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Battery Capacity Doubled

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(@ben-franklin)
Posts: 201
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@scott-h Ok Scott, curiosity got the best of me.

I headed out into my toasty warm garage to test out the theory of hooking two 40 ah mc/atv batteries in series for a trail repair weld.

Took a little less than 5 minutes to reconfigure the pair of batteries from operate mode (parallel) to weld mode (series) thus giving me access to a total of 80 ah at 24v.

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I then dug out the cables that normally live in the bottom of my SC trunk:

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Cracked open a fresh pack of el cheapo 6011 rods.

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Clamped a couple of pieces of 1/8" steel together to try a lap weld on.

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Found the crappiest welding face shield I had, floating around in a drawer:

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Grabbed power from the 24v source:

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Clamped up a ground and a rod:

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And proceeded to strike an arc on the work piece:  Pic prior to chipping slag off:

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After some clean up.  Ugly AF, the arc was pretty hard to control, amperage was high, voltage low.  The rod got fully red hot and cooked most of the flux off, after a little while.  But it did weld..

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Backside shows some evidence of penetration.  I did absolutely zero prep work, since conditions on a trail might not be conducive to prepping for welding.

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Weld held pretty well.  I put it in the bench clamp and was able to bend the wider flat stock by levering on the other piece.  Weld held without giving, just had the toe tacked down.  If it had of been something important on a trail, I would have flowed the bead around further.

Now, of course, I was also curious to see if the batteries would have enough left to start and operate the bike.  I reconfigured back to "operate" mode, in parallel, then powered up the bike without starting it.  VM read 12.3 v with the key on, all lights on.

image

Cranked right up, DCT operated fine.  

I think I have a new capability, with only the marginal cost of carrying a few rods and maybe the cheapo face mask.  Thanks Scott, for this valuable lesson!!!

I certainly would have done this in either of two situations where I had to make less stable trail repairs to get home with broken subframe components a while back.

 
Posted : October 5, 2024 6:48 pm
MGV8, Brstr, sheath and 2 people reacted
(@miles-ladue)
Posts: 1031
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Oh, great.... Scott @sheath.... you have created a monster 

Two Million Mile Rider...All 7 Continents
Exploring the World in Comfort

 
Posted : October 5, 2024 9:18 pm
(@scott-h)
Posts: 774
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A bit of practice to figure out the best speed, & pressure on different metals will help clean things up.   I've done some big repairs on the trail with large automotive batteries.  The idea is the weld will get us out, and it can be ground out to correctly weld back in the garage. 

In those days I was welding almost every day at work, so had reasonable skills.  They perish quickly. 😉 

Hold my keyboard and watch this! 🙃

 
Posted : October 6, 2024 11:13 am
Brstr, Thane Lewis, FlyingMonkeys and 1 people reacted
(@brstr)
Posts: 281
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Had to read up on E6011 electrodes.

Never used them other than in tech school  50 years ago.

Interesting application. 

I you carry a hand file ( say barstard cut) then you then can prep for small welds.

Or at least scratch of paint and powder coat. 

Of course if you carry a hammer and anvil you can light a fire and forge new parts........

 
Posted : October 6, 2024 4:31 pm
(@scott-h)
Posts: 774
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We call it "Farmer's Rod" here in the U.S.  Any "buzz-box" can handle it.  Welds through some pretty nasty muck, and is hard to screw up.

Hold my keyboard and watch this! 🙃

 
Posted : October 6, 2024 8:00 pm
(@ben-franklin)
Posts: 201
Honorable Member
Topic starter
 

@brstr clap  

 

Yeah, there is generally a file and a hacksaw in the tool bag; a 3 lb sledge seems to find its way onboard, as well, after the last subframe fix in a motel 6 parking lot out in Willcox AZ.

We'll leave the anvil at home (for now!)

 
Posted : October 6, 2024 10:28 pm
(@ben-franklin)
Posts: 201
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@MGV8 , Brian suggested these nifty terminal strips to tidy up the mess I made adding a 2nd battery into the hack body, a little earlier this week.

However, we don't buy new terminal strips when we have terminal strips "at home!" Cheap ******* that I am, I decided to make a pair out of stuff mostly on hand in the shop, so...

It cooled off a little in the shop, this evening with almost no humidity, so I managed to work up the enthusiasm to clean up the wiring under the seat and fab up a solution to all the stuff hanging off the winch relay terminal posts, 4 and 5 connections deep.

upload_2024-10-9_4-22-27.png

 

Here is where I left off, with the battery install. Kinda busy on that relay for the winch, too many wires connecting to the battery terminals (just plain annoying when changing batteries.)

upload_2024-10-9_4-25-26.png

 

So buss bars are made out of copper, right?

Happened to have some one inch copper tubing left over from Greg's water softener deinstallation a few months back.

upload_2024-10-9_4-29-17.png

 

Sawed off about 6 inches of it and flattened it out in the vise and finished on the mini-anvil (that stays at home!)

upload_2024-10-9_4-30-25.png

 

 

upload_2024-10-9_4-30-43.png

 

Then split it lengthwise to make two "bars."

upload_2024-10-9_4-31-25.png

 

Drilled some holes.

upload_2024-10-9_4-32-2.png

 

 

upload_2024-10-9_4-32-16.png

 

Then ran some bolts down from the oh hell bin.

upload_2024-10-9_4-33-22.png

 

Bolted them to the floor of the tub with nylon bolts, made a few better cables, fixed a few terminal ends and applied plenty of shrink sleeving and zip ties:

upload_2024-10-9_4-36-1.png

 

c't'd..

 
Posted : October 9, 2024 6:41 am
Drew, MGV8, sheath and 2 people reacted
(@ben-franklin)
Posts: 201
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c't'd from above

Decided a cover might be a good idea, in case loose wrenches find their way back under the seat some time in the future. Finally found a use for that chunk of plastic that Mr. Frank Grace gave me a while back.

 

upload_2024-10-9_4-40-11.png

 

And back, ready for adventure!

 

upload_2024-10-9_4-42-20.png

 

Well, decided that it was about 12:30 am and things had cooled off out in the desert, so a test ride was in order.

Filled up with gas and decided that maybe a truck stop burrito was in order, maybe out towards Gila Bend. Found some cool air and headed west from Skunk Hollow.

Here's where the evening got a little more interesting. I decided that I really wasn't up to a truck stop burrito, and there was a dirt road heading somewhere south of Buckeye, AZ that seemed like it needed exploring.

I turned off the 238 on something that might have been 83rd avenue, if the sign was accurate. It turned into an extremely washboarded grader road, which seemed like a good way to find out if my wiring would smoke or not.

upload_2024-10-9_4-49-39.png

 

 

upload_2024-10-9_4-50-1.png

 

 

upload_2024-10-9_4-50-27.png

 

 

upload_2024-10-9_4-50-52.png

 

There were some sections of very deep sand and gravel where the road went through some washes. I would have photographed one or two, but for some reason or another, I seemed to have my hands full at the time.

Temps had really cooled off, and the occasional farm dog was still too slow to catch me, even in the gravel sections. It was a splendid little ride.

At one point, I noticed that some Asshat had dumped a load of broken furniture, appliances and construction debris along the road. I did not think too much about it, other than, what a jerk.

I continued the ride south, then swung around east and looped back up towards Skunk Hollow.

All was good, until I hit a stretch of pavement again. I wicked it up a bit, but all of a sudden something was not right in the rear of the rig.

Pulled over under a street light and discovered that something had cut about a 6 inch slash in the sidewall of a tire that was only about half worn.

upload_2024-10-9_4-57-30.png

 

Pondered the options... there was no patching that.

Thought about walking home (it was about 3.7 miles), and bringing the truck back with a new tire.

Thought about pulling the wheel, taking it home, mounting a new tire and walking back.

Finally decided that it looked like the tread was flattened out enough to allow rolling the bike along at about 5 mph to limp it home, maybe without trashing the rim. This option worked way better than it had a right to. It was about 1:30 am, so almost zero traffic. Pulled over to right lane, put the flashers on, and idled home.

upload_2024-10-9_5-3-29.png

 

 

upload_2024-10-9_5-6-27.png

 


Got home, pulled tire remanent off. Amazingly, the rim did not suffer any damage from this poor choice of action.

I will likely need to swap a new abs sensor onto the rear, though. Trashed a wire that has been fixed once, already. Have had the new sensor for awhile, but the trail repair on the old one had worked for a couple years.

Tire mounted and balanced...

upload_2024-10-9_5-7-49.png

 

Decided that was the point to call it an evening, I was suddenly beat. Will take care of the sensor and remount the wheel, sometime tomorrow evening.

Overall, it was a fine adventure. A little miffed at losing a tire, but such is life. It could have been worse... And no smoke was released from the new wiring, so there is that!

 
Posted : October 9, 2024 6:47 am
Drew, MGV8, sheath and 2 people reacted
(@scott-h)
Posts: 774
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And another epic desert adventure is in the books. 😎  Bummed about the tire.  It was still looking good. 

Any way to put the sensor wire through a stainless tube to protect it in the future? Can the connector be un-pinned, and is there room to mount a solid tube?

Battery/terminal block work came out great.  I like finding stuff in the garage to make things work for "free".  It's like a double word score Scrabble domination! 🤩 

Hold my keyboard and watch this! 🙃

 
Posted : October 9, 2024 9:12 am
 MGV8
(@mgv8)
Posts: 210
Reputable Member
 

A most awesome adventure close to home.  Air in tires is over rated 🤣  

On the wiring front, a great solution even if it was a tad more work than it needed to be lol8    Should stand the test of time. clap  

 
Posted : October 9, 2024 10:08 am
 Drew
(@andrew-baker)
Posts: 334
Prominent Member
 

Posted by: @ben-franklin

 

 

So buss bars are made out of copper, right?

Happened to have some one inch copper tubing left over from Greg's water softener deinstallation a few months back.

 

So to sum up, you made buss bars outta flattened copper pipe then tested it in the desert at 1am.

 

Were not worthy

 

 

 

 
Posted : October 9, 2024 1:47 pm
MGV8, Brstr, Ben Franklin and 3 people reacted
(@ben-franklin)
Posts: 201
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@scott-h , will take a look at a protective tube for the poor little ABS wire. Maybe even a piece of sleeving over the parking brake cable, with the ABS wire on the inside of the sleeving would be an improvement.

Got distracted today, so have not looked at it, again, other than to test the air pressure in the new tire as I walked by it in the garage.  You can bet I was pleased that it held pressure overnight, maybe indicating that the rim is indeed happy, after it's abuse yesterday.

 
Posted : October 9, 2024 11:40 pm
MGV8, Brstr, sheath and 1 people reacted
(@dirtydr)
Posts: 423
Honorable Member
 
image

Bummer

 
Posted : October 10, 2024 6:21 am
(@miles-ladue)
Posts: 1031
Noble Member
 

Posted by: @dirtydr

-- attachment is not available --

Bummer

Dana, I have to wonder what their reasoning is behind not recommending a Shorai battery for your Triumph Rocket lllllllllllll.

I would think the one, like I have in most of my Goldwing 1800, with 540 CCA, would be able to crank over that large 3 cylinder engine.

 

Two Million Mile Rider...All 7 Continents
Exploring the World in Comfort

 
Posted : October 10, 2024 7:39 am
Brstr and sheath reacted
(@scott-h)
Posts: 774
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I ran across a similar issue with a KTM 390 Adventure.  Display failures caused them to tell dealers to ensure bikes with this issue did not have a Lithium battery.

My thought is the cards lack snubbers to protect them from spikes. Lead acid is a great snubber for electrical spikes, both current and voltage.  Lithium uses a BMS that may or may not have the capacity to work in a similar manner.

Just my WAG.  KTM would not discuss further, even when pressed.  I ride an old bike, that thinks "spikes" are a cool hair style.

Hold my keyboard and watch this! 🙃

 
Posted : October 10, 2024 8:00 am
MGV8, Brstr, Ben Franklin and 3 people reacted
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