6-volt Lithium Ion battery conversion

[slingshot]

I have been thinking of replacing the conventional 6 volt batteries in my 33 VLE and 42 WLA with 6-volt Lithium Ion batteries. The battery that I am looking at is the Antigravity 6-volt 8-Cell Lithium Ion battery with 9Ah (PB Eq). I would like to know if there are any negatives about this conversion.

I also know that I would have to make some additional changes in the charging system, so would appreciate if anyone can share their knowledge or experience with such a conversion along with the source for the parts to be replaced.

[Erdos]

Get ahold or Rob at Retrocycle.com. He has a handle on what you need to do from the 2 brush generator conversion to the regulator you need to replace your cutout relay. I can hook you up with a replica battery case if you would like also.

-Geoff

[Hollywood]

If you're just looking for an alternative to the lead acid H-D crappy batteries then maybe this will suffice...I've actually had pretty good luck with a $20.00 gel cell lately...here's a link to my Cheap and Dirty battery solution...no system changes required and by the way, you can bring a spare along in your saddle bag...

http://knucklebuster1939.blogspot.co...-and-easy.html

[Shaky Jake]

If you're just looking for an alternative to the lead acid H-D crappy batteries then maybe this will suffice...I've actually had pretty good luck with a $20.00 gel cell lately...here's a link to my Cheap and Dirty battery solution...no system changes required and by the way, you can bring a spare along in your saddle bag...

http://knucklebuster1939.blogspot.co...-and-easy.html

Brilliant. For what it's worth, I use one of those 6V gel cells in my '69 BMW with good success.



Kevin

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[Jim]

Nice idea!!! is there any "Charging" problems with the Gel Battery? In other words... could a 6V 3 brush Generator "OVERCHARGE" a Gel battery causing problems? I don't know much about these...

[Hollywood]

I have them in three bikes and have not had a problem.

[Jim]

Thanks! I'll look into that Gel type the "next" time I am searching for a battery.

[slingshot]

Thanks to Geoff and Hollywood. I may try the Gel battery to begin with as it requires no system changes. But some day would like to upgrade to the Lithium Batteries.

Ride Safe!
Manjeet

[Paul G Bergeron]

heres one mans take on those lithium batterys they work good around the shop short rides etc just when you think you have got it figured out you take a long ride and it over charges these batterys and the batterys fail then it fries the points and you are walking happened to me on several rides the harley batterys have over25 amp hr if you have a gel battery it should have a large amp hr rating like the battery you are to replace can you get 6 volt gel battery like that ? paul g bergeron minot maine 7989

[Hollywood]

I've taken 500 Miles rides in a weekend(250 each way) with the Gel Cell without any problems...never fried anything...the ones I'm using are only 8.5 AH...

[Coolbreeze]

I have gel cells or glass mat sealed batteries in my Chief, H-D KHK, and Indian 841. Only the Harley has a updated voltage regulator. These 6 volt batteries are holding up wonderfully. Because of charging problems with the Chief, I may end up changing to 12V this winter. The battery is fine, but the Bosch generator & voltage regulator seem to be beyond local mechanics' ability to get to work right.
Yes, I said "Bosch." In the late '60s, it was easier & cheaper for me to use an old VW generator than to get the original generator to work.
BTW, I was able to achieve the required amp-hour rating by hooking a couple of sealed 6V batteries in parallel so their capacities were added to each other.

[billpedalino]

These gel-cell/glass mat battery posts have been becoming more and more interesting over the past two years.

The two gel-cell batteries in parallel seems viable, as they might offer a suitable 'current sink' for the 10 amp (+/-) output of the 32E current source. I like that ingenious PVC idea for a non-judged bike, but would probably go with the battery cases that I've seen at the AMCA meets for my '47 and '53 FL's. The cases that I've seen look very accurate and are nicely constructed. I would consider the change over, but my main concern would be the over-charging problem.

I would love to do assay with the messy Pb battery as long as I could be certain that I'm not creating other problems. Pb batteries are messy, but they're a known entity that we've learned how to deal with and if your charging system is set up and maintained correctly, they do work.

Two 8.5 AH batteries in parallel would offer 16 AH of current absorption if there's room for them in the battery case. I don't remember offhand, what is the amp-hour rating of a new lead-acid battery?

[vph-d]

Bill,
The -29 battery was rated at 22 amps.
VPH-D