Battery or No Battery

[dkingrey71]

New to the XS platform. Going bobber style. No electric start. go with a battery or without? currently just got the bike and it is not running. Has been sitting since the late 80's. put a old Harley battery on it to try to get it to start. no spark. power to the coils. filed the points. the point to this ramble(sorry) is that if im going to run a battery and stay original style to go buy new battery for the bike and new plug wires or to wait and get eh new stuff without a battery. Thanks for the help in advance.

 

[cobrasneverdie]

I personally had problems with the sparx capacitor. It ran awful, it was boggy, like it had no juice. I was running a headlight and a tail. My guess is that they drew too much juice. I'm running a 4 cell ballistic battery, it's nice and compact, if you're worried about where to put it. I guess you could try to test a capacitor for yourself. I'm new to wiring and I may have done it wrong.

 

[fredintoon]

Hi dkingrey and welcome,
What year bike?
Has a PO already disastered it or are you crouched over it with your sawzall ready to send it back to the 1940s (Hardtail) 1930s (Springer forks) or 1920s (no front brake)?
WTF, it's your bike, modify it as you wish but remember you have to ride it in today's traffic.
Of course keep the battery, capacitors are for poseurs.
You may want to jumper the bike from a car battery until you have got the electrics sorted.
Many XS650 wiring problems ain't, they are symptoms of low battery voltage and a bike battery can get run down real quick when you are checking out the bike's electrics.

 

[gggGary]

Number one get it running well STOCK before you start changing. From many threads of guys with PMA and Pamco; cap only systems can be problematic. The usual culprit appears to be inadequate voltage control. A battery does a wonderful job as a "shock absorber", helps keep alternator voltage spikes from mucking up the other electrics, electronics.

 

[dkingrey71]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I will work some more on it this weekend.

 

[dkingrey71]

And it's a 1976