If you’re noticing your ATV battery is not lasting as long as it used, or you feel you’re always buying a new battery every year, then this post is for you.
With proper care and maintenance, you can expect your ATV battery to typically last 3 to 5 years. While rare, an ATV battery can last over 5 years, but to be honest, it’s best to replace it at that point to avoid future problems.
The type of battery you buy for your ATV can affect how long it will last. What battery charger you use and how often you ride can affect your ATVs battery too.
How To Get The Most Life Out of your ATV battery
The single best thing you can do to get the most life out of your ATV battery is to keep it on a smart charger when you’re not using it.
The reason why your battery dies after only a year is that you’re not using the ATV enough. Many people only use their ATV only a few months out of the year. If a battery is not being used, it slowly dies due to a build of sulfide on its plates. The more of a build-up, the less power the battery has to give.
Since ATV batteries are so small this build-up happens quicker than say for your car.
This is why your ATV battery keeps draining; I go over this in more detail here.
What Chargers To Use For ATV Battery
How you charge and what you use to charge your ATV battery are very important.
You’ll want to use a smart charger like this one here*.
You can use a regular car charger, but it’s more beneficial that it’s a smart charger. A smart charger can turn itself on and off as it’s needed so it won’t overcharge the battery.
How To Charge an ATV Without a Battery Charger
If you keep your ATV far from a power source, you can use a solar panel charger like this one here*. If you go with solar stay under 5 watts.
What Amps Are Needed To Charge an ATV Battery?
When picking out a smart battery charger for your ATV, you’ll want to stay under 2 amps of charging. Any more and you run the risk of cooking the battery and killing it.
How Long To Charge an ATV Battery?
It takes several hours to charge an ATV battery. For best results, I recommend letting it charge overnight or till the battery charger says it’s done.
If the battery is new and this is the first charge you don’t want to rush it. The first charge is the most important charge for any lead-acid battery.
How To Properly Charge an ATV battery
You may have to remove a seat or pull off some cosmetic panels to get to your battery.
This video below does a great job showing you how to change an ATV battery.
Tip: If your battery wires on your ATV are dirty like the ones in the video, clean them with a fine-grit sandpaper. This will help make a better connection to the battery.
You must follow this order when hooking up a battery charger.
- Plug in the battery charger to the wall outlet.
- Connect the red positive (+) cable of the battery charger to the red positive (+) of the ATV battery.
- Connect the black negative (-) cable of the charger to the black negative (-) of the ATV battery.
- Wait for the battery charger to let you know it’s charging.
If the battery charger gives a fault or never charges, then the battery is dead and must be replaced.
How To Remove Charger From Battery
When you remove the charger from the battery, make sure to disconnect the negative cable first to reduce sparks and keep from screwing up the charger and the ATV electronics.
How To Fix A Dead ATV Battery
There is no magic cure to bring back a dead ATV battery. But there does exist some battery chargers that can pulse it back to life.
To be honest, these pulse chargers don’t always work, and when they do, it can take days. It’s not worth the effort, especially when you can go to Walmart and get a cheap ATV battery.
For those that want to fix a dead ATV battery, this video will show you how.
Does An ATV Charge It’s Own Battery?
Unlike a car, an ATV does not have an alternator.
An ATV only has a stator, the difference is that a stator only generates enough energy to maintain power, whereas an alternator will generate more to charge a battery. An alternator is bigger and adjusts to the power needs whereas a stator is smaller and gives the best it’s got (which is usually only enough to keep the engine running).
So riding your ATV in the hopes to charge its battery won’t actually charge much. If you leave it for a few hours, the battery will be flat again.
The only way to charge an ATV battery is to use a battery charger.
Can You Jump Start An ATV Battery?
No, don’t do that! I have more about this here.
What Is The Best ATV Battery?
Any sealed AGM Battery will be the best battery for an ATV. I have more info on this here.
Yes, that means the batteries you get at Walmart are not the best. To be honest, if you keep them on charge when you’re not using them, any battery can last a long time.
Where To Charge ATV Battery?
The best place to charge an ATV battery will be somewhere that is open with proper ventilation and dry.
All batteries give off gas when they’re charging, and this gas is hydrogen (flammable). The gas they give off is not a lot, but it’s still smart to play it safe.
Storing the battery on concrete is a myth. Cold temperatures do destroy batteries, especially the smaller ATV batteries.