Thread: New TDV6 battery?

Originally Posted by John_D4

Any thoughts on using lithium as a starting battery?

(Obviously you’d need a dcdc and a triggering solenoid which all makes it sound too hard.)

Hi John and unfortunately, you can not use a lithium battery as a cranking battery in any vehicle, not just Land Rovers, with SMART alternators.

There is a lot of outright B/S being used to con people into fitting lithium cranking batteries in any vehicle.

If you own a current Australian Spec Toyota, because they do not have SMART alternators, you can use lithium cranking batteries.

But just about every other make is now using SMART alternators.

I can give you more specific info on this subject if you require it.


Now to your setup. Correct me if I am wrong but I think you want to have a lithium cranking battery that is charged via a DC/DC while the motor is running but is linked to the starter motor just long enough for when you start your motor.

There are a number of problems with this.

First and foremost, you must NEVER run an alternator without having a battery connected to it.

The alternator not only charges the battery but it uses the battery as a massive spike suppressor and if you take the battery out of the circuit while the alternator is running, you can damage quite a bit of your vehicle’s electronics and in the old days, you could even damage the alternators rectifier.

Next, even if you could run the alternator without a battery, and only use the battery to start your motor, you would need a massive solenoid to be able to get enough current to start the motor. For example, have a look at the size of the starter motor solenoid on your vehicle.

Thanks Tim, that all makes sense. A friend mentioned Lithium to me not long ago, but it sounds like it’s but for me.

I think that I’ve settled on the SSB SS88TI as my starting battery.