AdvToorer
Active Member
Wanted to do a quick post on installation and initial experience with Antigravity lithium-ion battery. My 6 year old Yuasa battery finally bit the dust. I probably pushed it farther than I should have but due to limited replacement choices and indecision on going with lithium technology, I ended up riding it out until it was completely dead.
My initial interest in lithium batteries was the weight savings (hey, the ST is a BIG girl!) but after asking around about lithium batteries someone made a good point about some of the newer batteries. Some now have a "restart" capability built-in. In the case of Antigravity, if battery has been depleted there is a push button that can be used to activate additional capacity that should allow enough juice to start the bike, or at least get you a couple attempts on the starter motor. Just this summer I made at trip up to Canada and twice inadvertently shut off the bike with the ignition on. So this feature was suddenly important to me.
Installation was fairly straight forward. As the battery is shorter than the OEM, it came with a couple dense foam pads that can be used as shims. In my case I put the shims on top as it leaves access to the "restart" button. It was necessary cut and double stack the foam shims to provide a snug fit in the battery housing.
(apologies pic doesn't capture foam shim details)
The only issue I had was the positive terminal is slightly large and interferes with the case of the battery. I had the option of cutting or enlarging the hole in the cable but instead opted to cut away of bit of the battery case. This is only an issue on the positive lead. Maybe Yamaha does this as a way to enforce polarity.
At this time I've only gotten in a few rides with the new battery. I had some concerns as the battery runs at slightly higher voltage but have not experiences any issues. Living in Denver I'll have to see how it does during the colder mornings but hope to not be testing it in sub-freezing temps. The starter motor definitely turns with more authority and fewer rotations than with the lead-acid battery.
It appears Antigravity sells a remote switch for the "restart" which I'm not using. It's easy enough to pop the side panel and hit the button. And everyone knows there's a 4mm allen wrench under the seat to remove the screws, right?
My initial interest in lithium batteries was the weight savings (hey, the ST is a BIG girl!) but after asking around about lithium batteries someone made a good point about some of the newer batteries. Some now have a "restart" capability built-in. In the case of Antigravity, if battery has been depleted there is a push button that can be used to activate additional capacity that should allow enough juice to start the bike, or at least get you a couple attempts on the starter motor. Just this summer I made at trip up to Canada and twice inadvertently shut off the bike with the ignition on. So this feature was suddenly important to me.
Installation was fairly straight forward. As the battery is shorter than the OEM, it came with a couple dense foam pads that can be used as shims. In my case I put the shims on top as it leaves access to the "restart" button. It was necessary cut and double stack the foam shims to provide a snug fit in the battery housing.
(apologies pic doesn't capture foam shim details)
The only issue I had was the positive terminal is slightly large and interferes with the case of the battery. I had the option of cutting or enlarging the hole in the cable but instead opted to cut away of bit of the battery case. This is only an issue on the positive lead. Maybe Yamaha does this as a way to enforce polarity.
At this time I've only gotten in a few rides with the new battery. I had some concerns as the battery runs at slightly higher voltage but have not experiences any issues. Living in Denver I'll have to see how it does during the colder mornings but hope to not be testing it in sub-freezing temps. The starter motor definitely turns with more authority and fewer rotations than with the lead-acid battery.
It appears Antigravity sells a remote switch for the "restart" which I'm not using. It's easy enough to pop the side panel and hit the button. And everyone knows there's a 4mm allen wrench under the seat to remove the screws, right?