12 Volt VR Lead Acid Battery holder

Have you ever wanted to use a 12 volt power source for a light or accessory on you bike, but found that your water bottle cage couldn't hold it? Well, here is a solution to a common problem us cyclists face. It's also weatherproof.

Step 1 Materials

You will need:

1 bar of aluminium, preferably 1" in width, the lenght will be adjusted to fit your bike
1 hex key or screwdriver, depending on what type of screw is used to fasten the cage to the bike frame.
1 drill bit of the diameter of the screw
1 drill or drill press
a couple of zip ties to hold down the battery(s)

Comments

[CrabbyAmerikan]

Greetings-
This is not a flame, it's intended only as a constructive criticism. Don't take it personally, please.
-> Fasten those zipties, and YOU'RE ready to go!
If you want people to respect what you write, you need to write like someone respectable. Get our notice for what you're saying, not merely for how it's said, okay?
It's a simple, logical Instructable, no extraneous data, I call it well done. I did exactly the same thing on my own bike some years ago, and never thought to post it here. I'm glad you did.
Peace.
-CrabbyAmerikan

[TheWelfareWarrior]

vibration, shocks, drops and bumps destroy standard lead acid batteries. A better way would be using a nickel chemistry battery. An Absorbed Glass Mat lead acid or gel battery would help with the problem but tend to be really expensive.

[carpespasm]

I work with batteries for a living. At my store we only stock sealed lead acid batteries in that size that are absorbed glass mat. The cost over non-AGM batteries is negligible for the added reliability.

[luigi2999]

That isn't a standard lead acid battery. Those are 2 Sealed lead-acids, because a regular lead acid would break open and spill electrolyte everywhere if you dropped it. You can get the sealed batteries cheap, you just have to look. I would try ebay, or an old UPS. The 5Ah one was given to me by an alarm repair guy, and the 7Ah came out of an UPS.

[TheWelfareWarrior]

They still have liquid electrolyte and will flake off and become useless. It will not be all at once but will begin losing charging capacity.

[555mst555]

the batteries are rechargeable?....how do u charge em?

[luigi2999]

A 12v lead-acid car battery charger.

[555mst555]

thx....btw how do i tell if it's rechargeable?....do they print "rechargeable" on the battery........or are ALL car batteries rechargeable?.....or only lead-acid batteries are rechargeable?

sorry if i ask alot of questions......

[luigi2999]

all car batteries are rechargeable because they are all lead-acid, the oldest type of rechargeable battery invented.