250es Big Red Bigger Battery ?

[ThinktwiceZ71]

sorry if this has been asked a million times ( I searched all over today and didn't find my answer). my 12bs battery that is in my wheeler is week as hell (only 180 CCA's), when its cold out it doesnt have the cold cranking amps to start my wheeler at all. I took out that battery tonight . I want to fab up a battery box out of thin sheet metal and mount it where the trunk goes and install a small car battery in with 4-500 Cold cranking amps. It would work out great cause the battery would be easily accessed by the trunk door lid.

My main question is will this hurt the machine at all with a higher Cold Cranking Amp Battery ? I know ill have to lengthen the battery cables , but I just want to be sure before I go ahead and do this that it wont hurt my big red . thanks - Art

[Flyingw]

Your charging system will never fully charge it. The ES charging system is a little more than a trickle charge. Cold temps will reap havoc on any battery

[dougspcs]

I'd say there must be something wrong with the battery or your starter is drawing too much..

My machines have more than enough crank amps to turn the motor at recent temps.

Battery may be on its way out or the starter may be nearing rebuild.

[kebby28]

I have had old worn out starters cause slow turn over when cold.
I just put a new starter in a few months back and did nothing to the battery and it turns over twice as fast now...
Just saying, the set up on these should be just what is needed.

[tri again]

A couple potentially pointless thoughts.
Some folks say that jumping them with a car battery will not hurt them if done correctly, so 'they' say high amp jump is not supposed to hurt them. Open for discussion for sure.

Some buy lawnmower batteries in the fall. Very cheap, fit in the trunk and may have extra oomph to run heatlamps and winches.
My 250es started almost instantly at minus 6 F last week, so good old battery, starter and carb/choke circuit is probably the best of the collection.
I have a slow spin 250es that simply won't Estart cold but if I roll it around to compression stroke, it will fire in 1/2 kick...that one has a new 30$ 12bs battery on the woodpile ready to go in tomorrow. I trickle charged it a few times for 6-8 hrs and it's still slow but if I run it for 20 minutes, it will spin and start perfectly unless it sits for a couple hours, meaning battery time for that one...charge and start stuff is all good in that respect.

My good es's/sx's start no matter what with the shortest push on the starter button, way less than a second warm, MAYbe 2 second spin below zero.

[ThinktwiceZ71]

I went ahead and did it , soo much easier to start my machine now , not even 2 seconds on the starter button and I don't care what the temp is . no problems soo far. in the event that the wheeler cant keep it charged ill take it out and charge it . thanks a lot - I'll let you know how it goes for the winter.

[Taiser]

I got no issues starting here, even when it's -20c outside but I'm curious at your setup. Pics would be great! :)

[ThinktwiceZ71]

I have since added 2 thick black bungy cords wrapped around the metal frame I made and the battery , it doesn't move at all . this will give you an idea how I did it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpYEQH-9jrY

I bought a 20" black battery side post cable from the auto parts store , and a 40" positive one . bolted them to the existing cables where they hooked to the original battery and taped the connections good so it cant short out on any metal. all the extra cable is neatly tucked in the old battery box. looks good I think. I like the easy access with the trunk door lid too. my wheeler didn't come with a trunk storage space , so it worked perfect.

[hoosierlogger]

My fourtrax 300 battery died and a new one was almost $80 and 180cca. I leingthened my cables and put a 275 cca lawn mower battery in the tool box. Big cost savings and more reserve to run the winch for the snow plow.