Initial Review: Antigravity Lithium Ion Battery

[OlyS6]

So, I’ve been meaning to upgrade my battery for awhile, since I’ve got a fair number of aftermarket devices that draw power- built-in radar/laser device, front/rear dashcams, and about 2400 watts in stereo amplifiers.

I chose the antigravity lithium ion battery, as it’s gotten some good reviews, and have a line marketed towards higher end cars. Our cars are group 49 batteries, which correspond to group 8H for this line.

Some specs:
60 amp hours
1800 cranking amps
Built in battery management system that won’t let the battery drop below a level to start the car. If you ever find the car wont start, there’s a button that will allow you to access the ‘reserve energy’ in order to crank up the car.
Optional battery tracker that can give you updates/warnings via a bluetooth app on your phone.
Weight: 19lbs! (Down from 52 lbs for the oem battery).

The fitment is exact and takes a few minutes to replace.
Price: $949
It should provide quite a bit more battery life than the oem battery as well.



Screen shots from the app:




I only recently installed it, but am pretty happy with the ability to check to see what kind of power draw I’m dealing with over time while the car is parked. A lithium ion charger is necessary, as you can’t use a regular trickle charger, but Cetek makes a good one for $85. The optional tracker that lets you get updates on your battery is $35.

I’ll chime in again in the future if there are any issues/disappointments, but right now the only downside I see is the price. Worth it for me given all the aftermarket electronics I’m running, but obviously expensive.


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[bajan01]

Nice...I’m looking to get a new one myself. Where did you purchase from? Also, do you have a link for the charger?

[OlyS6]

I went direct to the antigravity website.


https://antigravitybatteries.com/pro...tive/ag-h8-rs/

I got their battery tracker as well as the charger through them as well.


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[Burnt]

How long do these last? I think AGMs last 3-4 years and cost almost $300

[OlyS6]

How long do these last? I think AGMs last 3-4 years and cost almost $300

Supposed to be 7-9 yrs. I think it’s not a great 1:1 comparison given the different features. Definitely overkill if you dont have other equipment drawing power, or if you don’t plan on holding onto the car for a few more years.


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[bajan01]

Supposed to be 7-9 yrs. I think it’s not a great 1:1 comparison given the different features. Definitely overkill if you dont have other equipment drawing power, or if you don’t plan on holding onto the car for a few more years.


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True but 0.01s per 10lbs in the 1/4 mile is worth it to many in this group.

[RAF_S7]

The CTEK battery charger is the charger recommended by a lot of high end car manufacturers, including Audi.

You can search online for them (including eBay/Amazon etc). I have the MXS10 (European model) and use it all the time, especially if the car is in storage. The Bluetooth module is an optional extra, and can be added to any battery - you don’t need to use the CTEK charger to use the BT module, it’s stand alone via an app on your phone.

You can check out CTEK chargers and module here

$1000 for a battery??? Wow!

[gk1]

Wow Oly!
Without a doubt that is very interesting. Shedding 33 lbs and a potentially lifetime (of the car) replacement. Thank for trying it out and posting the info.

[OlyS6]

The CTEK battery charger is the charger recommended by a lot of high end car manufacturers, including Audi.

You can search online for them (including eBay/Amazon etc). I have the MXS10 (European model) and use it all the time, especially if the car is in storage. The Bluetooth module is an optional extra, and can be added to any battery - you don’t need to use the CTEK charger to use the BT module, it’s stand alone via an app on your phone.

You can check out CTEK chargers and module here

$1000 for a battery??? Wow!

Yep, CTEK makes a bunch of great chargers. My primary point was that if you wish to switch to a lihium battery, you must also use a charger that is specific to lithium batteries. (Apparently a regular charger for a lead acid battery will damage a lithium battery). You would need the CTEK lithium charger, different from all their other chargers.
As I mentioned, expensive, and others will likely find mods that they'd prefer to spend money on before doing something like this, which is fine. But for folks searching for a lithium battery option, this one seems to both outperform and provide more features than some other options that are currently on the market.

[OlyS6]

Wow Oly!
Without a doubt that is very interesting. Shedding 33 lbs and a potentially lifetime (of the car) replacement. Thank for trying it out and posting the info.

I thought it was pretty cool. I was really impressed by how light it was, despite the exact same physical dimensions of the OEM battery. Some may simply say 'well on a +2 ton car, why bother?' It is a good point, and I think it is only one of the positive features. I'm most impressed with the 'reserve energy' function that allows you to always have enough juice to start the car. The expected longevity is also pretty cool.

[Twkdcd595]

Interesting, wondered about such options when recently replacing my battery.

Weight on the h9 95r battery in my car was just a fuzz over 63 lbs!

[bahula03]

Being familiar with lithium batteries and AG from motorcycles, it's interesting to see the pains they've gone to to make sure their automotive batteries stay charged. Which for $1k and a warranty that doesn't cover accidental discharge, I suppose it should. Neat mod though, hopefully it checks the boxes you want it to

[krugger71]

How long do these last? I think AGMs last 3-4 years and cost almost $300

Sams club has AGM H8 for $171 just as an option.
IMG_3887.JPG


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Sorry - 179

[hahnmgh63]

I'm currently using 4 Antigravity batteries of various sizes in 3 different cars, a '74 911, '87 944 Turbo, '13 S5, and '13 RS5. In the S5 & RS5 I'm using a ATX-30 which is smaller than the battery OlyS6 is using. They crank the cars fine and seem to have enough reserve power, both batterires have the Restart feature and weigh a little over 5lbs. They have batteries without the Restart feature as the ones I'm using in the 911 & 944T don't have it. So far so good and the price on these has come down the last couple of years. Just over a 45lb weight savings in both the S5 & RS5 is pretty huge. Now if you're the guy with the huge stereo that sits in your car parked with the Stereo blasting for a while the ones I'm using may not have the Reserve capacity for that. Time will tell. Remember, these are LiFePO4 batteries, not regular Lithium Ion.

[bajan01]

I'm currently using 4 Antigravity batteries of various sizes in 3 different cars, a '74 911, '87 944 Turbo, '13 S5, and '13 RS5. In the S5 & RS5 I'm using a ATX-30 which is smaller than the battery OlyS6 is using. They crank the cars fine and seem to have enough reserve power, both batterires have the Restart feature and weigh a little over 5lbs. They have batteries without the Restart feature as the ones I'm using in the 911 & 944T don't have it. So far so good and the price on these has come down the last couple of years. Just over a 45lb weight savings in both the S5 & RS5 is pretty huge. Now if you're the guy with the huge stereo that sits in your car parked with the Stereo blasting for a while the ones I'm using may not have the Reserve capacity for that. Time will tell. Remember, these are LiFePO4 batteries, not regular Lithium Ion.

How are you mounting the ATX-30? I see that it is a smaller battery so I am assuming that you have fabricated brackets to get it to fit in the factory location...or elsewhere. I am interested in a small battery for the track and the ATX-30 meets what I’m looking at for weight (and the price is good too).

[dillysd]

How hard was it to code? I bought the same unit for my S6.

[Alabama]

I went direct to the antigravity website.

Looks like they now market an 80 Ah version in addition to the 60 Ah version you bought (6 pounds heavier and $250 more). How is it behaving? Have you had a chance to test the "reserve energy" feature?

[OlyS6]

Looks like they now market an 80 Ah version in addition to the 60 Ah version you bought (6 pounds heavier and $250 more). How is it behaving? Have you had a chance to test the "reserve energy" feature?

It’s doing well. I did recently test the reserve feature (I had a problem with my exhaust flaps going back and forth while I left the car parked at work for a day and it drained the battery). There is actually a key fob button that you can use to ‘jumpstart’ the car. I stupidly forgot this, and crawled into the trunk so I could pop the trunk and press the button at the top of the battery. Worked perfectly. I’d totally do the 80 Ah version in the future whenever I go to replace this one, just for the extra peace of mind.


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[Alabama]

It’s doing well. I did recently test the reserve feature (I had a problem with my exhaust flaps going back and forth while I left the car parked at work for a day and it drained the battery). There is actually a key fob button that you can use to ‘jumpstart’ the car. I stupidly forgot this, and crawled into the trunk so I could pop the trunk and press the button at the top of the battery. Worked perfectly. I’d totally do the 80 Ah version in the future whenever I go to replace this one, just for the extra peace of mind.

Very slick! And I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who has crawled through the car into the trunk to pop the lid from inside.

Yep, CTEK makes a bunch of great chargers. My primary point was that if you wish to switch to a lihium battery, you must also use a charger that is specific to lithium batteries. (Apparently a regular charger for a lead acid battery will damage a lithium battery). You would need the CTEK lithium charger, different from all their other chargers.

Help me understand. If the lithium battery needs a special charger for external (trickle) charging, how does the OEM alternator know how to charge the battery? Did you need to make any changes to the battery energy management system?

[OlyS6]

Very slick! And I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who has crawled through the car into the trunk to pop the lid from inside.



Help me understand. If the lithium battery needs a special charger for external (trickle) charging, how does the OEM alternator know how to charge the battery? Did you need to make any changes to the battery energy management system?

The alternator has no issues charging the battery at all. The trickle charger is only ‘special’ in that it knows that it’s not a regular car battery, and has safeguards to not try to ‘overcharge’ it, thus avoiding a potential lithium fire. My cameras run 24/7, and I often go days without driving it, which is why I keep it on the trickle charger. I did not do any special coding with vcds. In the past, I would simply change the last character in the battery code so the car would know there was a different battery, but I didn’t do it this time. I’ve had it for well over a year without any issue.
There is a cool app that you can use in conjunction with a small battery monitor that stays on the battery that allows you to be able to check out the battery’s stats at any time.


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[Audisthesia]

Looking at the ah rating of 60 and 80, that's less than the OEM AGM and aftermarket AGM... But the CCA is like double... Weight savings is nice, life expectancy is nice...Yet I could buy 3 aftermarket AGM for less than one of these... So weight and size is about the only PROS I can see with this thing.. Well, and the cool restart and monitoring abilities... And as Alabama pointed out... Needs a special trickle charger but car charges it fine?

[OlyS6]

Looking at the ah rating of 60 and 80, that's less than the OEM AGM and aftermarket AGM... But the CCA is like double... Weight savings is nice, life expectancy is nice...Yet I could buy 3 aftermarket AGM for less than one of these... So weight and size is about the only PROS I can see with this thing.. Well, and the cool restart and monitoring abilities... And as Alabama pointed out... Needs a special trickle charger but car charges it fine?

Primarily weight and the restart feature. You don’t ‘need’ an external charger, but if you do use one it should be one made specifically to keep from overcharging a lithium battery. Apparently regular chargers will also work just fine, but don’t necessarily safeguard against things going .


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[Audisthesia]

Primarily weight and the restart feature. You don’t ‘need’ an external charger, but if you do use one it should be one made specifically to keep from overcharging a lithium battery. Apparently regular chargers will also work just fine, but don’t necessarily safeguard against things going .


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Gotcha, I have a CTEK... for normal batteries though as I have several vehicles

[dillysd]

I broke down and bought one. So on to experimenting with the code. I just want to make sure that it’s set for the 60Ah versus the stock battery in there.


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[dillysd]

Ok, so 30 minutes to install. Set the battery on CAN for 60Ah. Done and done. Works great!!


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[johnb415]

Ok, so 30 minutes to install. Set the battery on CAN for 60Ah. Done and done. Works great!!


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Hey DillySD, using VCDS, where is it that you can set the 60Ah? I only see a place to enter the BEM info, manufacture number, and serial number. How did you specify where to set the 60Ah on the CAN? i'm replacing a dead battery with an H7 80Ah, so i do need to put in a new fabricated serialized BEM to start a "fresh" code.

[Audisthesia]

Hey DillySD, using VCDS, where is it that you can set the 60Ah? I only see a place to enter the BEM info, manufacture number, and serial number. How did you specify where to set the 60Ah on the CAN? i'm replacing a dead battery with an H7 80Ah, so i do need to put in a new fabricated serialized BEM to start a "fresh" code.

The Ah setting is in the same module. Theres like a half dozen threads on battery coding with the info.

[DaytonaRS5]

I’m thinking of getting this battery. Wanted to bump the thread and see how everyone was getting on with it?