Is my battery box in an unsafe proximity to the fuel cock>?

[RedBaronX]

OK, I don't know why I didn't think of this before dry fitting the pieces, but the battery box opening (which will have a cover when it's done) is AWFULLY close to the fuel cock which has, in the past, leaked some... so, now in my paranoia I am envisioning stray sparks off the battery igniting dripping fuel... (better to think about that NOW than while I am zipping down the street...). What also comes to mind is the Myth Busters episode where they were trying to ignite gas fumes with a cell phone, and it took a LOT of gas vapor and a lot of sparks to get the thing to blow, so I might be merely paranoid...

The box and the door to the box are polyurethaned wood, and the gray thing is the battery in the box:

So, am I being paranoid or is my design a ticking time bomb?

 

[professor]

Change out the faulty valve regardless of what you do. I see no problem after that.
Box does look kind of hokey though. Batteries do not make sparks by themselves- it is the wiring with loose connections that do it.

 

[RedBaronX]

the photos make the box look a lot wider than it is (though it is wider than the battery to allow for a lot of wires). And since I want full lights, I gotta have a battery somewhere... (turn signals, brake light, tail light, headlight, horn... a 12 v system... ) that space in the frame would be empty anyway, so I like filling it with something

 

[motorpsycho]

the only way your battery will "shoot stray sparks" is if the positive cable is touching ground. If that's the case, you have major wiring issues.
Besides that, gasoline will not ignite with a few sparks....you need flame or a TON of sparks.

I'd get rid of that battery box anyway because it looks out of place.
i think i'd try to build something to put the battery under the seat myself. not on the frame, but on the bottom side of the seat itself.

 

[RedBaronX]

I'd get rid of that battery box anyway because it looks out of place.
i think i'd try to build something to put the battery under the seat myself. not on the frame, but on the bottom side of the seat itself.

there isn't space "under the seat". and I am looking at the bike right now (it's four feet away from my computer desk) and I like the way the battery box looks. it would look better if it were a bit narrower, but it can't be. Unless I was using an in-frame tank, that would be empty space, which I think would look worse

 

[motorpsycho]

there isn't space "under the seat". and I am looking at the bike right now (it's four feet away from my computer desk) and I like the way the battery box looks. it would look better if it were a bit narrower, but it can't be. Unless I was using an in-frame tank, that would be empty space, which I think would look worse

I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder in this case.
If it were my bike, that battery box would be gone in a heartbeat.
heck, even if you made a little polished aluminum box to mount down low to the seat post, it would look better than that wooden box in my opinion.
I think the placement is wrong myself and that box is taking away from the beautiful lines of the bike.
But again, that's just my opinion.
actually, I woudl ditch the lihgts all together if it meant that I had to have a box like that on my bike.
My headlights and tail lights on both of my bikes are all self contained. The batteries for my tail light are hiden under the seat and the batteries for my headlights are encased inside of the chrome headlight housings. My headlights and tail lights (one on each bike) have l.e.d.'s in them and are plenty bright for me...but they are mostly just for looks.
I never ride at night, so lights aren't an issue for me.
In my opinion (not that it matters much) sometimes people need to learn when to stop adding stuff to their bikes before they spoil the look.
But it is your bike, and you can do what you want with it.

 

[RedBaronX]

I tried finding a metal box, but nothing was close enough to the right size to work. I toyed with making a metal box, but didn't think that I could make one sufficiently weather proof. I wanted to put the battery between the tire and the down tube, but there isn't enough space.

The battery isn't a CAR battery, nothing anywhere near that big, but it's too big to put most other places without using a luggage rack. What I REALLY like about its placement is that it is ABSOLUTELY SECURE. The way it is, it doesn't even have fasteners, and it's not going to move an inch. (there are rails on the bottom of the box that straddle the lower tube, and there is no space between the box and the tank.) Not saying that I WON'T use additional fasteners, but as it is, it ain't budging.

 

[SimpleSimon]

Looks like a recycled cigar box.

Don't get me wrong, I love cigar boxes, and I've used them for a lot of different purposes. Please do one thing,though - paint the box to match your tank and frame.

Send me the dimensions of that frame opening between the top and middle bar, and the bar diameters, and I'll send you plans for an easily made battery container that will disappear if properly painted.

 

[motorpsycho]

by the way, why do you have what appears to be black electrical tape wrapped around the fuel petcock?

 

[RedBaronX]

Geez, no one likes my battery box... it's not the cleanest build since I only have a circular saw and not a table saw, but it's not a cigar box (though I did play with that idea). The top and bottom are 5 ply birch plywood 1/4" thick and the sides are 1 x dimensional pine. I had to go with the 1/4" plywood because between the size of the battery and the space between the tank and bottom bar, that's all I had room for.