Battery

[Will]

Any body ever heard of a 12v gel cell that will fit my 42 EL?
Thanks W

[Sargehere]

Send a PM to member here, "Erdos." He makes an outstanding battery case identical to the old, stock H-2. In that, you put a 12v. gel burglar alarm battery and you will never have to worry about it for the life of the sealed battery.

[vph-d]

I got a sealed 12v battery from V-Twin recently for my 51FL. It fit nicely into the oil tank, after you make a spacer out a wooden 4x4. I've been using those miserable 12n5.5 Yamaha batteries for decades, so I hope this battery lasts longer than 1 year.
VPH-D

[cdf6333]

Just a warning here. I had one of those POS gel cell alarm batteries actually blow up on me a couple years ago. They are NOT meant for multi-amp charging. They are charged in milli-amps with the 110 AC to 6 or 12 V DC battery charger. I was 100 miles from home and alone. I had to strap a VW 6 V car battery on my luggage rack to continue the trip.
These MIGHT work if you switch over to the electronic (solid state) regulator available now, like the one Gene Harper in Co sells.They hide in a replica regulator body so they look the same, just work a thousand times better.
I switched to a pair of lithium ion batteries in an empty Indian case, 19 Amp Hours each, in parallel, 38 amp hours. Very happy with the setup, no more acid ever and they weigh ounces, not pounds. No water to check, EVER. The batteries aren't cheap, about $100 each, but should last years. The Nissan Leaf has about 1000 of them. These are like the cell phone bats or newer power tool bats.

[frichie68]

I had a gel cell battery that would change from 1.5v to 13v and anywhere in between (6v battery!) at the rap of a knuckle. Can't even imagine what the normal vibration of a WL was making it do. I'll take my chances with lead-acid.
Rich

[Will]

Thanks for the input, I think I am going to try that sealed battery from Teds
I will let you know how it performs, hopefully in a couple of years

Thanks again
W

[stevekleincustom]

cdf6333 is correct above. Not all 12v batteries are the same. Plus not all batteries advertised as "Gel Cell" are actually gell cell. Many are just regular acid batteries with a piece of foam in each cell to deal better with vibration and cells shorting out. The Lithiam Ion batteries work well also. Got stranded in a remote area of Texas a few years back on a Panhead. Found a backup sealed battery a for home security system in a hardware store and it got me home. Glad to finally get rid of acid leaking issues on valuable motorcycles and the associated hours of cleanup, sanding, prepping and small area repaint to correct acid damage... and that's only if the chrome rear rim did not get etched as well.