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  #1 (permalink)  
Old 11-23-2014, 05:30 AM
rootercycles's Avatar
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battery

All,

I built a chopper in 2012, and tried to do so on a budget. I wired this thing by hand, placed all wires within the frame, and put my "ghetto" wiring harness in the horseshoe oil tank with the battery. As you can imagine, by placing all electrical components in that small space, and then sitting on a custom formed seat, I have shorted out so many wires I can't count the times I've had to replace, strengthen, or re-engineer something to work. I have no room elsewhere to put a "box" for the harness, and want to keep all of it hidden.

I want to replace the big, OEM sized battery with something much smaller so that I can get the wiring contained, with plenty of room so when I sit down, it does not shorten out everything.

There are some very small, (and very expensive) batteries that foot the bill. I have questions about longevity, cranking amps, (127"), and cost.

Thanks for your advice!

RC
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  #2 (permalink)  
Old 11-23-2014, 06:56 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rootercycles View Post
All,

I built a chopper in 2012, and tried to do so on a budget. I wired this thing by hand, placed all wires within the frame, and put my "ghetto" wiring harness in the horseshoe oil tank with the battery. As you can imagine, by placing all electrical components in that small space, and then sitting on a custom formed seat, I have shorted out so many wires I can't count the times I've had to replace, strengthen, or re-engineer something to work. I have no room elsewhere to put a "box" for the harness, and want to keep all of it hidden.

I want to replace the big, OEM sized battery with something much smaller so that I can get the wiring contained, with plenty of room so when I sit down, it does not shorten out everything.

There are some very small, (and very expensive) batteries that foot the bill. I have questions about longevity, cranking amps, (127"), and cost.

Thanks for your advice!

RC
First off I would keep the softail size battery . Using that and a good starter( I found both Ultima components with starters ranging from 2 to 2.4kw and huge cables to be the cheapest and well functioning starting system.

Now, the issue of hiding electrics. How much electrics we,re talking? I don,t have anything but 4 fuses( harley, auto-reset type) and 4 pole ignition key rated 30 amp. I do not have handlebar harness at all...I try to locate all those electrics as close to starter as possible, makes shortest routes to wiring. Versions to hide fuses- under trany plate, attached at the back side of primary motor plate, attached to the battery box( on rigid choppers it,s between the fender and starter.

Some people use gas tank tonnel to hide electrics. There,s a nice long box attached to the seat post that also holds all the electrics and the ign key.
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  #3 (permalink)  
Old 11-23-2014, 07:07 AM
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The electronics must stay within the battery box. I am only using 2 hi/lo relays for my entire wiring harness, so I've kept it as simple as possible. I'm looking for others experience with smaller batteries that do not take up as much space.
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Old 11-23-2014, 03:17 PM
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Is there room behind the oil bag? Will it still be hidden there? The small batteries are a PIA. The only one that works half way decent is the Braille but I went back to the Deka YTX20 Softail sized battery in my hot rod bike. It is a 113 I built and it starts everytime with the Deka. About 2/3'rds of the time with the Braille and only about 1/3 of the time when I had an Odyssey Battery in it. I tried the Ballistic and it was worse than any of the above........

I closed in a little area in from of the oil bag on a CFL I built......
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Last edited by pushrod243; 11-24-2014 at 05:32 PM..
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Old 11-23-2014, 04:42 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pushrod243 View Post
Is there room behind the oil bag? Will it still be hidden there? The small batteries are a PIA. The only one that works half way decent is the Braille but I went back to the Deka YTX20 Softail sized battery in my hot rod bike. It is a 113 I built and it starts everytime with the Deka. About 2/3'rds of the time with the Braille and only about 1/3 of the time when I had an Odyssey Battery in it. I tried the Ballistic and it was worse than any of the above........

I closed in a little area in from of the oil bag on a CFL I built......
http://207.57.8.251/JayFrame13.JPG
Exactly my points. I have a tiny braile b129 on my 113" S&S prostreet, it struggles in winter. ( 12 amp hrs) In the summer it,s ok. I wound,t dare using it in 120 or 127. I,m tempted to combine 2 small batteries in sequence which is easier to do then in big.

There,s a thoughtful fella here who used ballistic- here,s his comment from one of the discussions( bunch of them can be found easily)

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I have a 127 el bruto in my pro street. i am running a 1.6kw all balls starter part # 80-1012 and a very small battery because of my small battery box in my horseshoe oil tank. the battery is a BALLISTIC EVO2 12 CELL. Allot of people don't like them mostly because they don't know how they work. My bike does not start on the first second third and sometimes forth try because i have not found my sweet spot either but with the ballistic battery gets stronger with each crank cycle i do. Ballistic batteries get stronger with heat. So as they warm up from cranking they get stronger. I just have to wait about 15 seconds between crank cycles and i can watch my Dakota volts gauge climb. Never drained my battery and never was not able to get it started because of a dead battery. The battery does cost about 150 then another 70 for the special charger that has a communication cord to hook to the battery that can measure and balance each cell to be the same (called conditioning) my bike does sit for weeks and sometimes months without riding and i have yet to use the battery charger on it. I only used the charger once when i first installed the battery to make sure it was fully charged and balanced.
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Old 11-24-2014, 06:22 AM
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I put a Braille in one I just finished - Ultima 120. It didn't have enough power to start it. Put in a Harley battery and it fired right up.
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Old 11-24-2014, 10:40 AM
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Quote:
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I put a Braille in one I just finished - Ultima 120. It didn't have enough power to start it. Put in a Harley battery and it fired right up.
Just ordered the Ballistic. It was very expensive, but I am tired of replacing wires I've sat on and shorted out. Wish me luck!
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Old 11-24-2014, 11:02 AM
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Has anybody looked into antigravity Li batteries?
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VITALY.
SORRY FOR THE UPPER CASE. CAN'T SEE SHIT.
113"s&s, Walz softail 2000/2012 prostreet
96"s&s, Daytec dyna/ softail hybrid, 1998/2010 chopper
127"Ultima, Chassis Design rigid 2013 bobber
120"Ultima, Kraft Tech FL 2014/2019 bobber
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Old 11-25-2014, 06:45 AM
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Quote:
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Has anybody looked into antigravity Li batteries?
I just got one for my Russian bike - it's only a 650cc and it works great on that bike. I can't believe how small it is. I didn't think it would work but it was cheap so I thought I'd give it a go. When I have time I'm going to try it on my Ironhead.
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Old 11-25-2014, 06:55 AM
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Quote:
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i just got one for my russian bike - it's only a 650cc and it works great on that bike. I can't believe how small it is. I didn't think it would work but it was cheap so i thought i'd give it a go. When i have time i'm going to try it on my ironhead.
ural or dnepr?

May i ask , what size? How many cells did you get ?
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VITALY.
SORRY FOR THE UPPER CASE. CAN'T SEE SHIT.
113"s&s, Walz softail 2000/2012 prostreet
96"s&s, Daytec dyna/ softail hybrid, 1998/2010 chopper
127"Ultima, Chassis Design rigid 2013 bobber
120"Ultima, Kraft Tech FL 2014/2019 bobber
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Old 11-25-2014, 11:12 AM
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Evo2 12-cell
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Old 11-26-2014, 07:41 PM
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I have an Antigravity Battery in my Ultima 127. It was in it when I bought it. Amazing battery, very expensive, $400. It is a lithium 700 cranking amp battery and light as a feather. It has no problem
turning the beast over if you use your compression releases properly. If you don't use them properly it will spit the starter back and grind. Any way as far as size about the size of the battery in my Yamaha, I could measure tomorrow if that price doesn't scare you off first. I should add that it is 10 years old and still going strong
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Old 11-27-2014, 05:56 AM
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had similar issue with space..getting the battery back in if removed was a bear.
got a lithium from advance auto and gained some space as well as more power.
it's been a year and holding up well. can use a conventional low amp charger if
needed.
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Old 11-27-2014, 02:10 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rem hamilton View Post
had similar issue with space..getting the battery back in if removed was a bear.
got a lithium from advance auto and gained some space as well as more power.
it's been a year and holding up well. can use a conventional low amp charger if
needed.
Which model exactly did you get from the advanced auto? Also what size is you motor and starter?
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VITALY.
SORRY FOR THE UPPER CASE. CAN'T SEE SHIT.
113"s&s, Walz softail 2000/2012 prostreet
96"s&s, Daytec dyna/ softail hybrid, 1998/2010 chopper
127"Ultima, Chassis Design rigid 2013 bobber
120"Ultima, Kraft Tech FL 2014/2019 bobber
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Old 11-27-2014, 04:41 PM
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I just purchased another softail battery before I was told of these lithium batteries. I researched them deeply and feel comfortable with them. Although they weigh about 2-3lbs, its not the weight Im after, its the size. The battery they recommended for my bike is about the size of two fists. That would allow me to build the steel seat Im wanting. I have a S&S 117, and they said they have exactly what I need. Ck into the company and see what they can do for you.
Batteries - Shorai Lithium Batteries
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