(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best powersports batteries

I just did this... again! So here's what I'm thinking of doing to out smart
myself. Replace regular bulbs with LED bulbs because they use much less power, or
remove the bulbs permanently and use a 12v plug-in map light and keep it in the glove box.
(Amazon search term; 12 volt car map light)

For a better answer to your question maybe you could check/ask at
http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/
Good luck... reply if you find a solution...

Edit: more info...

Battery Protector (T4)

You look to be on the right track. I just bought a fishfinder for my kayak.

This is the battery I bought

Along with this charger

I also picked up this waterproof box that I've seen a lot of people use to put the battery in. Do a google search for DIY fishfinder battery box.

Good luck, I'm on the east coast so I have to wait for it to warm up before I get everything on the yak

I got one of these, and everyone made fun of me. Wow, such a difference in removing batteries without a handle.

$35.50 with free shipping from Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/YTX7A-BS-High-Performance-Maintenance-Motorcycle/dp/B00IUV846I/ref=sr_1_5?s=automotive&srs=3020803011&ie=UTF8&qid=1459269582&sr=1-5

I have the 4 amp version of this battery in my Elite E's, Razz and other 50cc bikes and it's great. I like the display and alarm it has built in for low voltage.

The older vlx 600s(pre 2000) don't have a gear reduction starter so need all the voltage and amps you can give it. I have a black 91' that looks just like yours. I'd recommend this one on Amazon. It's $29.99 and has high reviews. It's the right size too, the (pre2000) vlx 600 uses a short battery. Just make sure and get a battery tender/maintainer if you don't ride often.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00K53BM0E/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_CWkYBbZ4JVFGM

I got this battery for my 2010 Bonneville and it has been great so far. Not too expensive and good quality. It's not Li though.

I think so too, but it doesn't look like those leads would reach a charge controller, so you're going to have to splice the wire. I guess at this voltage wire gauge isn't going to be too important, but you'll need a meter to see which one is +. Certainly not a huge issue, I just wish there was more standardization. The HQRP panels seem to have their own proprietary connectors too. (MC4?)
http://www.amazon.com/HQRP-Monocrystalline-Controller-Regulator-Radiation/dp/B002WHQL2U

Sorry, but you are still incorrect. They have a marginally higher up-front cost, and a dramatically lower lifetime cost. I just showed that you could get 200Ah (160 usable) for $1000. You'd need 400+Ah of AGM to get the same 160Ah usable capacity. Now, you could get something like this (https://www.amazon.com/Universal-Power-Group-45978-Battery/dp/B0044Z8DJW) for $640, which would be quite cheaper. But given that even high end AGMs are grossly overrated, I can't imagine something like this would be even remotely reliable/long-lasting.

Conversely, if you got something like these Lifeline AGMs - which are reputed to be fairly high quality - it would be more expensive than lithium. (https://www.amazon.com/Lifeline-Marine-AGM-Battery-GPL-31T/dp/B0055LKPX6)

If you went somewhat lower end, it would be comparable.

And again, that's just up front cost. Lifetime its not even remotely comparable. Not to mention the innumerable benefits of lithium (smaller, lighter, faster and more efficient charging, minimal voltage sag, etc...)

Go with cheap flooded lead acid or lithium. AGM shouldn't be part of the conversation.

I’ve thought a lot about this actually and have a few options. Batteries are limited by how much current they can put out at once but fortunately woofer power ratings are not actually how much power they use, and because you have capacitors in your amplifier you don’t need to “feed” the system high-amperage peaks of electricity - the amp will draw a constant(ish) amount of power and feed the speakers the spikes they need. So if you use a 200w (total) amplifier you can prob get away with 50-75w of draw on the battery. Totally doable but not great for 18650s - need a bunch of them. The Soundboks uses a battery configuration like this which is the form factor of a scooter battery. Fairly light, can pump out plenty of watts. I have not used the linked battery, but something in that form factor will be a good place to look. You can safely assume that all battery manufacturers are liars about capacity; buy 1.5-2x what you think you’ll need.

In your testing, get a meter and check how much actual power your amp is drawing when playing at “full” volume, then you can figure out from there how many watt-hours your battery needs to be for a given playtime on the speaker.

Are those electrolyte bottles full? Looks like that battery has never even been filled with electrolyte or charged. Probably fits a motorcycle or even a small garden tractor/lawn mower with electric starter. Someone might be able to put it to good use. $108.95 at Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Yuasa-YUAM62H4L-YTX14AHL-BS-Battery/dp/B0018F3MP6?psc=1&SubscriptionId=AKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q&tag=duckduckgo-d-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B0018F3MP6

Looks like the difference is ampere hours and physical size. Amazon says 10 amp hours for the ytx12-bs, 12 amp hours for the ytx14-bs, and 18 amp hours for the ytx20-bs. Just put in your bike and it should tell you what fits, I just got the ytx12-bs for my '08 naked, so will see how well it does in a couple days.

I've been very happy with this one... it's $72 on Amazon right now.

Deka Sports Power ETX-15L

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004D8P0YG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_taa_.2LZAbDZ2D1JT

Okay well hopefully that's the case and everything is solved by adding the battery. This battery so hopefully it's compatible with my bike as I have no idea how to double check.

Try and find if there is a parasitic draw:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/how-to/a5859/how-to-stop-car-battery-drains/

If you don't want to find the cause of the drain just put in a battery disconnect switch. You could run it all the way to the cabin of the car so you don't need to open/close the hood every time you start the car and turn it off.

For under the hood: http://www.harborfreight.com/battery-disconnect-switch-97853.html

For mounting in car (you'll need to run two wires from battery to this switch): http://www.amazon.com/Marinco-701-Battery-Disconnect-Switch/dp/B005DUUL9W/ref=sr_1_8?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1452027739&sr=1-8&keywords=remote+battery+disconnect


Super fancy remote controlled one; http://www.amazon.com/Battery-Prog-Brain-T3-Protector/dp/B000P4H9W8/ref=sr_1_1?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1452027739&sr=1-1&keywords=remote+battery+disconnect

I bought the AG-801 a year ago for my FZ. Works great, very light.

TL;DR: Just buy the right one.

Yuasa has an application chart. Your bike takes a YB12AL-A2.

Their site will show you the dimensions, terminal location & type, and polarity. You need the terminals to be in the right place, normally your battery cables are exactly as long as they need to be to reach the terminals and can't be crossed over or stretched to the opposite corners.

My advice: just buy a decent quality YB12AL-A2 conventional battery. An AGM / VRLA sealed battery is nicer since it has no vent and doesn't need topping up with water periodically, but will cost more. Amazon will sell you a genuine Yuasa for $42.88, which isn't bad.

Here's a GS Battery brand for $29.99.

How old is the battery? If the bike was unloved, did the previous owner take care of the battery? If it still has the old T battery, replace it with this:

https://www.amazon.ca/Maintenace-Performance-Replacement-Maintenance-KMG/dp/B00JH25PTI/ref=sr_1_cc_5?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1472430443&sr=1-5-catcorr&keywords=ytz14s

I put one in my 1985 vt750 and it has worked great so far (~10,000 km). If you're hesitant to buy a new battery, take the old one out and test it...put it on a trickle charge for a few days and slap it back in the bike and see if the instrument panel lights up...if not, time to grab a multimeter and start tracing wires.

You'll also want to grab the Honda Service manual from here, chapter 18 has some stuff on troubleshooting electrical/charging problems:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/w6ygxyc023fo95i/vt750c__.pdf

It definitely still has the kick lever for the kick start. I can't comment on whether it has an electric starter too (don't know what bike that is), but that big lever sticking out of the right side crank case is the kicker. And IMO a lot of people are keen on kick start only bikes (as far as cafe's go). With kick start you can easily get away with a tiny battery (like a 4 cell Ballistic), no weight of the starter and it's nostalgic to have a kick start bike.

It's usually hard to add a starter to a bike that otherwise didn't have one.

Its quite easy to isolate a house battery from the starter battery. For example, my car has a cigarette lighter adapter in the trunk. It only runs when the car is on. You could also use a relay to do this; closing the relay when the car is on. Or when a switch is actuated. Blue Sea has a nice automatic battery isolator.


However there is another issue to consider. Mixing the chemistry of the batteries you want to charge can cause issues (mostly it abuses the batteries and they don't last as long.)


To cover both problems in one go, the best way to do what you are talking about is to use one of these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011J76CFE/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

For a small workload, you can use one or more of these packs: https://www.amazon.com/Mighty-Max-Battery-Replaces-Schumacher/dp/B00UOPR6YE/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=mighty+max+22ah+sla&qid=1555885031&s=gateway&sr=8-2

I dunno. . . The silverfish battery pack seems pretty standard. And there are are off-the-shelf lithium motorcycle batteries that will do the trick. It's not much of an issue for DIY eBikes.

I built this setup recently:
https://old.reddit.com/r/bonnaroo/comments/bfy56y/mini_solar_rig/

1. $80: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GRN8Q9V
   
   
2. $139: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FNQH9R1
   
   
3. $99: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01G7SCMVI
   
   
4. $7: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00G8WLW2Y
   
   
5. $11: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0746BM8ZR
   
   
6. $32: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00WITWKNG
   
   A few other odds and ends brings it close to $400 total.
   
   The charger controller is overkill for the one panel, and you don't need a lithium battery necessarily, but you also have to be careful what lead acid you get as most are not built for deep cycling. You can probably get a much larger capacity solar or marine deep cycle lead acid for what I paid.

What if I used this

Amazon has 'em

And for the Li-Ion battery (easier to leave without constant charging + weight savings): also on Amazon

You can buy devices which shut off the battery when the voltage gets too low. Push a button to reset the breaker and your car will start right up.

https://www.amazon.com/Battery-Prog-Brain-T4-Protector/dp/B00142SAW8