6 volt vintage battery shells

[Paps]

Does anyone remember who it was that was making the vintage style Harley Davidson battery shells which came with a modern battery to fit ?

[Rubone]

Several different sellers doing various types exist. You may be thinking of Geoff Erdos.

[EricOlson]

Rubone is right that there are several. Here are links to some of the ones I know of right now:

1.) Replicant metals: https://www.replicantmetals.com/slid...3-29/index.htm

2.) AAOK: https://aaok.com/index.php/electrica...-with-top.html

3.) Chris Daniel. He has advertised in the club magazine. Here is a screenshot of his ad:
Battery box.JPG

[Paps]

Thanks Robbie and Eric.

[paddy]

W&W are also making that box. However it does not have the MOCO Logo on the outside. It works fine. I epoxy a breaker inside the top.

[Paps]

Thank you everyone. It turns out my friend was looking for the battery only and all have suppliers have said that battery is no longer available. My friend said he hates using wet cell batteries. Looks like he will have no choice now.

[AFJ]

What about a 6 volt gel cell battery as used in emergency light power systems?
Come in 6 and 8 amp hour sizes. Have used them for years on British bikes.

[EricOlson]

I was just going to ask Paps if his friend had found a 6V gel battery that worked, and then I remembered I'd read his obituary recently. RIP Paps.

For anyone else following this thread who is interested in a gel or AGM battery, I just bought one from Amazon to try in my 1940 Harley UA. I recently got the bike back from being rebuilt and with less than 10 miles on it the battery vent turned my exhaust pipe into a piece of modern art. Hopefully the sealed battery will hold up. I'll report back once I install and put some time on it.

20210809_150857.jpg

[T. Cotten]

Doesn't an electrolyte discharge mean its over-charging, Folks?

Askin' for a friend,...

....Cotten
PS: I still have the immaculate Richardson that Geoff patterned his great boxes from,... Shouldn't I saw it open and gut the lead?

[EricOlson]

Doesn't an electrolyte discharge mean its over-charging, Folks?

Askin' for a friend,...

....Cotten

It could very well be that, but I rather suspected a battery full of liquid and plenty of heat caused the acid to expand and spill out the vent tube. It's over 100° F here and I'm just doing stop and go in my local back streets to break it in. I'm betting the temp at the battery was pretty hot. I got the sealed AGM battery and put it on the charger for a while. I'm going to build a little box to go around it as inspired by this thread I read a few years back. https://knucklebuster1939.blogspot.c...-and-easy.html Seems very straight forward. Hopefully mine turns out as good as his.

[Schorsch]

In general fyi,
if you use a Gel or AGM battery, you have to convert your Generator from 3 brush into a 2 brush configuration and you have to install a Regulator instead a Cut-Out Relay.
Why? Gel or AGM Batterys do accept a maaximum of 7.4 Volts for charging, So you need a Voltage regulator which controls the voltage level. You have to know, a Generator
in 3 brush and a cut-out relay puts out up to 9.x Volts, that will destroy any Gel or AGM Battery in a short time.
I developed a Regulator as an embedded solution. It means, this unit I can install into each original Cut-out Relay chassis (or electromechanical regualtor chassis too),
matching for old Harleys or Indians or any other Motorcycle brand. This Regulator is very robust, sealed electronic with epoxy and strong power design, works for the
fan cooled police generator too (6 or 12 Volt and 150 Watt, no problem).
George

[EricOlson]

You have to know, a Generator in 3 brush and a cut-out relay puts out up to 9.x Volts, that will destroy any Gel or AGM Battery in a short time.

Thanks for the heads-up George. I put a meter on my battery and brought up the RPM's, and sure enough I hit about 9 Volts at high engine speed. I'll stick with the wet cell battery for now and just put a longer vent line on it routed to an area where it won't do any damage.