You’re probably wondering why your ATV battery keeps dying? It can be very frustrating to go out to your quad and see that it won’t start.
The reason why your battery dies is mostly to do with it sitting for too long. Unlike your car which you drive daily, your quad may sit for weeks or months and the battery will go flat.
There are a few simple things you can do to keep your battery from dying, along with other things you need to keep in mind.
How To Keep Battery From Dying
To keep your battery from dying, there are two things you can do.
- Drive it more often.
- Or keep a smart battery charger on it when it’s going to sit for months.
The biggest reason batteries die is that they’re not being used enough.
The battery must remain active; unless you keep the engine running or the battery connected to a smart charger, it gradually undergoes sulfation and deteriorates. This sulfation isn’t noticeable for months, but once it reaches a certain point, the battery becomes irrecoverable and needs replacement. This is simply the nature of lead-acid batteries.
So if your ATV is going to be sitting for months it’s best to keep a smart battery charger (ad) on it. It’s also best to remove the battery from the ATV when charging it.
Jumping Battery
It’s best to avoid jumping your ATV battery from your car or truck.
Jumping your battery from your vehicle while it’s running can fry the computer. The batteries and alternators in cars or trucks are much larger and output more power than the electrical systems many ATVs can handle.
I repeat – Don’t jump your battery with a Car or Truck!
You can, however, jump your battery from a portable jump starter. Portable jump starters have come a long way, I, personally, have a “batteryless” one that charges off a dead battery. Yes, I know it sounds crazy, but it’s a real thing, and it works as shown in the video below. You can buy this jump starter here (ad).
Be careful of the jumper wires when connected to a battery, they carry a lot of current and can really hurt someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing. If you don’t feel comfortable doing it then contact someone else with more experience like your local dealership.
Riding Will NOT Charge Your Battery
Running an ATV or Side By Side for a bit will not charge a dead battery.
Your car employs an alternator that charges the battery while running, whereas your ATV and Side By Sides use a stator. A stator is designed to maintain a charge sufficient to power whatever is currently in use, and nothing more. In contrast, an alternator is built to charge a battery and keep it charged. While a stator can keep the battery active and prevent sulfation, it is not intended to charge the battery.
So riding around for a bit will not help much at all. Sure it will seem like the battery charged after riding for a bit but come the next day or a few hours the battery will be dead again.
Solar Charger
If you don’t have power where you keep your machine, you can still keep the battery from dying.
Get yourself a 12-volt solar charger like this one here (ad) and keep it on the battery when you’re not going to ride for months.
When it comes to solar chargers, you want one that is 1 to 5-watts. Do not get a solar charger that is over 5-watts or you run the risk of destroying your battery.
If All Else Fails
If all else fails, then you need to contact your dealer or local mechanic to see what is going on. The battery could be bad and the only way to know is to remove it and test it with a load tester.
You could have other problems, like a rectifier is bad. A bad rectifier would mean the power your stator produces is not getting sent to the battery.
I’ve also seen fuses that go to the charging system fail too and that be the reason why an ATV battery won’t charge.
At this point, if you don’t know what you’re doing, you need to take it to a dealership to get the problem worked out.