1974 cb360 battery

It's a CB360 I would think you would be looking for the cheapest battery, the one that came in them originally was not overkill, or are you actually asking if it's a great idea to use a lithium

... just quick search says a 12v 10 amp battery capable of ~185 cranking amps
you can use any battery that meets or exceeds that spec. Should be able to confirm that with your owner or service manual.

Well the original is a bit bulky for the build I would like to end up with and yeah what is your take on lithium happy to hear.

The lithium battery technology is fine but old bikes have what you call dirty voltage, the electrical charging circuits were designed to suit the only reasonable battery that existed and that was lead acid. If I was replacing a battery on that bike I would not go to lithium unless everything after the alternator charging circuit is updated to suit the lithium battery. Basically the old voltage rectifier and voltage regulator is not appropriate for anything other then lead acid. Inadequate over-voltage protection, you risk cooking very expensive batteries.

and your bike was built heavy from the ground up! The cost of a lithium over a lead acid is a very expensive way to shave 5 pounds when you could shave that much off the wheels and it would actually make the bike handle better. (actually it might only be ~3 pounds)

Thank you that makes a lot of sense and would agm work? I have had to put in a new regulator rectifier already. From looking around would agm battery work well? Seem compacted enough can too.

Drteetee said:

Thank you that makes a lot of sense and would agm work? I have had to put in a new regulator rectifier already. From looking around would agm battery work well? Seem compacted enough can too.

Click to expand...

I think yes if it's the one I was looking at,
but again, your bikes charging circuit is not suited unless the rectifier/regulator you bought actually says so and they charged you a premium price for it. Everything is going to be 3 times the cost of the cheap alternative.

Okay thank you, looking at the rectifier I bought I should be okay with that. I really appreciate the info.

Rectifier only turns AC into DC volts.
does nothing to regulate the voltage. until they melt.

Have you even put a volt meter to the 3 white or yellow wires coming out of the motor, you might want to try that.

So the regulator rectifier unit doesn't affect that? What should I be looking at in this case?

I have not and will do

Drteetee said:

So the regulator rectifier unit doesn't affect that? What should I be looking at in this case?

Click to expand...

It's going to say something battery "OPTIMIZED MOSFET PERMANENT MAGNET REGULATOR/RECTIFIER"
or something similar.
search"motorcycle rectifier regulator for lithium battery"

oh and by the way do you have a wiring diagram for your bike you can post up?

Ooooooo forget about the 3 wires you don't have a 3 phase alternator ,
appears you have a coil likely dedicated to spark and a different type of coil likely for charging and other electrics.

I seen a reference to a regulator external to the rectifier part somewhere too on another
diagram, edit: yep, it's on your diagram too

Keep your lithium battery on a good battery tender most of the time,
because I think you are going to be experiencing fairly dismal charging rates during high power consumption, such as when the lights are on or you beep the horn lol if your horn start to sound sick you might have a problem.

Oh and the voltage regulator on the diagram, is likely useless for your application, that's the part that needs upgrading.

Gotcha, when I got this bike the regulator rectifier was one thing and I just bought a newer one and if fixed most problems. I had to adjust the timing to get the left cylinder firing. It seems to be running great now just electric start doesn't work and battery pretty sure is messed up.

Does the starter motor have brushes?

I can't remember off the top of my head at the moment I will check

If it has brushes and a commutator clean it all up and see how much carbon stick is left on the brushes.

edit: yep it does.

Oh btw it says 12 amp battery I said it was 10 earlier, some battery dealers might be under selling on their listings,
when it comes to batteries go big or stay home.