Brodie
Darksider #16 - and Proud of it !
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2006
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This caught my eye at the Motorcycle Show last november in San Mateo...
Look again, the batteries in the lower left corner.
My replacement bike is near 5 years old and had it's original battery. I have been monitoring it with the Datel I installed last month and noted a large drop in voltage when hitting the go button. Today was a cold day at work and when I went to start the Datel dropped down from 12.9 standing volts to 8.5 volts while cranking. The LED dash panel blanked out just before the bike fired up, so I decided to get a new battery.
When I talked to the gentleman manning the Shorai display kiosk he mentioned that they were located just across town in Sunnyvale. I found their phone number on the web site and gave them a call, and yes they were open until 5:30 and had a battery for me - plenty of time to go get it. I grabbed my allen wrench cluster, phillips screw driver, and a 10mm wrench and was there within half an hour.
My bike ready for the battery transplant - I know it's dirty, I Ride the damn thing rain or shine
Start out by removing the top panel and the inner trim panel covering the side.
This makes a nice makeshift tray when your'e on the side of the road, It sure beats placing the screws on the ground where you are going to kick them.
Clear off everything from over the top of the battery, you will need the room.
Lift up from the bottom and guide the corner around the upper dash panel. It's a tight fit with a heavy battery, but it will come out.
The old and new placed side by side. The Shorai only weighs 2.2 lbs. and is approximately 70% the size of the old lead acid battery, but packs 18 amp hours. Think about it, smaller battery = more room to put things like a fuse panel, or relays and such.
Note the packing foam in the box, these are actually foam shims of various thicknesses, you use these to shim the smaller battery up to the correct level.
They cut easily and have a peel & stick backing on them to keep them in place in the battery box. It took several layers of varying thickness to get the same height as the old battery.
Here is a neat trick, cut a piece of foam and use the peel & stick adhesive to adhere it to the rectangle nut...
Place the nut & foam under the terminal and if you have several eyelets to go under the bolt, you will never have to fight threading it on again.
With the foam shims in place the battery sits right where it belongs. The terminal polarity is correct for this model. It sure looks clean without all that stuff on top of it...
I can't believe how much stuff I have attached here, time for a fuse panel instal.
I thumbed the go button and within 3 revoloutions of the crank the beast fired up willingly. Mission accomplished, I am one happy camper.
Interesting to note, My Datel read 13.3 volts when we installed it. Sitting here at home after 4 hours in the cold garage it reads 13.4 volts. I will be watching my Datel for the next few days/weeks to establish a baseline.
Time will tell how it holds up.
Brodie
Look again, the batteries in the lower left corner.
My replacement bike is near 5 years old and had it's original battery. I have been monitoring it with the Datel I installed last month and noted a large drop in voltage when hitting the go button. Today was a cold day at work and when I went to start the Datel dropped down from 12.9 standing volts to 8.5 volts while cranking. The LED dash panel blanked out just before the bike fired up, so I decided to get a new battery.
When I talked to the gentleman manning the Shorai display kiosk he mentioned that they were located just across town in Sunnyvale. I found their phone number on the web site and gave them a call, and yes they were open until 5:30 and had a battery for me - plenty of time to go get it. I grabbed my allen wrench cluster, phillips screw driver, and a 10mm wrench and was there within half an hour.
My bike ready for the battery transplant - I know it's dirty, I Ride the damn thing rain or shine
Start out by removing the top panel and the inner trim panel covering the side.
This makes a nice makeshift tray when your'e on the side of the road, It sure beats placing the screws on the ground where you are going to kick them.
Clear off everything from over the top of the battery, you will need the room.
Lift up from the bottom and guide the corner around the upper dash panel. It's a tight fit with a heavy battery, but it will come out.
The old and new placed side by side. The Shorai only weighs 2.2 lbs. and is approximately 70% the size of the old lead acid battery, but packs 18 amp hours. Think about it, smaller battery = more room to put things like a fuse panel, or relays and such.
They cut easily and have a peel & stick backing on them to keep them in place in the battery box. It took several layers of varying thickness to get the same height as the old battery.
Here is a neat trick, cut a piece of foam and use the peel & stick adhesive to adhere it to the rectangle nut...
Place the nut & foam under the terminal and if you have several eyelets to go under the bolt, you will never have to fight threading it on again.
With the foam shims in place the battery sits right where it belongs. The terminal polarity is correct for this model. It sure looks clean without all that stuff on top of it...
I can't believe how much stuff I have attached here, time for a fuse panel instal.
I thumbed the go button and within 3 revoloutions of the crank the beast fired up willingly. Mission accomplished, I am one happy camper.
Interesting to note, My Datel read 13.3 volts when we installed it. Sitting here at home after 4 hours in the cold garage it reads 13.4 volts. I will be watching my Datel for the next few days/weeks to establish a baseline.
Time will tell how it holds up.
Brodie
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