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Upgraded to 325 CCA Battery on XJ650

Discussion in 'XJ Technical Chat' started by Tonybluegoat, Feb 7, 2018.

  1. Tonybluegoat

    Tonybluegoat Member

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    XJ650, I just got this bike yesterday, put in a new charged battery of 165 CCA (as specified for this bike) and it takes forever to start, if it starts at all cold. Use jumper cables and a bigger battery and it fires right off even at 35 degrees. I HATE having to worry about whether a vehicle will start or not. So I replaced the battery with a larger Super Start Extreme Platinum AGM ETX16 from O'Reilly's ($80.99) I had to take out the battery box and make a few adjustments, but it fits under the seat. Now I have 325 Cold Cranking Amps instead of 165. It fires up like it's getting paid to do it.

    I don't know if this is a good idea or not. I don't know if it's going to cause a problem somewhere else. I'm open to feedback. But I do know that having a bike that goes wha.wha.wha.wha.wha.wha.wha for 30 seconds while I try to find some sweet spot with the choke isn't my gig. So I upgraded.

    My experience with ETX16 size battery (I got the 325 CCA Super Start, NOT the 230 CCA SignasTech Big Crank) is as follows. A) It fits if you remove the battery box. I had to loosen the ground battery cable and turn it a little on the nut to get just that 1/2 inch more of twist on the battery. B) It fires up like a champ. C) It's Absorbent Glass Mat (AGM) so I don't have to deal with acid levels.

    What am I missing?

    Thanks,
    Tony
     
    Last edited: Feb 7, 2018
  2. mlew

    mlew Well-Known Member

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    I suspect your starter ( or starter relay) needs work. Its drawing too much current from the battery. Compensating with a bigger battery is just prolonging the failure of the starter motor.
     
    wgul likes this.
  3. Tonybluegoat

    Tonybluegoat Member

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    Good info. I'll make a note to look into it. It seems like most things on this bike are fairly cheap to buy and easy to replace.
     
  4. bensalf

    bensalf Well-Known Member

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    the problem will arise as the battery gets low ,as the alternator and the reg/rec will probably not have enough output to charge the bigger battery. you need to do some sums on outputs .
    stu
     

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