Hello fellas,
Wanting a light weight battery and only wanting the best available parts for my bike, I chose to go with an EarthX lithium 1.3 pound battery. After lots of research, I chose EarthX and I couldn't be happier with my decision.

EarthX has some superb reviews on the net, but I could not find anything on this forum about them. Though despite not having any reviews or mention in the s1000rr platform, I still felt it was my best option. Not just because it was the lightest battery, but due to the lack of required service. There are no trickle chargers needed. Simply plop it in and forget about it. The only thing you would be losing is 6.80lbs.

We'll after being on the EarthX fence for a few weeks, I decided to go forward with the purchase last week. I purchased an ETX12B on ebay through RaceCrafters. RaceCrafters had the battery listed as: "Fits S1000rr" which was just enough comfort for me take the plunge . RaceCrafters was a pleasure to deal with. I got the battery for 169 including free shipping. Not only that, but the free shipping was 2nd day priority. I send them payment, two days later there was a nice little box at my house. I wish all my transactions were so fluid. It reminds me to leave them some feedback.

The Battery (ETX12B)
The battery came packaged in a nice little white box. Inside the box was the battery (thank God), several strips of adhesive backed foam and an EarthX sticker. The battery was super light and I was pleased with the overall quality and feel.

Overall
Let me start by saying that I am not affiliated with either EarthX or RaceCrafters. That being said, I am thoroughly impressed with the battery. I honestly can feel the difference just rocking the bike left to right. The bike started up faster than the stock battery too. I will continue an extended review of the battery, but the only difference from the OEM battery that I can tell other than weight is it starts up faster. I have heated grips and BMW does not recommend using them during stop and go traffic, as the alternator does not provide enough juice, so it sucks from the battery. That being the case, I turned the grips to full blast and let the bike idle for 10minutes. I turned the bike off, than cranked it back up. Unfazed! Started right up like a champ! I wrote this review for two reasons, one is to let you guys know how the ETX12B works with our bikes, the other is to show appreciation to EarthX for providing a wonderful product.

The Install
With taking pictures and going at snail speed, it took me around 20-25 minutes. If I had to do it again under stopwatch, I could honestly install it in under 5 minutes. So for some of you that dont wrench at all, no worries. Its as easy as my ex-wife. Below are the steps I took. Enjoy:



1.3 pounds of littleness




1. With the provided foam. Adhere two of the thick pieces at each side of the battery. Cut one of the thick pieces, splitting it down the length so you have two narrowed thick pieces. Attached the the split pieces to the front labeled side of the battery. The split foam pieces interact with the rear battery tray corner angles for a solid fit.



2. Get one of the thin pieces of foam, and adhere it to the non labeled side of the battery as shown. Be sure not to adheare it too low on the battery face as it will interfere with the battery tray. Bottom of the foam should be right over an inch from the bottom of the battery.




Foam Placement



3. Remove old battery (Negative terminal first) and install the new EarthX. As you can see, it fits like a glove. I am very pleased with the fitment.

4. This will vary slightly between our bikes, but I needed about .5" more slack from the negative terminal due to the altered terminal locations. Rather than tug away at the negative terminal, cut the following ziptie and provide yourself with .5-1" of slack.




5. Attach the leads to the terminals (Negative last)




6. Install new ziptie to keep everything just like OEM (not required, but its a good habit)



Oooo, AAAAAhhhh....





7. Remove this OEM foam piece from the bottom center of the factory seat. It is used as a spacer for the shorter OEM battery. The height of the EarthX slightly taller than OEM, but fits perfect without the use of the factory foam spacer.



You're done! Fire her up!



-Voya

Awesome write up and review. Thanks for taking the time to post it.

Ltyson

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Thanks for the review. I've been eyeing lithium batteries for my HP4. Installing one of these and a link pipe will allow me to drop almost 15 pounds off the bike.

Keep us posted on continued use. Also, don't hide those killer wheels. I think you posted some pictures when they first arrived. Get them on your bike!


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I installed one of these last year, when it came in the mail it was so light I thought they sent em an empty box, ha.

Install was cake, I used most of the padding that came with it in order to get a snug fit, attached the cable and done. I even have been running power to my GPS off it.

I let it sit over the winter (and it was a seriously cold one), never put a tender on and only started it up twice (to set the suspension after the front sensor install). It kicked on easier than ever, no hint of power drain

Hey fellas. Just as a follow up, the battery has been working like a champ. I have put 2000miles on the bike since install. Not once has it came even close to taking a crap on me.

I had some mag wheels put on the bike and the BMW tech left the lights on for 10+min. I figured there was no way in hell it was going to start up. Sure enough, it fired right up.

Several mornings it was low to mid 30s and it fired right up. I cannot think of a single instance where it sounded questionable. This battery is freakin solid.

I am going on a long 3000mile bike journey with just a tent, sleeping bag, and s1000 tomorrow. I have zero concern that the battery will let me down. I have gained a lot of confidence in this EarthX battery.

If I had to do it again, I would buy it at 2-3X what I paid if that was my only option. I'm in love with this battery. I more than just highly recommend it. I super highly recommend it.

-Voya

Do you mean just turning the key to the on position without srarting the bike? Or were the headlights on?

i have 2 of these batteries one for my panigale and one for my zx6r (dont have the hp4 yet) if you are interested in these give me a private message and i may be able to save you a little money

Holy sh!t it's like a full build thread for a battery swap. Typical new BMW forum I guess.

Umm, I swapped for a Shorai. It's no better or worse than any of the other li-ion batteries. I use a standard trickle charger, works fine.

Christ guys it's a battery. Light weight is good. Any of the top li-ion batteries will work just fine.

The cells used inside most of the better are the same, the problem is that the better batteries are not all the same. Some have a balancer built in.

I was running shorai in my bikes before, but just switched to EarthX for my HP4.

Ok, the important question....why do you care if there is a balancer in the battery.

Most people use a trickle charger if they need to charge their battery. For the most part there is nothing inherently wrong with this. (I have been doing it myself with Deltran Battery tenders for several years). Remember that you cannot use a battery tender that has a desulfation mode on lithium batteries.

Ok, back to the issue. Simply put a lithium iron phosphate battery (commonly called LiPo, or LiFePo) is made up of multiple smaller cells inside the case wired up to provide the "12v". Each of the cells is usually 3.7v and in a4 cell they are in series, in a 6 cell they are usually a 4S2P (4 in series 2 parallel) and so on.

These cells are susceptible to exploding if they are overcharged. If we are charging several individual cells that are wired in series how do we ensure that we are charging all of the cells equally, and not overcharging an individual cell. Further, we know that there are realistically only so many times you can discharge and recharge a cell. How do we ensure that the cells are being drained equally so that we do not discharge and individual cell more quickly than the rest. (Think an SSD drive in a computer and write wear)

Ok, so to be so long winded, but I wanted people to understand why the balancer in the EarthX and a couple other of the better lithium motorcycle batteries is valuable.

FYI do you know why shorai developed their own charger? It is a balancing charger. (It is the same type of charger we have been using in the RC world for years)

EarthX is allowing you to use your existing battery tender.

Soooooooo, this is the reason I switched.

Hope I made sense.

Cheers