GR Yaris LW light weight lithium battery and charging options

my car was in winter sleep for 2 months maybe…? warm garage, car unlocked. the touge 500 battery was flat. I used an old school charger from banner.
img_5015-jpeg.25620
 

Attachments

Greenthumb said:
Never Charge a LiFepo4 Battery with a standard Charger.

My LiFepO4 now always discharges within 2 weeks. I suspect that Cancheked draws a bit of power.
Click to expand...
I am not that concerned as long as it is a non-smart charger delivering constant current. to my knowledge the battery has an integrated BMS circuit which should protect the battery against over current, shortcircuit and taking care of balancing of the cells. otherwise it would get damaged just by charging through the alternator.
I would not use smart chargers for Pb and AGM batteries of course, as they use pulses and other magic.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Greenthumb
A bit of thread revival, but I wanted to show other lightweight battery option.

Odyssey Extreme ODS-AGM16L.
6.4kg with installed terminals, so over 12kg saved.

W.webp

W_OE_COMPRESSED.webp


Dimensions wise, it is smaller than the OEM item, but installation was easy. I only added some
styrofoam and covering just for looks :-) .

INSTALLED_COMPRESSED.webp


I have been testing it for the past month or so and have had no problems at all. My tests included
longer periods of not running the car - sat in the garage for about two weeks.

It is not as fancy as other options, but it was cheap compared to the other options. It is about 250
EUR. Bought here (shop is Polish but owner speaks English):
https://mhperformance.pl/ https://www.facebook.com/mhperformancekalisz
 
  • Like
Reactions: GRandemakina, Juri-GR4, azet and 1 other person
JohnCassidy said:
A bit of thread revival, but I wanted to show other lightweight battery option.

Odyssey Extreme ODS-AGM16L.
6.4kg with installed terminals, so over 12kg saved.

View attachment 31772
View attachment 31774

Dimensions wise, it is smaller than the OEM item, but installation was easy. I only added some
styrofoam and covering just for looks :) .

View attachment 31775

I have been testing it for the past month or so and have had no problems at all. My tests included
longer periods of not running the car - sat in the garage for about two weeks.

It is not as fancy as other options, but it was cheap compared to the other options. It is about 250
EUR. Bought here (shop is Polish but owner speaks English):
https://mhperformance.pl/ https://www.facebook.com/mhperformancekalisz
Click to expand...
Had odyssey battery in street car 15yrs ago and worked well.
 
How's everyone ones Lithium starting batteries going?
My GR is approaching 5 years since purchase. The OEM battery won't hold charge longer than about a week so time for a replacement I think.
 
Sekred said:
How's everyone ones Lithium starting batteries going?
My GR is approaching 5 years since purchase. The OEM battery won't hold charge longer than about a week so time for a replacement I think.
Click to expand...
I have Lithium starting batteries in the GR Yaris and one other car too. It doesn't take long time for the GR to drain my 16Ah batteri. And I haven't been able to then start it with a jump starter ...so on to recharge the battery and then start it on it's own power. Maybe it is possible to start with the jump starter connected if the battery isn't too drained. So I try to keep the Li-battery fully charged at all times, it is not suitable to daily short drives. Between trackdays I put the ordinary batteri in. Also, with a drained Lithium battery you are not even able to open the door the "normal way" or to open the boot lid, well if a Li-batteri is drained enough it protects itself by totally cutting off.

I have asked myself; is there a way to have the batteri disconnected (switch) and still being able to lock/unlock the car without crawling behind my fixed seats and the roll cage? is it possible to just unlock the drivers door with the metal key and then open the engine hood and connect the jumpstarter ...and then being able to open the boot lid and turn the batteri back on?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sekred
I hade no luck with a LiFePo4 battery in my MK1 GR Yaris. It throws an steering wheel (CPS) error. Parallely the steering support is off so its quite dangerous... Interesting to see that others dont have any issues at all.

This is the battery ive used: https://cs-batteries.de/20Ah-128V-600A-Lithium-Starter-Batterie-integriertes-Multi-Dynamic-BMS

Ive bought it (and returned) since it was mentioned by fellow german GRY drivers with positive feedback but as mentioned in my case it was not working.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sekred
The rate of discharge on the Deadweight battery is consistent but it’s only been in for barely a year. Drops below 60% after a week of sitting idle.
 
I've had the Deadweight since Oct 2021 so almost 4 years and it's still working well.

It's even accidentally gone flat a couple of times, so the protection appears to work too.
 
Well I made a decision and purchased a Superstart LS70L.
This is defiantly not the lightest lithium battery at 10.5 kgs but it has significantly more capacity than I need.
There was problem though, it's a little higher in height compared to the OEM. I ended up making a spacer to give a little clearance under the rear cargo floor.


Batt 1.webp
Batt spacer.webp
 
  • Like
Reactions: GT23 and GRandemakina
Michael Knight said:
Asked our Toyota dealership - according to them there is no spesific setting for different batteries in GR nor for charging modes. Normal charging rate at 2krpm is 13.2-14.8V. Charging volts can vary depending on engine load, battery temperature etc.

This does not explain the lower wolts I got..
theres clearly two modes in the charging (can also be battery / BMS related) - constant charging and then mode where charging is dropped for some reason and battery runs clearly without alternator charge. Thought this to be vehicle/ecu driven but who knows..
Click to expand...

I've got the same battery monitor on my GR Y too.

The GR Y do use a smart alternator/ charging system and the normal operating/ charging voltages I've observed show it's definitely not going to work properly to charge a LiFePO4 starter battery. The alternator output is often down in the 12.4 V range while driving- which is basically below 25% SOC for a LiFePO4 battery, but 80% for a lead acid.

1760142461015.webp
 
  • Like
Reactions: Michael Knight and Sekred
Sekred said:
Well I made a decision and purchased a Superstart LS70L.
This is defiantly not the lightest lithium battery at 10.5 kgs but it has significantly more capacity than I need.
There was problem though, it's a little higher in height compared to the OEM. I ended up making a spacer to give a little clearance under the rear cargo floor.


View attachment 37961View attachment 37962
Click to expand...
Holding voltage well. 6 days since a Start.

Batt Voltage.webp
 
  • Like
Reactions: Triumph202 and Michael Knight
Sekred said:
Holding voltage well. 6 days since a Start.

View attachment 38237
Click to expand...
With 80Ah capacity I don't think you'll have any problems.- it should be way better than the factory lead acid (if left fully charged when the vehicle is parked.)

Do keep in mind when checking voltages on LiFePO4 batteries that have a very flat voltage over most of their discharge cycle. You'll find it will suddenly drop around the last ~15% SOC. There are some graphs here https://footprinthero.com/lifepo4-battery-voltage-charts
 
  • Like
Reactions: Michael Knight and Sekred
The OEM battery would lose .5 volts or a little more in a week without use. I used to have to charge it or it would not start the vehicle.
As it was the engine crank-speed sounded slow. At 5 years old it had done its job I suppose.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Michael Knight
for what its worth, I keep the smart charging cable disconnected on all my vehicles equipped with auto start/stop. never looked back.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back