motorcyle battery?

[shadow8536]

Has anybody used a motorcycle battery for 12 volt supply? I figure that it is a smaller battery, puts out 12 volts, and is a lot lighter than the car ones. I figure it would be a good use for simple things like reading or porch lights. The only drawback is that they are acid battery so it would have to be in a vented storage area. Any thoughts?

[48Rob]

Hi Shadow,

12 Volt batteries range in size from square flashlight style, to lawn mower/motorcycle, to car to big tractor and forklift.

All provide 12 Volts, the difference is in how long they last before recharging is needed.

I used a flashlight battery to power 1 light in my first tear, worked great!
<img src="http://www.cornerhardware.com/phpThumb/phpThumb.php?src=/images/15/15841.jpg&w=150&h=120&hash=a148c3ae7b2c9b462c9d6a858a071353">

You can also connect two 6 Volt lantern batteries together,

<img src="http://www.batterycountry.com/ShopSite/media/EN529.jpg"><img src="http://www.batterycountry.com/ShopSite/media/EN529.jpg">
though they get pretty expensive as you can't recharge them...

I've got a kids scooter battery I use for running a fan.
I started out using it for a 12 Volt heater, but it sucked it dry in 20 minutes...
It is a 10 Amp hour battery, and will run my o2cool fan for about 8 hours.

<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/1948rob/awning/battery.jpg?t=1244546989">

It weighs about 8 pounds.

The venting issue is important if you don't use a sealed battery, but with caution, you'll be fine.
I have two large golf cart batteries (I'm a power hog...) they're vented, and give me no cause for concern.

Rob

[shadow8536]

That was my only concern is that it wouldn't last long. My mother ordered a battery for her scooter and they sent her the wrong one (wrong number, everything) well instead of taking it in return, they let her keep it and sent her the right one. So she gave me the battery thinking it may fit my motorcycle, but it is too tall. So now I have this brand new battery sitting in my garage that I thought I could use. Mom wants to keep hers light wieght and I figured maybe we could use it. She only wants it to power a dual aircraft light inside, a single in the galley, and a porch light on both sides. We may just experiment with it and see if it will work. She plans on using it at night and then recharging during the day with possibly a small solar charger. Thanks 48Rob.

[ajricher]

Going through the same design issues on my TTT rebuild now.

What I ended up getting is a used UPS battery - often these are swapped out by companies that maintain them and can be had cheaply with lots of life still in them.

The one I got was 33 amp-hours and is the size of a lawn tractor battery. Being an AGM (glass mat technology) battery it can be operated in any position and is sealed - no venting.

I've coupled that with a 5-amp continuous duty charger (retiree from a forklift ) which will either run my lights, laptop and such by itself, or charge the battery for me when needed.

Now, I'm not a huge power user (at least for now) but for what this setup cost me it was a no-brainer.

To summarize, for the price of gel-cells or AGM batteries I wouldn't bother with a motorcycle battery.

Alan

[bobhenry]

Even a battery that size will serve well for several hours if you just want enough light to move about safely in and around the tear. The secret is small bulbs. If they don't put of much heat they are not using a lot of juice. We only use lighting in small spurts when cooking or looking for something or maybe setteling in for the night so draw is not as great as leaving them on all night long.

The bulbs from small clearance lites give off a surprizing amount of light for no bigger than they are. If you just have to read a taillight bulb will really put out the light and if wired and switched correctly you can have a high or low light depending on which filament you energize.

Several folks extole the virtues of led lighting but they are expensive compared with a few small automotive bulbs from the parts store ( or better yet the junk yard ).

We just started off grid camping .I have an electromate 400 ( probably has about the same size battery as yours) and it will run lights forever on 12 volt but when asked for 120 volts it will run only 4 - 5 hours powering dvd player or tv and converter box.

Get some wire and a few clearance lights and do some testing and let us know your findings other folks want to know too.

[48Rob]

Shadow,

Since you already have it, and it was free...why not give it a try!

Worst thing that can happen is it won't have enough capacity...but since it was free, it won't cost anything to find out...

Keep an eye out for kids electric scooters in the trash (2 batteries each) check with scrapyards, folks bring in good batteries all the time.

Post on craigslist that you need used mobility scooter batteries, maybe someone buying new ones will give them to you...

Rob

[Arne]

go for it, as long as it is deep cycle. I'm using a medical scooter battery in mine and it works fine... weighs 27 pounds and fits under the galley nicely.

I run the fantastic fan and 1,2 or 3 interior lights off it...

[Trackstriper]

That was my only concern is that it wouldn't last long. My mother ordered a battery for her scooter and they sent her the wrong one (wrong number, everything) well instead of taking it in return, they let her keep it and sent her the right one. So she gave me the battery thinking it may fit my motorcycle....

It sounds like the battery was for a medical scooter, yes? If so it will be a deep cycle sealed battery which would be just right for your trailer if it has enough capacity to run your loads. You might look at the side of it and see how many amp-hours it's rated for. It may say something like 12V-30AH. Might be just right for light loads. Let us know what you have.

[shadow8536]

from what i have found it is around a 7ah battery It doesn't say on it, but thru research of the part number that is what comes up. It is a scooter, snowmobile, motorcycle, watercraft battery. The model # is CTX7L-BS and is made by WPS. So is 7ah to low to do anything. Electrical isn't my forte' particularly the math. I know some of the basics but not the math part of it with ah. We may try it and also leave enough space to use a standard deep cycle car battery.

[Arne]

my u1 is about 30ah... 7ah won't last long, but it depends on use.... lights are only on briefly at night... my fantastic fan is on/off (thermostat) 24 hours... I recharge the bat every day or two or three with gen or shorepower... it has never gone flat on me.

[angib]

It doesn't say on it, but thru research of the part number that is what comes up. It is a scooter, snowmobile, motorcycle, watercraft battery.

In which case I'd expect it to deteriorate very quickly if you fully discharge it and with only 7Ah, you're gonna do that.

It's a starting battery - the opposite of a deep cycle battery - and in my experience on bikes, they're very easy to ruin. Just charging them with an automotive battery charger usually fritzes them the first time - they need to be charged at 1 amp or below.

Andrew