

[LCatGA]

I just looked up CCA on gen2 - 750. So I take my comment back, if your car starts right away this one might work. Now, you ever drive it every day or keep it on charger and don't forget to turn off all the lights

[efnfast]

Viper surprisingly doesn't need a lot of cca to start - I've started it before with an Optima group 51R (450 cca) .... not suggesting though you want to go that small, just that it will start and run the car just fine. But how that translates into lithium ion amps I dunno.

[Siciliano15]

Ive used these braille batteries before and they are amazing. A lithium battery with say 1200 CCA behaves similar to a standard acid battery with around 1500 CCA or even more. The lithium batteries are a full volt higher while cranking and dont discharge if sitting for a while unused. They also charge faster while driving so the alternator has an easier job which may decrease power robbing from the rotation. Also they are a steadier energy so if you have a big lumpy cam and the lights are dimming with the cam lope, that goes away with a lithium battery. Ive witnessed all these improvements on my cars its a great modification.

https://braillebattery.com/collections/green-lite/products/g-sbs40c-greenlite-automotive-racing-lithium-battery-charger-combo
https://braillebattery.com/collections/intensity/products/i35x-intensity-lithium-group-35-battery

[Old School]

Thinking of replacing the heavy battery by a lithium one, and I found that one that delivers 700 amp of starting power

https://no.co/nlp30


any possible issue with that?

Racers have been using lawn mower and motorcycle batteries forever to save weight. You really only need that CCA when the engine is very cold, so if you're not starting it when it's 12F, it will probably be fine.

[Sniper]

If I remember right, Doug Shelby quit selling the lithium batteries because they had issues…

[Cap'n Hook]

The problem with lithium is the charging characteristics. Unless you setup your charging system to work specifically with lithium, you’re not gonna do yourself any favors. They’re completely different animals compared to lead acid batteries, regarding over/under charging.

If, on the other hand, you enjoy watching your car burn to the ground, you’re on the right track.

[Siciliano15]

I think thats true in some cases so you gotta be sure to order the right one. The Braille ones that I use say right on them that they are 100% compatible with the vehicles standard charging system and are designed to replace the factory lead battery. I put one in my Dakota R/T and going to be another one in my TransAm when that needs a new one. Not sure if I am going to do the Viper though because that is weight over the rear wheels which is needed so I may keep using the stock Mopar battery im not sure yet.

[MinGrey02Stg2]

The modern auto lithium batteries have circuit boards in them to make sure the charge/discharge/alternator voltage variation is all handled well. I have an Antigravity ATX20-HD battery in my supercharged V8 kit car and it's the size of an ATV battery (6.89 x 3.4 x 5.12 inches), weighs 5lbs, and cranks that engine up like nothing at all. The only downside is capacity so I have to keep it on a tender, but there's absolutely no shortage of cranking power. There are little hand-held lithium jump boxes that will start a completely dead diesel farm tractor- you'll be fine with a small lithium in the Viper.

[Steve-Indy]

Lithium batteries certainly have size and weight advantages while providing excellent power...are are thus well suited for race cars. I personally see no great advantage in using them in street cars...unless one counts bragging rights. :)

[Steve M]

The modern auto lithium batteries have circuit boards in them to make sure the charge/discharge/alternator voltage variation is all handled well. I have an Antigravity ATX20-HD battery in my supercharged V8 kit car and it's the size of an ATV battery (6.89 x 3.4 x 5.12 inches), weighs 5lbs, and cranks that engine up like nothing at all. The only downside is capacity so I have to keep it on a tender, but there's absolutely no shortage of cranking power. There are little hand-held lithium jump boxes that will start a completely dead diesel farm tractor- you'll be fine with a small lithium in the Viper.

To be blunt: I'm not putting my faith in a cheap, Chinese made circuit board to keep the electrical system happy in my low-production, nearly impossible to find parts for Viper. If that circuit board isn't properly designed or manufactured, you could be inviting a lot of trouble to save a few pounds. If I have to be part of some company's R&D because they don't have the budget to do meaningful testing (and pretty much none of them do), my answer is going to be a hard no.

If you have a higher risk tolerance, so be it.

[Old School]

It's only recently that Tesla has switched from a lead acid 12v battery to a lithium ion.

[Aevus]

Thinking of replacing the heavy battery by a lithium one, and I found that one that delivers 700 amp of starting power

https://no.co/nlp30


any possible issue with that?



cold started tonight, after a winter of storage, my 10.9:1 CR motor with that tiny battery and it worked like a charm.

[Aevus]

forget that NLP30 for street use, it lasted exactly 5 start-ups. Great cranking power though, while it lasts... Looks great for track use though.

[Steve M]

Interesting - starting power only gets you so far apparently.

[Fatboy 18]

After seeing all the fires from this new battery tech posted on the media, I think your insurance company may not pay out if a fire was to happen to your car, personally I would not be wanting to store my car in a garage attached to my home either!

[efnfast]

If you're trying to save battery weight use a group 51 battery. It weighs 25lbs (10lbs more than the lithium, oh the horror), 500CCA.

Group 51 is one of the smallest you can get - used in portable medical equipment and I think honda odyssey - I use it in all my 400cid -500cid built engines with no issues. I tried it in the Viper and it started right up.

[Aevus]

Little update, I made some more serious research about the whole battery thing...

Basically ''lithium battery'' is very generic, what is needed for our cars are not the Lithium-Ion that is used in cell phones but the Lithium-Iron-Phosphate ( LiFePO4 )


Because of the nominal 3.2 V output, four cells can be placed in series for a nominal voltage of 12.8 V. This comes close to the nominal voltage of six-cell lead-acid batteries. Along with the good safety characteristics of LFP batteries, this makes LFP a good potential replacement for lead-acid batteries in applications such as automotive and solar applications

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_iron_phosphate_battery

Long story short, as I understand the battery needs to have sufficient capacity to not drop below 10 volts because the BMS could shutoff to protect the cells, and that can damage the alternator. Otherwise, it's all good. Lightweight, cheap and safe.

What I tested was a 8ah, which is probably only good for race application. For street use, the bare minimum would be 20ah capacity LiFePO4 since a normal lead acid battery for a small car is about 40ah (with DoD 50% it's 20ah useable)

[Aevus]

also, about CCA

''Cold-cranking amps refer to a rating system that defines a battery's ability to start or crank an engine in cold temperatures.''

it's not really relevant for both the Viper and the LiFePO4 technology, because it will be very unlikely the car won't start above 40f...