[RGT]

I was wondering what anyones experience is with running without a battery. I have just installed a Boyer Powerbox and in the process made my bike 12 Volts with a negative ground. The bike started right up without the battery and ran fine but with the headlight on it was alittle ragged at idle and did die once. (its sort of disconcerting to have it die and be totally dark) I turned off the headlamp and it started back up. I do get a steady 14.5 Vdc once a bit off idle, at idle with the headlight on it is more like 10 vdc and it is not steady, you can actually see the lights pulsing. I do like the greater light output of the 12 volt headlamp, you can actually see the road. I had the same low charge at idle when I was running the bike at 6 volts but I had that huge battery to keep me going, I need to pull the primary cover and check the alternator clearances. Maybe my best bet is to get a small 12 volt battery if that checks out. Would weak magnets cause such a poor idle charge rate or is pretty typical?

[t120rbullet]

(its sort of disconcerting to have it die and be totally dark)

That's why running without a battery on the street is a bad idea.
If it stalled at night would the car behind you see you before it hit you?

Yes, the idle is a bit iffy when running battery less.
I do think it a good thing to have the capability to run with a missing or dead battery but for most riding it would be best to run a battery.
CJ

[ace.cafe]

The lights will never be bright at idle without a battery.
Even if the alternator was perfect, it woudn't be enough to be what's wanted at idle.

Most people use a battery because of this.

[RGT]

Thanks, I will pick up a battery. I pulled the cover off the primary and it was  a mess in there my rotor was only hand tight, I can't see  or feel any wear on the shaft so I should be ok, it only just turned 600 miles so I guess it can't have had too long to cause damage. Only wish I had pulled it sooner....

[Ice]

A few of our brethren have fitted smaller batteries in one of the tool boxes. Just a suggestion.

[fdx]

Is gell battrery good for it? I heard that old motorbikes wat charge gell battery enought.

(2001 classic, no electric start)

I have small gell battery. I want to replace acid one and hide it in tool box together with ignition coil.

[clamp]

The alternator is 3 phase it makes ac electricity.  Ac electricity can not charge a battery so it is converted to DC but this in not trued Dc but it comes in spurts of posative impulses.

    Never the less it works and it charges the battery like  all bikes cars are the same in this respect.

     BUT  if you run a bike with out a battery it is running on spurts of DC and you get symptoms , like a low powered head lamp at idle and flickering (due to the spurts) but the spurts get faster as you rev it up and voltage increases, BUT the ignition system needs  some electricity too and some time when the bike is running on spurts there isnt any just at that tie so the ignition dont get any,

    You wil find that at a certain RPM the ignition system ties up with the AC converted to DC and misfires, probably at 3000 RPM it will mis like hell as the ignition cant time with the DC spurts.

   A battery or accumulator as the french call it will absorb and give out true Dc for a happy spark

[jonapplegate]

I think some amount of battery is better than none at all but just to be the Devil's advocate, might LED lights help a battery-less set up?

[Geirskogul]

Switch all lights besides headlamp to LED and put either a small battery or a capacitor (like the ones for stereos, etc - though a large enough capacity one will take up as much room as a small gel battery) on it instead of the honkin' lead acid one.

[geichal]

I run no battery, mag powers ignition and a Boyer powerbox controls lights.  I have a buddy that ran a battery out of a cordless drill t augment his power box to eliminate light flicker, I haven't tried that yet.  I don't notice it unless idle gets real low.
geichal

[fdx]

What capasitor would be good for it? Would that be better than gel battery?

[Geirskogul]

What capasitor would be good for it? Would that be better than gel battery?

A battery is always better than a cap when it comes to system stability.

[baird4444]

What capasitor would be good for it? Would that be better than gel battery?

   fdx - Below is from my files on caps - Mike
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's a 4700 mfd electrolytic I bought at Radio Shack. When I removed the "blue"
starter protection relay from the left side electrical box, it left some room in
there. I used a tube of heatshrink to cover it and used the same mounting point
as the infamous "blue" relay to hold it in place. It is polarity marked, so you
just observe that and ground one end and hook the other to some point in there
that is battery hot (+) all the time and, as Pete once said: "Roberta's your
Auntie"....lol. That cap. is about the size of a "C" cell battery

[RGT]

I went with a 4 amp hour gel cell, more than I needed but the smallest they had, I modified my old external mount to fit in the left side toolbox and hold the battery securely. Makes the bike much more enjoyable at idle with the headlamp on.