458 Braille i48cx Battery Help

Hello All,

I am not an expert when it comes to battery technologies at all, and going through all of the threads about the antigravity and braille batteries was great information but also left me slightly confused and with more questions.

Currently in Toronto, Canada (December Cold!) my 458 battery dies within 48 hours of the car not being used. It used to be 3 days of life in the summer if the car was not being used. I must have a bad battery as I have not heard of 458's dying that quickly before. I have had to jump start the car every week since it started getting cold in October and Im sure this is doing some damage to the car and I do not want to keep doing this.

For that reason - I just purchased a Braille i48cx battery: https://braillebattery.com/products/i48cx?variant=16739580510319

My questions are:

1. Which lithium charger from braille is the right one for the i48cx ? The options are on this page but I don't know which one is the correct one: https://braillebattery.com/collections/lithium-chargers

2. I have a Ferrari OEM battery tender, will this be useless now?

3. How do I connect the braille battery charger to the Ferrari battery tending port?

4. When charging the braille battery, do I have to disconnect it from the car?


Attached is a photo of my current crappy battery & my 458 (with an iPE F1 exhaust )!

Thank you all for the help!

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Your best bet is the CTek Lithium XS and an adapter. That way you can use the normal charge port - BUT I hate to be a kill-joy, because you ordered the wrong battery.

The battery you need to get reliability is not the I48CX, it's the I48CS. The CX is only 22.5 Ah, while the CS is 60Ah. That difference is massive and the 458 will eat the CX for breakfast, lunch and dinner. So send it back or cancel the order if you still can, and order the CS.

Here it is.
https://braillebattery.com/products/i48cs-1

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How are you going to run a Lithiium Ion battery in Toronto, lol? See this is my exact dilemma and im in NYC where its cold, but definetly not Toronto cold. Lithium ion batteries DIE in the cold, thats why LEAD batteries are used in all cars. I was looking to grab a AG or BRAILLE but im afraid of the cold. I watched a video about AG which essentially is the exact same technology as the Braille and they were very clear if you live in a cold climate this is not for you.

Here's a quick story, when i was buying my car a few weeks ago i was in Chicago and i left my fully charged laptop inside of the trunk of my rental car. I had to tune a tractor at the end of the day and retrieved it from the trunk. Brought it inside of my salesguys office, plugged it in and turned it on. Now when i finished 10 minutes later I just pulled out the plug and laptop was dead. It would not turn on without external charger plugged in, and took around 5 days of being constantly in warm weather and on a charger I guess to recharge the cells. This laptops batteries are Lithium Ion.

Moral of the story before you spend 2300 on a battery make sure you speak with them regarding where you live. I have mine inside of a garage which im considering putting a heater in if I swap the battery. With all that needing to be done i think i'll just leave the lead battery in until springtime

 

You can fast forward to the 11th Minute. Apparently short term cold weather it can handle, but long term no go. Anything below 20 degrees is a problem

 

I have two cars with 60Ah AG batteries in them, and both see winter use. One is my Lusso which lives outside all winter as a daily driver. I live in Scandinavia and I have zero issues. The car only sees the charger when in storage during the summer. During all of winter, it never sees a trickle charger.
Your laptop and these batteries are two different things, you cannot use that as basis for advice against or for. Unless you have actual experience, I really don't see how you can advise against it. Many here and with other brands have switched to lithium, and some OEM's use them as standards or options. They work, and they work well. Especially larger capacity batteries, especially Li-Fe are less prone to temp issues compared to a small laptop pack.

Here's an interesting example. I had AG do a simple test for me just for the heck of it. After I had purchased my second battery, we came to discussing interesting ways to test cranking amps. I got them to leave a 60Ah group 49 batter in the freezer from Friday till Monday, so that's -18C. It still cranked with over 1300 amps. That will start anything. So, I guess they are pretty good even when deep frozen.

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Actually its not me saying it, its from the ABOUT OUR PRODUCT on AG's website with there Lithium Batteries. I linked the video above, thats there product video. I was all set to purchase one but they seem to say its not for people who are in 20F or below cold climates. I figured if they dedicate an entire section in a video to saying its not for this, it must be somewhat true?

 

I cancelled the braille battery and picked up the 60AH Antigravity today & I just installed it. With my old battery, the car would sound like an old lawnmower that barely starts with the lights dimming as well during the starting process...it just seemed like the 458 was having a tough time starting. With the AG battery in now, the 458 is starting instantly and all of my LCD panels got brighter lol. So far so good. I have the battery tracker and will monitor how the battery does in the cold.

Thanks for the intel.

 

Update:

Left the car in my garage for 4 days straight, temperature fluctuating between -5 to +1 degrees celcius.

After 4 days the battery was at 56% and was not an instant start like when the battery was 100%, it struggled..but started.

After 10mins of letting the car warmup idle, and a 20min drive, the battery was back at 85% charged.

I wonder how low I can let the battery go before it doesn't start or I need to test the AG auto-jump feature. It seems to be losing about 10-11% charge per day.

Still happy with the results.

 

Dan NormalGuySupercar made a whole video about your battery and shows the restart feature and battery tracker. Link below if your interested how low it'll go before it turns off

 

I want to put a i48CS in my Portofino. Is this a straightforward DIY,including following the instructions in the Owner's Manual for disconnecting and reconnecting the battery? Or are there any hidden surprises like maybe needing a factory scan tool to tell the ECU that the car has a new and different type of battery? Does the alternator which is programmed to charge an AGM charge a lithium battery properly?

 

The disconnect and reconnect is simple. Just follow the instructions in the owners manual.

The actual physical installation might prove a pain, but that's just replacing batteries in modern cars.

The battery was designed and intended to replace a lead acid battery, so yes, it will charge as it should. That's the internal brain in the battery that makes sure that the cells are balanced and charged properly, the alternator just supplies the juice, and it supplies more than enough to properly charge these batteries. The Braille floats at 13.8 volts and the Porto can charge well over 14 volts, so no problem.

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Thank you. ^^^

 

You had the right idea with the Braille. I'd recommend the i48CS over the CX.

Answers:

1. Myself, I like charger model # 1236L - https://braillebattery.com/products/1236l (it includes an automatic pulse charge recovery feature also).

2. Pretty much. Use the 1236L if ever needed, as Lithium batteries require a different charging profile. Also, constantly charging to 100% isn't normally recommended. The charger should rarely be needed anyway.

3. The Braille shouldn't need constant tending; as long as you drive the car once every few weeks, it will stay charged. They sell adapters on ebay or you can build your own using Magcode parts. There's a great write up someplace online. I may have it book marked in my office if you'd like further details.

4. It's generally good practice regardless of which battery you have.

Ray

 

Thread awakened.

I have just got the i48CS for my speciale and now will need a tender.

The tender model above does not appear on the website. Does anyone have a tender they like that works well with the braille.

Thanks!


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I have an I48CS in two cars. Both work fine with Optimate TM-471 tenders (about $70),both of which I purchased from Antigravity.

 

And what did you do for the 4 pin adapter? Assuming one is for a 458.


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The TM-471 is a .8-amp tender. The TM-661 puts out 9.5 amps and can do more including revive a nearly dead lithium battery. I paid about $210 for one from Braille.

 

I use a magnetic connector. Member sfcarguy sells the different connectors.

 

Thanks!


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So. Is it just a matter of changing tenders that hook up to the same magnetic charging post on the trunk lid? Did you have to reset the electronics to tell its now a lithium battery, or plug and play as is? Thanks

 

No reprogramming needed. Just swap batteries. Follow the instructions for a new battery in the Owner's Manual.