nhrxrider
TY 4 Stroke Junkie
Exactly what Sled Dog said. I have an ASE in automotive electronics and electrical systems, including starting and charging systems. Voltage is voltage...if its 12 volts, which is your snowmobile's requirements, then it won't hurt the system. Using a large 12v battery won't hurt a thing...just don't use a commercial vehicle that may have a 24 volt system (very rare these days). Amperage is the capacity of the battery, not what it puts out ALl the time. Think of barrels of water and hoses. Your snowmobile battery is maybe a 5-gallon pail. Hooking up to an automotive battery is like hooking up to a 50-gallon drum. If you hook up to either with the same garden hose, you will get the same flow of water, the 50 gallon drum will just have more capacity.
If you were to install a larger starter that draws more amps, then it would be like hooking up a firehose instead of a garden hose. THAT would draw more.
I have real world experience with this. I always use the largest battery I can physically fit into a vehicle. My 13 hp Honda lawn tractor went through batteries every 2 years. I installed an automotive battery from a Suzuki, which is small for an automotive battery but HUGE for the tractor. Its been in there for over 10 years...no charging problems, no starter problems. in fact, instead of having to charge it every spring, it always has plenty of charge to just crank it up. I had a jeep Wrangler which I installed a 12,000# winch onto. The winch would kill the stock battery after a couple quick hard pulls, so I installed a HUGE battery from a dump truck. i had to modify the battery try for it to fit. No problems, and the winch worked MUCH better with that battery.
By the way, ever checked out the electrical parts used in our sleds vs. a car or truck? You will find an 1157 tail light bulb in everything from a snowmobile, to a car, to a tractor-trailer running 4 huge batteries in series.
The one thing I will say, which makes a bit of difference, is if you had to CHARGE that huge battery with our small charging systems. No alternator is rated to charge a completely dead battery, but we have all done it a time or two. But if you were to make the alternator work at full capacity for a long time, you can damage it. So yes, you can jump start a smowmobile with a 12 volt car battery, but don't try charging a dead car battery with a snowmobile. It might work once, or maybe 2 or 3 times, but eventually it will kill the charging system. (When I had the Jeep, I installed a 145 amp alternator to handle the charging duties.)
Jim
If you were to install a larger starter that draws more amps, then it would be like hooking up a firehose instead of a garden hose. THAT would draw more.
I have real world experience with this. I always use the largest battery I can physically fit into a vehicle. My 13 hp Honda lawn tractor went through batteries every 2 years. I installed an automotive battery from a Suzuki, which is small for an automotive battery but HUGE for the tractor. Its been in there for over 10 years...no charging problems, no starter problems. in fact, instead of having to charge it every spring, it always has plenty of charge to just crank it up. I had a jeep Wrangler which I installed a 12,000# winch onto. The winch would kill the stock battery after a couple quick hard pulls, so I installed a HUGE battery from a dump truck. i had to modify the battery try for it to fit. No problems, and the winch worked MUCH better with that battery.
By the way, ever checked out the electrical parts used in our sleds vs. a car or truck? You will find an 1157 tail light bulb in everything from a snowmobile, to a car, to a tractor-trailer running 4 huge batteries in series.
The one thing I will say, which makes a bit of difference, is if you had to CHARGE that huge battery with our small charging systems. No alternator is rated to charge a completely dead battery, but we have all done it a time or two. But if you were to make the alternator work at full capacity for a long time, you can damage it. So yes, you can jump start a smowmobile with a 12 volt car battery, but don't try charging a dead car battery with a snowmobile. It might work once, or maybe 2 or 3 times, but eventually it will kill the charging system. (When I had the Jeep, I installed a 145 amp alternator to handle the charging duties.)
Jim
Well said nhrxrider you explained much better than I did. Not to change the subject but when you mentioned the 1157 tail light I remembered. In Wally mart they are selling the LED tailights 1157 for like 11 bucks Canadian for any one interested. I do believe the 1157 will just plug right in to your sleds tail light socket.
gottago
Veteran
I see you have a 03. It is time for a new battery, most of us started replacing them last year.
