B
Borrall Wonnell
Guest
Hi all,
I am refining my current lighting system and I am thinking about
mounting my 12V SLA battery on the downtube using the existing water
bottle cage mounts. The battery itself is a small brick, but is too
large to fit in a standard water bottle cage (3.5"L x 2.75"W x 4"H).
I believe the weight is 4lbs, significantly greater than your typical
water bottle.
Motivation:
1) Cable routing. I don't like having a power cable running from the
back of my bike to the front.
2) Ease-of-use. Mounting a battery to the rear rack is sometimes a
pain in the neck, particularly in the dark. I want to simply be able
to slide a battery in/out when necessary.
3) Allows me to remove my rear rack, which I no longer use (except as
a battery mount)
I am thinking of using some aluminum sheeting (cut/bent/machined
appropriately) to form a cage for the battery. Does anyone have any
idea of what type of stresses a typical aluminum frame can take on the
bottle cage mount points? I was thinking of mounting the battery
vertically (i.e. with the 2.75" side resting closest to the frame) to
minimize the risk of my toes/legs hitting the battery cage.
I could, of course, move to a smaller battery size that fits in the
bottle cage.....but availability in my neck of the woods is limited.
And I would rather not buy another battery if I don't have to (and I
don't want to reduce the battery capacity by much). FWIW, I currently
mount the battery on my rear rack.
Has anyone else tried this sort of thing?
Cheers,
Dave
I am refining my current lighting system and I am thinking about
mounting my 12V SLA battery on the downtube using the existing water
bottle cage mounts. The battery itself is a small brick, but is too
large to fit in a standard water bottle cage (3.5"L x 2.75"W x 4"H).
I believe the weight is 4lbs, significantly greater than your typical
water bottle.
Motivation:
1) Cable routing. I don't like having a power cable running from the
back of my bike to the front.
2) Ease-of-use. Mounting a battery to the rear rack is sometimes a
pain in the neck, particularly in the dark. I want to simply be able
to slide a battery in/out when necessary.
3) Allows me to remove my rear rack, which I no longer use (except as
a battery mount)
I am thinking of using some aluminum sheeting (cut/bent/machined
appropriately) to form a cage for the battery. Does anyone have any
idea of what type of stresses a typical aluminum frame can take on the
bottle cage mount points? I was thinking of mounting the battery
vertically (i.e. with the 2.75" side resting closest to the frame) to
minimize the risk of my toes/legs hitting the battery cage.
I could, of course, move to a smaller battery size that fits in the
bottle cage.....but availability in my neck of the woods is limited.
And I would rather not buy another battery if I don't have to (and I
don't want to reduce the battery capacity by much). FWIW, I currently
mount the battery on my rear rack.
Has anyone else tried this sort of thing?
Cheers,
Dave