Sealed battery

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64DUOGLIDE
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Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2005 2:30 am
Location: Houston TX

Sealed battery

#1

Post by 64DUOGLIDE »

Description: I ordered one of the sealed 18amp/hr units that are found on EBay

Post by 64duoglide on Feb 7, 2006, 6:05am

After having to add water a couple of times, my 6v battery finally gave up and left me stranded. I bought the only battery in southeast Texas (that I could find!). Local HD dealer, only one in stock, while he is ringing it up, he tells me he will add acid shortly, I pick it up and tell him it is already full?!? He doesn't understand, but assures me that it IS new, and has NOT been sitting on the shelf, discharged, with acid for any length of time. Like a gullible newbie, and wanting to get back on the road, and not having many alternatives, I take the battery. I get home and it reads 1.9 volts, 16 hours of Battery Tender Jr and it still reads 1.9 volts...back it went and they gave my money back. Not wanting to wait, I ordered one of the sealed 18amp/hr units that are found on EBay. It arrived charged with 6.9 volts. I made some spacers (it is slightly smaller than an H2) and put a couple of hours on it (lights on). I will let everyone know how it works out. How many amp/hrs is a "stock" battery?

Thanks

Post by ozwick on Feb 8, 2006, 4:27pm

64 duo,

Try this guy for your Eagle Picher battery. He gave me a quote of $34.00 delivered for the CF-6V18. Thats 1/2 price of the ones on Ebay. Make sure they send you a 2006 battery and not an old one.

ozwick

Samuel M. Allred
720 Spice Island Drive
Sparks, NV 89431
(775) 356-2878 phone
(775) 356-2842 fax
sam@osibatteries.com

Post by 64duoglide on Feb 11, 2006, 3:56pm

Update: Went for a ride Thursday night , before I started the bike I checked the battery voltage like I have been doing, 6.55 volts like always. I rode for about an hour, bike died during a cough at an intersection. No power, no lights, no nothing. Wife brought meter, and old battery which has been on a battery tender. New battery read 0 volts. Used the old battery to get the bike started. Then plugged the new on back in, and made it home. Checked the new battery with an ohmmeter and found it "open" between the terminals. Sent an email yesterday to motobatteries, have not recieved a reply. Will keep everyone informed. Ozwick, I had already ordered from Motobatteries before I read your post. Do you have one of these types? How long? I'm not sure if something inside vibrated loose or what.

Post by Fixman on Feb 11, 2006, 4:46pm

I also bought one of the motobatteries sealed units, and it did the exact same thing that yours did 64 duoglide. Bike quit, and although the battery measured just under 6 volts at the terminals, it would not operate under load. I threw it away and am once again using the standard lead acid batery. --- Bummer

Post by RussW on Feb 12, 2006, 2:53am

I've had good luck with these AGM batteries, 12A/H, made by MK. You need a good Electronic voltage regulator that won't cook them, I use Cycle Electric. Got into my 3rd season with one before it gave me a problem. Since I am fed up with the NO VOLTAGE/NO LIGHTS/ NO RUN of failed batteries, I got carried away and found that I could tape TWO of these batteries together, and they would fit together nicely in the horseshoe tank. Ran 2 seperate ground wires, and the (+) terminals to a single pole,double throw water-tight marine use toggle switch. Every couple weeks, I switch from one battery to the other to keep a charge on both. Real simple to do, and when the day does come (which you know it will) when one battery starts to fail, just throw the switch to the other and ride on. Then replace them both, which at $28 per will still be less than what I use to pay for lousy repro H2 batteries http://www.batterystuff.com/batteries/e ... S12-6.html

Post by ozwick on Feb 12, 2006, 7:59am

64duo,

Yep, went thru 2 of the Eagle Pichers. They don't stand up to the vibration. Eagle Picher will not warranty them after they found out that it is used on my HD. I myself, will go back to the lead acid. The Harley Dealer out in Walnut Creek will perform an electrical test on my system for free with the purchase of the battery @ $49.00.

Post by 64duoglide on Feb 13, 2006, 5:29am

Thanks for all of the tips...I think I will go back to an acid battery...I just hope I can get my money back from MotoBatteries...I am babying the orginal battery by keeping it on the charger and staying close to home. The one that was in it was a Ted's cycle brand...which must be be a few years old, I think lead acid must be the way to go. Just wondering, there seems to be two types available, the HD dealers version has a vent line, and the other version vents through the caps, any thoughts one way or the other?

Thanks again

Post by sleeper on Feb 13, 2006, 8:50am

yep, I would prefer to have a 'vent line' that ends well under the machine. Safer. any excess or problem could be safely puked out under the bike, not ON it..FWIW

Post by 64duoglide on Feb 15, 2006, 4:42am

Motobatteries refunded my money no questions asked, based just on the email I sent, he didn't even want/wait for me to send the battery back. In the meantime, the Harley Dealer got some 6Vs in and I have one sitting on the Battery Tender Jr. Hopefully my battery woes are over for a while. On another note...I think a pair of lightweight jumper cables that changed the 12 volts to 6, and limited the amps from a car battery would be a cool thing to keep in the saddle bags in case one needed a "jump". Any thoughts?

Thanks for all of the tips

Post by RussW on Feb 15, 2006, 6:27am

It will be interesting to see how the Harley battery works out for you. My interest in the AGM batteries began after a miserable two-year run with aftermarket V Twin, made in India repros ( two in two months) and then 3 batteries from Harley dealers, none lasting more than a few months. I've known my local Harley dealer for many years, and he gave me no problems replacing, then refunding the money for 2 of the Harley batteries since they obviously had failed due to the vibration. One of them would actually only put out the full 6 volts if you pressed down hard on the (+) terminal with your fingers. The last Harley battery I tried came from a different dealer in New York, my thinking that maybe my dealer had a bad "run" of them. It lasted a couple months, went bad, sent it back, they decided it was the batteries fault as well and credited me a refund.
Harley is using an "aftermarket" battery under their name which is nowhere near as heavy and well made as the old 22 amp batteries of long ago. Much lighter made, and not up to the heat/vibration they are put to. If you could ever find an old unused "GS" brand battery, I used to get a good life span from them. Other than that, maybe Harley has a better supplier now of these batteries than a few years ago.
48moon
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Posts: 24
Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2004 9:49 pm
Bikes: 1948 EL
Location: Central PA

Internal Conversion

#2

Post by 48moon »

There's been a lot of discussions about using sealed batteries in place of original style ones.
I've read of others converting their old ones but I wanted to share what I did with some pictures.
Using a V-Twin replica battery, which was junk from day one as many have experienced, I ripped out all of the guts. The trickiest part is cutting out the plastic ribs that separate the cells. I used dense packing foam on the bottom, sides and top to hold the sealed battery in place. The original metal battery cover presses down on the top foam holding it all in place.
I am using an updated (solid state) relay and from what I've read, may be the key to not frying this battery.

"Nothing worthwhile is easy..."

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