smaller battery?

[jadeasker]

Newbie here, sorry for the silly questions. Can I put a smaller battery in my '82 GS850? What are the smallest Amp hours (Ah) I can get out of it? How will this effect the performance of the bike?

[BigUke]

This depends on how much you'd like to start your bike everytime you use it. The lower capacity battery might not have enough "juice" for repeated attemps at starting the engine. That will only get worse as the battery ages and it's capacity is reduced.
The performance of the bike should be unaffected once the engine is running, but until the revs are high enough to put out enough enery to run the electrics, you will be running on battery power.

[Hammered]

Check the stock batteries cca. You can find batteries in different materials these days that are smaller with the same if not higher cca. But for this you will pay more. Li-Ion batteries and a few of the polymer based packs are only about the size of a 24volt cordless drill battery but will run you about $500. Depends on how bad you need the space.

[jadeasker]

Thanks for the feedback. I am not sure how to find the CCA on the battery. All I know is the stock battery is 12V 14Ah. Does anyone else know what CCA is on these guys?

[BassCliff]

Hi Mr. jadeasker,

The stock battery for an 850 has around 200 cca (cold cranking amps). You can do with a smaller battery with a little less cca if your bike is in top maintenance and starts easily. I know the cafe guys like to hide their battery under their seat or in the tail section. There are batteries that are smaller than stock dimensions that provide near 200 cca. Someone recently posted about a battery that you might like, but I don't remember the link. A search should turn up something.

Anyway, I just stopped by to welcome you to the forum in my own, special way.

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Thanks for joining us. Keep us informed.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[jadeasker]

Thanks Cliff,
I have used your site numerous times and I have found it to be a huge help! I am thankful for all the good advice here on this forum.
You nailed it on the head- I am looking for a smaller battery to "hide" somewhere for a cafe project. I will do some searching and see what I come up with.
Thanks again!

[BassCliff]

Hi,

I did a little search (titles only, in the technical forums, for the words 'small battery') and found this battery:

http://www.parts-unlimited.com/part/getItemDetails.do?partIds[]=219734

(You'll have to copy and paste the entire URL. For some reason the brackets ([ ]) mess up the link.)

...in this thread:

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=159001&highlight=small+battery

This is 200 cca in a small package that might work for you. And it's an AGM unit so you can mount it in any orientation except upside down.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[NoH2Oh]

How about this one here? Only $390.00 .

http://www.ebracing.com/shop/product65.html

[jadeasker]

Thanks ya'll! $390 is more than I paid for the entire motorcycle! I think I like the small one from parts unlimited. Thanks for helping me out guys.