How to delete the giant battery?? Suggestions?

[pnedac]

I am redoing my second XS and witht he firts one I put the battery box down low, but on this one I would like to delete it altogether. Does anyone know a way to do that? I have heard that you could get a capacitor (pros? cons? do you know where to get it?) or get a small batttery to mount up under the seat or something like that. Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

83 XS650

 

[jamesgs4]

I run a capacitor and couldn't be happier. no battery to die on me. one less thing to worry about.

 

[hotdog]

get a sparx capacitor

 

[thelowlife]

I've been reading up on the 'Flux Capacitors' . Them seem great to eliminate the battery, and travel back in time.

So for the money might as well kill two birds with one stone.

 

[highspeedhamish]

Shorai makes batteries 7 pounds lighter than the stocker.... and much smaller.

http://www.shoraipower.com/

 

[jamesgs4]

if you want to run a capacitor, it is going to take a few upgrades and some cash. First you need to run a PMA conversion(from www.hughshandbuilt.com) to make it possible to use a capacitor. You cannot use a capacitor with the factory charging system. Since your bike is an 83 with electronic ignition, the PMA kit is going to eliminate your factory pick up coil. Without a pickup coil, the factory TCI will not work. Now you need an aftermarket ignition system. the best system in my opinion on the market is a Pamco(www.yamahaxs650.com) with a retrofit advance kit from www.mikesxs.com. (part#14-0902)the pamco is simple to setup and works great right out of the box. With these 2 important mods, your xs650 experience improve greatly. I wish I would have done these mods in the first place.

 

[pnedac]

Sheesh! Thanks everyone for the excellent (as always) input. It boils down to looks for me and as long as I have a bike that runs just fine the way it is, I guess I will be sending my bulky side covers to paint as well and just dealing with it. Thanks again. Call me cheap but this XS is not the XS I want to keep for the long run. It is sweet, but my other one is sweeter. I really just wanted to build another one for a challenge. Thanks boys!

 

[OakBehringer]

if you want to run a capacitor, it is going to take a few upgrades and some cash. First you need to run a PMA conversion(from www.hughshandbuilt.com) to make it possible to use a capacitor. You cannot use a capacitor with the factory charging system. Since your bike is an 83 with electronic ignition, the PMA kit is going to eliminate your factory pick up coil. Without a pickup coil, the factory TCI will not work. Now you need an aftermarket ignition system. the best system in my opinion on the market is a Pamco(www.yamahaxs650.com) with a retrofit advance kit from www.mikesxs.com. (part#14-0902)the pamco is simple to setup and works great right out of the box. With these 2 important mods, your xs650 experience improve greatly. I wish I would have done these mods in the first place.

Jimmy James, didn't you have good experiences using a .8ah battery (about the size of a pack of cigs) with your stock charging system and TCI? Gosh, I sure hope so, for I wired mine up last night. Shakedown ride went well, but I don't think a 5 minute ride is enough to say it's reliable

 

[jamesgs4]

the stock charging system finally quit on me at the start of a trip to mexico, so I decided to do the upgrade instead of fixing the old system. I never made it to mexico and had to spend a lot of money to get my bike back home to denver.

 

[OakBehringer]

the stock charging system finally quit on me at the start of a trip to mexico, so I decided to do the upgrade instead of fixing the old system. I never made it to mexico and had to spend a lot of money to get my bike back home to denver.

ooooooo man that B L O W S. My charging system is doing good, still, but I'm slowly cobbling together parts to do the PMA/Pamco conversion. Just got the advance setup shipped out to me.

 

[jamesgs4]

my old charging system was doing great! right up until it left me stranded in san diego lol.

 

[The Bigleebowski]

I think I asked this on another thread but can't seem to find it again.
If I install the PMA, and pamco ignition, and run a smaller battery do I need to add a capacitor to the mix or not necessary, or not a bad idea? Also what's the diff tween the PMA and a magneto? Besides about 500.00 bones.
80 xs kick and elec start

 

[jayel]

if you run the capacitor you don't need a battery, if you run a battery you don't need a capacitor, it's a replacment, one system or the other

 

[XSLeo]

A PMA is a alternator. A magneto is an ignition system.
Some systems incorporate an alternator in with a magneto so you can run a few lights as well as the ignition.
There are many smaller batteries that will run well with the stock alternator and ignition. Most don't have enough power for the electric starter, so the small battery means kick start only.
Leo