Hello everybody,
I have a question about installing a battery in a sidecar. I have read a lot of posts on here on the subject but I am still not real sure about safety.
I have a 1981 CLE sidecar that I am putting on a 1978 FLH-80 electraglide. I want to get rid of the bike battery and put a car battery behind the seat in the car. I really like the idea of doing this for the extra ballast, cost and capacity. I don't have any problems physically installing it but I am concerned about the battery producing gas in the small space behind the seat.
I have read where people use regular maintenance free batteries and some use Optima Batteries (expensive) that don't gas as much. I would rather use a regular maintenance free battery.
Is the gas produced enough to be a concern? Has anyone had any problems? Do you vent the space somehow? I don't really want to modify the tub too much if I can avoid it!!
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!
Thanks,
Bob
I install battery in the box between bike and sidecar on the frame. Made some holes for ventilation. Have it for 9 years now.
Many batteries are sealed these days.
Hack'n - 2/7/2015 1:39 PM
Many batteries are sealed these days.
Sealed batteries are known as gel or AGM. The batteries HD sells now are that type.
Other than the extra ballast what is the advantage of an auto battery. My BMW 1100 and my Triumph T100 do just fine with the stock battery. Just curious.
We have in the past used Optima gel cell batteries, what we usually do is use 2 six volt batteries as they can be mounted in a lot of places a standard twelve volt could not. In general, I like to stay with a stock bike battery as for the most part they work fine. Bikes that sit for long periods of time with out being able to have a battery tender on them can benefit from the car battery, people that need to camp and run equipment uch as a Cpap machine like the extra capacity. One bike we had an electric shifter that she often parked for several weeks at a time when she would go to ride the bike until it ran for a while to bring the voltage up to fully charged did not shift all that well. In the case of this particular bike a GL1500 she would find that the shifter stopped working, we would go to work on the bike and every thing was fine. It turned out that she would have the bike towed home, put a battery tender on it and when we came to work on it, every thing worked fine. Her charging system on the bike was not working at all and she was running the bike for weeks on end not knowing that the charging system did not work as there was plenty of battery reserve. I also rode a GL1500 home for 3 days with no charging system by putting an automotive battery in the saddle bag and charging it at the hotel at night. Replaced then once home I replaced the alternator with an over sized one.
I agree however other then ballast there really is seldom a good reason or need for the automotive battery and as such we only do one ever few years.
Jay G
DMC sidecars
www.dmcsidecars.com
866-638-1793
Really appreciate the prompt reply, Jay.
Thanks for all your replies!! Sorry if I didn't reply quick enough but have been at work with no internet access. I guess all things considered I will stick with the bike battery and just add some extra ballast.
Bob
I run a 900cca truck battery in box behind seat of my CF1 chair,..simply ran heavy guage wires to batt with disconnect ( trailer plug) under seat for chair removal, runs l.e.d.s, laptop, stereo, and charges from the bike alternator,..8 seasons now,..good luck,..crawf.
Thanks crawf,
Did you get rid of the bike battery?? Have you had any problems with the battery gassing??
Thanks,
Bob
no bob,..bike is factory with battery wired parallel, ( + to +),...(- to -),..gassing only happens when overcharging with too high amperage,..bike isn't that strong,..daughter has been sitting above the R.V. style batt. box since day one,..never an issue,...for safety sake,..wire in a 20 amp fuse on power line as a fail safe if concerned,...cheers crawf.
Thanks for the info crawf!!
Wiring two batteries in parallel does work. There is a gotcha. If the batteries of different sizes [cold cranking amps is a good gauge] it is possible to vastly over charge the smaller battery, causing it to fail. If it fails by destroying a cell or shorting a plate it will bring down the other battery. DAMHIK!
If you want a big battery in the hack for ballast, just remove the bike battery and use some BIG wire to the battery in the hack. I used welding cable and it worked a treat. The alternative is to use an RV charging set-up for multiple batteries. they work fine but you may consider it unnecessarily complex.
Thanks Al,
That was my original plan but I have read several things saying that gas build up in the compartment behind the seat could be a problem. I agree with crawf that gassing is not a problem unless charging at too high of a rate. I will only be charging with the bikes charging system and maybe a trickle charger!! I just want to make sure it is a safe thing to do before I do it!! I want to use a standard maintenance free car battery and get rid of the bike battery.
Bob
crawf is right, gassing is only an issue when charging at a high rate. Besides that, your compartment is likely to be less airtight than you may think. I guess my thinking is just that using two batteries is just adding one more point of failure and unnecessarily complicating the system. Either scheme will probably work just fine. Mine worked for a long time before the small battery failed.
Oh, the empty battery space makes for some nice extra storage on the bike. I put a tool kit and some spares in mine.
