Total Loss System - No Alternator

650 cc Engines

The deal is....buy a large car battery (or a deep cycle, if you're really serious about it!) and place it in the trunk. Consider an AGM type if your budget will handle it. Mine is a conventional wet cell. There are some advantages to using two large 6-volt cells in series.

You need a disconnecting knife switch terminal for the hot side (AutoZone) and a plain terminal for the negative. You'll also have to install a 30A automotive circuit breaker on the hot side terminal right after the knife switch. Run #14 or #12 wires thru a grommet hole in the trunk floor (you may have to enlarge one...and use a grommet unless you like mobile welding) Connect them to the existing Ural wiring: positive to positive, negative to ground on the bike.

Disconnect and remove the alternator. Use a small bolt to connect the two wires on the alternator output terminal. Tape up this connection GOOD and then the alternator lamp wire and tie them up out of sight.

To cover the hole you can get as elaborate as you want..... I used a piece of 1/2 ext plywood and a sheet of gasket paper with two fender washers...took about 5 minutes to make and has lasted 35000km (ok, after many critical comments about the wood grain, I did paint it black!) :)

If your batteries are of different types or capacities, never leave both of them in the circuit at the same time....their different electrical "needs" will confuse your smart charger and they won't charge properly .... eventually, one of them will destroy the other one! You'd need some kind of isolation system if you want to do this and that can get complicated and costly. My initial conversion with a standard car battery cost less than $60 for all the parts, including the battery! You can buy a battery box if you like. Again, I used a piece of plywood to reinforce the trunk floor.

When you're using the aux battery in the trunk, use the bike's battery main switch (under the seat) to shut it off. Depending on the battery you choose, you should have 300-800 mile range.....more than that if you can kill the headlight (with LEDs bulbs and a low watt aux headlight, I had mine up to 2500km between charges!) If you have extra running lights, you'll want to be able to switch them off. There are cheap LED charge level indicators available.

Once you drain the aux battery (and you do want to avoid this when possible!), use it's knife switch to disconnect it and turn the bike's battery back on....you'll have 50-80 miles on a fully charged Ural battery (again, more than that if you can kill the headlight). If you don't have a switch you can pull the headlight's fuse in an emergency. As I mentioned, never have both batteries switched on and active at the same time....the fully discharged aux deep cycle battery will drain a fully charged Ural battery in about 10 minutes! BTDT!

Charge both batteries once a week in cool weather and every two weeks in warm weather (or every 200-300 miles). The size of the battery you choose will affect its range....I used the biggest deep cycle I could comfortably fit in the trunk! Keep the bike's battery topped off in case you need it to get home. In VERY cold weather, with sub-freezing temps, your range will drop to about half that of warm weather.

And remember (and this is important!)..... when running on aux, you have to kick the bike to start it.......you Can NOT use the starter. If you want to use the electric starter with the auxiliary battery, you need to run like a #2 or #4 wire (something the diameter of a jumper cable!!) to the trunk battery.......it draws major amps and will melt your wiring if you hit the button and hold it (it won't crank..... it will just growl and make the wires smoke and glow and finally, melt down!) Of course, you can reach under the seat and flip the switch on and start it and then switch back off. Very convenient if you stall in traffic. Its good for about 10 starts on a single charge.

Fortunately, Urals usually start on one or two kicks...and thank goodness for that!

If you do get a deep cycle battery, get a deep cycle charger......trickle charge the Ural battery to top it off each time you charge the aux battery.

Ed Paynter