| Author | Message | ||
     Tootal |
Having really good luck with Odyssey batteries for the last 10 years or so, I really wanted to replace my weakening 06 battery with one. The problem was they don't make one that will fit the Uly battery box. I took some measurements and found a model that would fit with some minor modifications. If your interested in putting an Odyssey in your bike, here is what you need to do: Notice the green arrows between the uprights. You will need to flatten these uprights to make room for the Odyssey:  By C-clamping the box to the bench I was able to straighten this upright. This one still needs about a 30 degree bend in it for clearance reasons. The other one can be make flat:  Now that you have these out of the way you will need another way of keeping the battery from rubbing the fuse block. I drilled a 5/16" hole 1" away from the edge and bent this piece 90 degrees. You can see the solid line where I cut the metal and the dotted line is where I bent it. I drilled the hole at the intersection of these two lines. This will contact the battery and keep it from moving sideways:  Here you can see the physical differences between the stock battery and the Odyssey:  Here is the battery box back in the bike. Since the pos. and neg. terminals are backwards from stock I put the neg. cable on the screw on the opposite side and reattached the other cable in it's stock location. You can see the green arrow pointing at the 90 degree bend that will capture the battery:  Here is the battery installed. Notice the negative cable will loop right around. The positive cable will connect but it's not a kosher alternative IMHO. I will make a 90 degree mount for the pos. cable:  Here is the finished result. It took about an hour to do. I used a die grinder and a cut-off wheel to slice to the hole I had drilled to bend the tab over. A hacksaw would work also. You don't have to drill the hole but you will be introducing a square corner and that will have a tendency to crack. If you drill a hole it will keep it from cracking. Always deburr the edges to keep from cutting yourself!  I know it would have been easier to buy a stock battery but I like the Odyssey a lot and felt it was worth the effort. | ||
| Gotj |
Hey, thanks a lot for the pictures and descriptions. I'm sure there are many out here who will save a LOT of time if they choose the Odyssey. | ||
| Johnboy777 |
Hey Tootal, Great job - thanks for the write up. BTW, will these work on the plus cable?  | ||
| Etennuly |
Excellent job. Have you tested the battery voltage? I am interested in what it reads when charged and having set overnight, shortly after running, and what voltage it dips to when starting. Thanks. | ||
| Tootal |
Those adapters would work just fine, pretty much what I was going to make. I just checked the voltage and it's 12.85. It has been sitting for six hours since I charged it. It had been sitting on my bench for a year. I charged it once last winter but since then it's been sitting. I was going to put it in a long time ago but never got around to it and the stock battery kept working even though it always sounded like it was on it's last leg. I charged it again today and at a 12 amp charge it immediately went to full. I let it set for a couple of hours at 2 amps until it showed full again. These dry cells like a fast charge but once they show fully charged they will accept a low amperage charge. They aren't cheap but they last a long time and since it's a dry cell there is no leakage problem. I have found them at batterymart.com and sunnbattery.com. Shop around for the best price. (Message edited by tootal on September 20, 2008) | ||
| Tootal |
Have you tested the battery voltage? I am interested in what it reads when charged and having set overnight, shortly after running, and what voltage it dips to when starting. Thanks. etennuly, I just checked it again this morning and it's down to 12.78. I'm using a digital meter and I can't get a reading while starting because it starts so quick the meter can't stabilize fast enough. It's been raining this weekend and haven't been able to ride it. I needed to prep it for Buelltoberfest anyway so I'll take a cool rainy day for working in the garage anytime. Are you going to be in Suches? | ||
| Xbimmer |
Excellent write up and thanks, since I just replaced my battery I'll consider this in 2-3 years! A word of caution Tootal? My seats have a molded in pad that presses directly on the battery strap at the terminal end of the battery. Since it appears the Odyssey is about 3/8-1/2" thinner than stock, and the fact that your ECM doesn't have those little plastic blocks to keep the seat from pressing down on it, you might want to address that issue. It seems the thinner Odyssey might allow some serious pressure on the ECM, yours appears to already have contact scrubbing on the plugs. Just a thought! | ||
| Tootal |
I concur. I also noticed you can see the red wires in the pos. cable through the cloth cover where it's been rubbing. I have some 1/2" thick close cell rubber. I'll cut a piece and put it under the battery strap to help secure everything. The plastic blocks you refer to, are they on 07 models? Might be added security. Thanks for pointing that out. | ||
| Xbimmer |
The blocks I'm talking about come with the optional Low accessory seat, at least they did in '06. My '06 had the front block as new but with the standard '06 seat, don't know why. I bought a Low seat but never used it, so I recently installed its new block on the front then trimmed down the (worn) original and mounted it to the second ECM bolt location at the back. Even with the front block my seat had been contacting my ECM a bit. Seems to be OK now.  (Message edited by xbimmer on September 21, 2008) | ||
| Tnd2 |
If anybody is wondering about the cranking ability of this battery I have this exact one, PC545, in a Mini Cooper race car. I keep it on a battery maintainer when its sitting in the garage, but my girl and I dual drive the car in autocross events. That means its normal for the car to run for 3-4 mins waiting in line to run, then 35-55 secs on course, then its shut down for 5-8 mins while we wait for our next run. This normally involves 4 runs for her & 4 runs for me, but we have run as many as 11 runs each! This little battery rocks! All this and i'm talking about a moderately built 1600cc supercharged 4 cyl, the battery is in the rear so add in 12' of battery cable, and it doesn't fire without spinning a few revs before sparking. Currently its 2 years old, and im not sure how long the PO had before we got it.  | ||
| Etennuly |
Tootal, I'm planning the trip to Buelltoberfest! Planning on bringing the wife and her Blast too! I got a new Advanced Fiber Mat technology battery from O'Reilly's Auto Parts. It is working great and was an exact fit. It read 12.74v out of the box and the start load only dipped to about 10.3v. It cranks over better than ever. Mine might work well for a few years and all, but if yours goes the way it should, I can see the corroding hulk of a worn out Uly in a scrap heap somewhere, still being used to jump start the scrappers fork lift!  | ||
| Tootal |
Xbimmer, I checked my seat, (06 stock tall) and there is just a small arrowhead shape that sticks out and touches the ecm plug. It's not touching the ecm. I think the tall seat is safe. The lower seats must have a different pan to get every last bit of room that they could. Etennuly, I will see you there! tootal | ||
| Debueller |
Thanks Tootal. I'm giving this thread a bump. I just ordered an Odyssey and am going to do this mod...... (Message edited by debueller on March 14, 2011) |
