[LJRead]

As a new RE owner, I've been going over the CMW Online Catalogue with  great  interest.  There is a gizmo called a "Bayer Bransden Powerbox- battery eliminator".  Where I'm living batteries have a short life and are quite expensive.  Has anyone had experience with a no-battery setup?  Might make life simpler, but what is the downside, besides maybe lights going dim when not at full revs or no light when engine isn't running?  Well most small outboard engines run without battery, why not an Enfield?  At least one without a starter motor.

[Cyclepath]

you don't say where you are living. but here in the good ole USA  you battery has to keep your tail lite lit for 10 minutes without the engine running   now i suppose this varies from state to state but your battery eliminator would be illegal unless it is a capacitor. plus your starter would be useless, but you already know that. i'd buy a good gel cell or sealed battery and be done with it.

cyclepath

[LJRead]

Tonga, South Pacific is my home.  Not many rules here, to be sure.  Amazing to have lived so long ignoring most rules, but as to the battery, there is undoubtedly virtue to having your tail light remain on when the engine conks out. 

Sorry though, I forget that this is an American site and should restrict myself to topics of value there.  Notice in the topics I've read that Enfield owners do their share of ignoring rules when it comes to getting the proper thump from their bikes.  Out goes the mandated exhaust restrictions (and probably the catalytic converters?), do away with lean burn and back to the proper format goes the bike that was mandated to follow the rules. 

Shouldn't there be a proper dose of larceny going together with any true bike rider?

Washington is an old stomping ground of mine - thanks, Larry

[rpnix]

I, for one, didn't think that the site was restricted to just the U.S., or to topics local to the U.S.

I'd enjoy, and likely learn from, hearing about the successes, failures, and other issues that occur in locales outside the U.S.... And / or even the issues that occur outside of Minnesota. (I don't get out much...  )

So, don't avoid a topic because you don't think it would apply to the U.S., the Midwest, or the Minnesota bluff country. We can all learn from everyone else; even those that get less snow than we do...

[justin_o_guy]

I have no RE in the garage & no real right to be here at all, but for my interest. I am very interested in Tonga & tried to find it using Google Earth. Would appreciate some hints as to location more pointed than Pacific ocean . Any questions about mods, regardless of location, seem pertinent to the board & if the mod would never be done by the majority, that doesnt mean the majority wouldnt benefit by knowing. Besides, if anyone doesnt like a thread, all they need to do is avoid it, no biggeee.

[dogbone]

If you are kickstart only, you can eliminate the fugly vibrating battery box, and install a 1.2 ah gelcell in the left side toolbox. This can be isolated with closed cell packing material. THe battery eliminator makes for hard starting, with the gelcell, it as adequate current to saturate the coil. It has worked for me for 2 years.

[Thumper]

As a new RE owner, I've been going over the CMW Online Catalogue with  great  interest.  There is a gizmo called a "Bayer Bransden Powerbox- battery eliminator".  Where I'm living batteries have a short life and are quite expensive.  Has anyone had experience with a no-battery setup?  Might make life simpler, but what is the downside, besides maybe lights going dim when not at full revs or no light when engine isn't running?  Well most small outboard engines run without battery, why not an Enfield?  At least one without a starter motor.

I have not used the Bayer Bransden Powerbox battery eliminator. However I did put a battery eliminator kit on my single-cylinder Yamaha SRX-6. It worked well, but did suffer the symptoms your describe at low RPMs. Additionally, it made the self-canceling turn signals confused and they wouldn't work properly.

From that experience I would not put one on a bike again.

There is a current thread on the Hitchcock's site where it is getting some bad reviews. However that is in part because the person tried to also throw on a performance kit at the same time.

Matt

[LJRead]

Thanks so much for the useful information.  I didn't know they made as small a gel cell battery as 1.2 ah.  Is that a common item there?  And what is needed with it?  Perhaps the normal regulator?

Tonga, where I live, is a little south and in between Samoa and Fiji.  I live in the northern group of Vava'u and we have about 160 smallish islands in our group.  I live on the main island which is perhaps 20 miles in any direction.

Someone to run my Cabana?  We aren't that large yet, only three apartments, but someday...

Again, thanks for the support!  Larry

[justin_o_guy]

Well, Samoa, on Google earth & Fiji island, which winds up in Canad, wont work for me, & Tonga comes out in New Zealand, finally, Tonga at least works with Google, but not sure its in New zealands waters. Anyway, I wish you would send more instructions, either on the board od personal messages. Thanks,

[dewjantim]

As a new RE owner, I've been going over the CMW Online Catalogue with  great  interest.  There is a gizmo called a "Bayer Bransden Powerbox- battery eliminator".  Where I'm living batteries have a short life and are quite expensive.  Has anyone had experience with a no-battery setup?  Might make life simpler, but what is the downside, besides maybe lights going dim when not at full revs or no light when engine isn't running?  Well most small outboard engines run without battery, why not an Enfield?  At least one without a starter motor.

You didn't mention the year of your RE. Mine is a 2000 model and it will run and start just fine with a dead battery. I ran it for two years like that. It was not difficult to start and would idle and run perfectly.......Dew.

[Cyclepath]

Larry,  no ridicule was meant on my part as to what you want to mod with your bike.  hell i am the king of modification.  just ask my wife.    not knowing where you hail from i was only hoping to keep you from getting ticketed.  got some pretty sticky rules in the good ole usa. half the bikes i own have something illegal about them.   i have used battery eliminators in the past and they don't work so good.  i just sold a honda xr400 that i made street legal and i used a small capacitor that would hold a charge for about 20 minutes with the tail lite lit.  it would hold a charge almost indefinitely with out the lite on.  mod on my friend.  that's what it's all about.

cyclepath

Tonga, South Pacific is my home.  Not many rules here, to be sure.  Amazing to have lived so long ignoring most rules, but as to the battery, there is undoubtedly virtue to having your tail light remain on when the engine conks out. 

Sorry though, I forget that this is an American site and should restrict myself to topics of value there.  Notice in the topics I've read that Infield owners do their share of ignoring rules when it comes to getting the proper thump from their bikes.  Out goes the mandated exhaust restrictions (and probably the catalytic converters?), do away with lean burn and back to the proper format goes the bike that was mandated to follow the rules. 

Shouldn't there be a proper dose of larceny going together with any true bike rider?

Washington is an old stomping ground of mine - thanks, Larry

[LJRead]

As reply to some of the above, Tonga is about 1200 miles north of New Zealand and about as far from the rest of the world as you can get,   27 years ago, sitting on matts in my future wife's little grass shack (Tongan fale) light was a hurricane lamp and there was no phone on her island; fifteen years ago I doubt that there was a single stainless steel bolt or screw in a store here (I build boats) and almost everything had to be ordered in.  Now things are slightly better in that respect but it takes at least a month to order in.  So the idea here is "keep it simple" and RE fits the bill.

Getting back to the battery replacement, it is called a box, but no indication of what's in the box.  If it is just a capacitor setup, which it probably is, they are notoriously short lived here too.  Good point on starting and running with the dead battery since even though dead it probably acted as a capacitor.  I'll keep that in mind.

The bike I have coming is a 2003 350 cc Thunderbird.

Thanks for your support!

[Kevin Mahoney]

The Boyer unit works pretty well. However if you have an Electric start it will not operate theh starter and if you have an electronic ignition you will have to install a switch to turn the lights off while yiou kick start it. ( It is fine with points). I agree that with a VER?Y weak battery the bike will start fine

[dogbone]

L Jjread   I wondered about the regulation also, but I just tried it,and it works!  I'm in Ohio, the regulations about bikes are real lax,  it probably would run a taillight for 20-30 minutes. The battery was used in an emergency lighting system at work. They change them yearly, and seem to have a good lifespan. Being Scotch , I "recycle" and scrounge for whatever I can

[LJRead]

Great forum, today I learned how to respoke a wheel (see Campfire Talk), which made my day!  It's the simple things in life, isn't it?

Kevin, the Boyer unit works, but for how long?  Is it capacitor driven, and maybe the capacitor could be easily replace because they seem less reliable than batteries, but cheaper?

The small ah battery is another great idea.  Think of it, probably cheaper, lighter and easier to ship.  Was looking at the web and there are some suppliers with really small gel cels of low ah capacity.  I guess they would have a life similar to the larger gel cells, even though your company changes them out yearly. Thanks.