DIY: Voltphreaks Lithium Battery installation into M3 E92

[golfotron]

Hello, i'm from Barcelona (spain) and i decided to install a lightweight battery into my M3. That's why i contacted with Tony from VOLTPHREAKS (www.voltphreaks.com). I chose to install the VPH900 Lithium Battery.

I'm going to describe how i did the installation of this battery into my e92 M3 with a few pictures:



When i recived the battery with aluminium SAE terminals.



OEM Battery





Battery comparision: 26 kg against 3 kg



I did two small holes to install a plastic bridles



Velcro at the bottom of the battery to avoid sliding.



Velcro in the battery hole and also you can see the small holes.



Voltphreaks Battery, i installed a rope in one side that i tightened with a plastic bridles in the other side.



Rope detail



Plastic bridles detail



Tighten the rope with the bridles



Tightened bridles and the rope



Installation of positive and negative terminals.





Activation button accessivility.



Installation complete



Voltphreaks vynil

The battery is amazing and i haven't had any problems. The battery is very well fixed with this installation.

In voltphreaks website you can find all the battery characteristics.

Ahh one more thing i registered the battery like a 40ah_agm battery!!

I wish this thread can help someone.

Regards!!!

[ussoldierforhire]

Nicely done. Great mod!

[golfotron]

After 2 weeks i have to say that this battery is incredible. I think that this is the battery that our cars shoud be installed form factory.

[THE TECH]

Make sure you keep your stock battery just in case. I've never heard of this company and would only use a lightweight battery for track purposes. Hope it holds up for you.

[///M3THOD]

Originally Posted by THE TECH

Make sure you keep your stock battery just in case. I've never heard of this company and would only use a lightweight battery for track purposes. Hope it holds up for you.

Can you elaborate on this?

I was contemplating switching my OEM one out in my e93 barge. ~40lbs savings is considerable.

[THE TECH]

Originally Posted by ///M3THOD

Can you elaborate on this?

I was contemplating switching my OEM one out in my e93 barge. ~40lbs savings is considerable.

There is a thread on here where a guy used a lightweight battery by a known company and it doesn't last on a daily driver. This car is very electronic heavy so I would stick with OEM. Not worth chancing.

[///M3THOD]

Originally Posted by THE TECH

There is a thread on here where a guy used a lightweight battery by a known company and it doesn't last on a daily driver. This car is very electronic heavy so I would stick with OEM. Not worth chancing.

Thanks for the reply. I do leave my car parked for periods of time as well when I travel for work w/o a trickle charger.

A battery could represent a serious weight savings opportunity though.

[THE TECH]

Originally Posted by ///M3THOD

Thanks for the reply. I do leave my car parked for periods of time as well when I travel for work w/o a trickle charger.

A battery could represent a serious weight savings opportunity though.

Not worth the hassle unless it's a track only car. Otherwise, your car will dead without a trickle charger. If weight was a real concern, you wouldn't have purchased an E93.

[pbonsalb]

Originally Posted by THE TECH

If weight was a real concern, you wouldn't have purchased an E93.

I totally agree with that. E93 weight hundreds of pounds more than E90 and E92. The electric top is also another power draw. While I would not go with a little 21 lb battery, I would consider the Mini battery that weighs about 35 lbs. I ran one of those little 21 lb batteries, a Deka ETX30L that is the same as the Braille 21 lb battery, in my 99M3 and it lasted only a year of all weather driving in NH. In the more power hungry E90M3, I would want something bigger for daily driving use.

Voltphreaks looks like it has some nice stuff, but it is expensive. There may also still be issues with Li batteries in extreme cold. We sometimes have zero degree weather in NH.

[golfotron]

For skeptics, 0 issues with the battery. It's amazing.

If you haven't heard about this company is because you should have read more.

And the posting you are talking about is about lightweight agm batteries. Not Lithium batteries.

Regards from Barcelona City

[Richbot]

Lightweight AGM != lightweight Lithium-ion. An AGM battery is still a lead-acid battery at heart. Li-ion is a big leap forward in capability at the expense of, well, expense

The battery OP installed is around $1,000-1100 for the equivalent battery. The best application for a street car from voltphreaks is their 9lb 45aH 1200CCA unit at ~$1700. At 52lbs of weight savings, that's not such a bad cost/lb ration compared to the other stuff people do to lose weight, but still nutty expensive unless you're competing with the car or just doing it for fun

[BMRLVR]

Originally Posted by Richbot

Lightweight AGM != lightweight Lithium-ion. An AGM battery is still a lead-acid battery at heart. Li-ion is a big leap forward in capability at the expense of, well, expense

The battery OP installed is around $1,000-1100 for the equivalent battery. The best application for a street car from voltphreaks is their 9lb 45aH 1200CCA unit at ~$1700. At 52lbs of weight savings, that's not such a bad cost/lb ration compared to the other stuff people do to lose weight, but still nutty expensive unless you're competing with the car or just doing it for fun

Definitely expensive and it is actually 590CCA (1200CA) / 45AH which is not that much capacity in a car with the electrical demands of the E90 chassis. The OEM Battery is 800 CCA and 80AH.

You may get away with that battery if the car was driven every day, but for a car that is not driven often a trickle charger would "probably" be a must with only 45AH Capacity. Also, In a cold climate I don't "think" (I don't know either) it would be up to the challenge of cold starts. Lithium Ion batteries are pretty amazing though and they do behave differently than regular lead acid batteries so it would be nice to see someone test one of these in a cold climate or on a car that sits for a few weeks/months on end to see how it would hold up under real world usage!?

[Richbot]

One of the reasons lead acid batteries are sized the way they are is to provide longevity in situations like you described. A li-ion battery behaves differently so it can be sized (when i say sized i mean cca and ah, not physical size) accordingly.

I have to ise a trickle charger with a brand new OEM battery in the car it still won't hold a good enough charge for more than a week. Sure it is good enough after sitting for weeks to start the car and run things, but not good enough to rule out a low voltage freakout from the various electronics, which is annoying and trickle chargers are easy. No way I would run any kind of downsized battery without a trickle charger for times when it's parked more than a couple days. It'll be a few years before I need another battery but when I do maybe I will have a moment of what the hell and buy one of these. It's only money

Just be careful the FAA doesn't ground you...

[golfotron]

Amazing battery! 0 issues since the installation!!!! And i have had the car stopped more than a week.