Ironhead Battery Availability for Late '60's through Mid '70's XLCH's

[Jeff]

Has essentially reverted back to the old style lead acid battery. It turns out that the positive wire and post that broke off of my ignition switch the other day must have been arcing between the cylinders. It killed my AGM battery. I thank my lucky stars that I got the thing started after my roadside fix, I must have used that poor battery's last remaining volt and then ran home purely off the generator.

Anyhoo, in looking for a replacement battery, I was surprised to find that that particular size and terminal arrangement is now out of production in anything other than the old style lead acid, with caps, and the attendant need to keep an eye on the water level. Either that of a $300 LiPo, but I've already learned my lesson with those and won't be using them ever again.

I wound up finding a battery of the same height, width, and terminal orientation, but 1/2" longer. I wound up modifying the tray and essentially lengthening it in the forward direction (since the aft end is pretty fixed, location-wise). Not a big deal, just a couple hours of piddling around cutting, bending, welding, grinding - anyone with even my mediocre fab skills should have no trouble.

The new battery is a Nepo # CT12B-4 FA. From what I gathered from the guys at Pacific Power Batteries, those numbers indicate size and possibly terminal orientation. It turns out, believe it or not, that the terminal orientation is "backwards" from the norm, so that actually turned into the hardest requirement to meet.

Just a heads up for guys who like AGM batteries. This was the closest we could find, and can be made to fit with a little work on the battery tray.

[The Doctor71]

Sorry to hear of your woes. A Motobatt MB9U might have been an option for you. Not perfect but it was close for my '71 XLCH. Probably too late now though.

https://www.motobatt.us/MB9U-Motobatt-12V-Battery

http://xlforum.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1781482

[ChinCactus]

Sounds like a good fix. The other issue with lead acids is the don’t last very long in my experience.

I got 9 years out of my last AGM!

[Jeff]

Originally Posted by The Doctor71

Sorry to hear of your woes. A Motobatt MB9U might have been an option for you. Not perfect but it was close for my '71 XLCH. Probably too late now though.

https://www.motobatt.us/MB9U-Motobatt-12V-Battery

http://xlforum.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1781482

That certainly would have worked, thanks. I like how they provide both options for terminal use, so it fits our "backwards" layout.

Nothing I did is irreversible. Down the road, I can simply buy a new tray and bolt it up. I guess this way I'll have more options going forward.

[Flying Monkey]

+1 on the Motobatt MB9U.

I think mine is 10 years old now... no issues.

[doodah man]

For a while now I have been using batteries plus for a yb7a battery. It is lead acid, and I keep it on a tender with the cells topped up when not in use. And since it’s a kick only bike, the battery should last me quite a while. It’s very close in dimension to your motobatt but only about $30.