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Author Topic: Lets Talk Battery ! Part II  (Read 8097 times)

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Offline Umpa

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Re: Lets Talk Battery ! Part II
« Reply #15 on: 28, October, 2009 - 16:42:27 »
Hi Alan,

I'm afraid you have misunderstood the situation, the gel battery had no posts, they simply have M6 threaded holes so you can bolt on lugs and wires.  The battery I chopped the lugs off were from a scrap battery I cadged from our local garage.

The posts were needed so they would work with the wiring kit from the shop.

I understand you about having the battery on the right hand side, but I have found that once you set up the rear brake correctly it does not lock up anyway.

For some reason Sinclair wired all C5's with the battery on the left, I'm guessing it was so you could change the battery from the pavement rather than in the middle of the road. 

Offline techytype

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Re: Lets Talk Battery ! Part II
« Reply #16 on: 28, October, 2009 - 21:01:41 »
Hi Alan,

I'm afraid you have misunderstood the situation, the gel battery had no posts, they simply have M6 threaded holes so you can bolt on lugs and wires.  The battery I chopped the lugs off were from a scrap battery I cadged from our local garage.

The posts were needed so they would work with the wiring kit from the shop.

I understand you about having the battery on the right hand side, but I have found that once you set up the rear brake correctly it does not lock up anyway.

For some reason Sinclair wired all C5's with the battery on the left, I'm guessing it was so you could change the battery from the pavement rather than in the middle of the road. 
hi UMPA,
thanks for clearing up the battery post issue,

i really hope my input is seen as constructive and never critical by ayone, i'm just enthusiastic to help where i can and repay the forum while i'm also learning from the memberships far superior knowledge of this fun if little eccentrically crazy little machine.

my service engineers instinct is to reverse engineer anything to find a better solution, especially if it has failed for some reason, this also has the effect of making me seem suspicious of the true motives in any design (cost, ease, availability even laziness etc.), becaise i place it under a microscope to investigate it, trouble is sometimes i end up looking through something instead of into it  ::).

as example in the security trade we use similar large scale batteries in alarm and access systems for backup, but they generally come with bolt through lugs. some makes do come with the 'L' brackets and holes drilled like your new battery has, but for 'our' needs i view any joint is a future intermittent and risking false alarms, consequential wasted sleep, so i tend to keep clear of the post bolt types simply for that reason.

i think the weight worry will see the batteries on the r/h side of my eventual C5 just to satisfy myself but tbh in my innocence i had just assumed the original battery was mounted in with the motor compartment. from a couple of pictures i've seen, the original equipment battery looks a lot lighter than the 70ah leisure lead acid unit and more like a motor bike battery, so might not have such of an effect on weight and ignored by Clive's engineers.

not sure if the same regs apply today, but a lot of the design was to get under the legal weight restrictions of the time, fitting bigger thus heavier batteries might knock it over weight to be actually remain legal (but i won't tell no one if you don't  ;D).

regs
alan

Offline Umpa

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Re: Lets Talk Battery ! Part II
« Reply #17 on: 28, October, 2009 - 21:18:56 »
Hi Al,

Yes your right about  the weight, Sinclair did release some c5's with a double battery setup, I'm not sure if these 'long Range' C5's were in fact to heavy or on the pink limits as it were.

I have read that the C5 would not be allowed to be built now with newer laws, and as there are so few of them in use now, if one is a little over weight no one would bother.  I guess a few killo over is nowt when a 13 stone bloke is sat in it - lol

Offline techytype

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Re: Lets Talk Battery ! Part II
« Reply #18 on: 31, October, 2009 - 19:03:07 »
be an interesting point, would using a trailer (perhaps even braked) still be 'illegal for the purposes of the regs?

regs

alan

Offline Umpa

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Re: Lets Talk Battery ! Part II
« Reply #19 on: 31, October, 2009 - 19:50:00 »
I'm not sure about the regs and trailers.  I seriously doubt you would have a nice journey having to pull a trailer.  A C5 with two heavy batteries fitted is hard enough.

Karl

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Re: Lets Talk Battery ! Part II
« Reply #20 on: 01, November, 2009 - 15:11:27 »
I dont think we need to worry too much about regs.

The c5 is a battery assisted bicycle as far as the law is concerned and bicycle trailers are commonplace.

Several c5's have been adapted to use trailers - Chris Crosskey, Fezza and Mark (prev owner c5alive) to name a few.

Obviously buying one of Ifor Williams 10' x 6' finest is not a good idea, you need to apply some common sense. Using stuff designed for cycling is probably the best way to go.   

Apart from the increased effort to the rider and motor/gearbox there is an additional note of caution. The chassis is already prone to bending at its extremities, plus the rear axle is hollow and also prone to bending.

Adding the strain of towing without strenghtening these components might also cause some grief.
« Last Edit: 01, November, 2009 - 15:15:24 by BooBoo »

Offline techytype

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Re: Lets Talk Battery ! Part II
« Reply #21 on: 01, November, 2009 - 16:37:37 »
it only came to mind from m past life when i owned a touring caravan, be a lot of fun to have a more powerful set up loaded in the trailer as a sort of F1 keers (not sure of correct spelling?) boost for C5's lol.

regs
alan

Karl

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Re: Lets Talk Battery ! Part II
« Reply #22 on: 01, July, 2010 - 14:31:38 »
Note for Umpa ; your piccies have dropped off mate  ;)