hello to all...


The other day I was out trail riding, after about 3 hours, my ATV failed to crank using the starter button, it would fire up immediatly using the pull starter. Figured I had a bad/dead battery and went on my way, shortly afterwards, the engine started skipping and it felt like it was shutting off and on....pulled over and noticed that my atv was running hot...looked down and the fan was just barely running....

I let everything cool down and headed back to the truck...never made it!!!!!.....engine backfiring and just going plain dead....would start right back up , but would only go about 10 feet and just either backfire or die.....

finally got it home and done a complete service on it...plugs/oil/filters and a brand new battery.....it fired up immediatly and ran like a brand new one.....took it to the deer lease and road it around for about 2.5 hours and all seems great. When I got home, I tested the battery with my voltmeter and was suprised by my findings...with the engine off, I had about 12.4 volts, with it running it was about 12.3(never dropped) volts and with it running and the lights on it was also 12.3 volts(never dropped)...these reading just dont sound right, and I really dont know where to start with my trouble shooting

..now here is my questions:


with the battery dead, why did it start running so ruff(over-heating and backfiring)??

shouldn't the charging system run all the required electrical(fan and stuff)

how do you test the charging system on an ATV?

what fuses or links are in-line with the charging system that would prevent my battery from being charged??

is there a simple check list I can do to test my charging system???

Thanks in advance for any help

Slayerextreme

 

First off welcome.

The battery is dead because your charging system is not working, Hence no fan and overheating. The overheat is probably what made it run bad (then again you could have a bad stator). When running the voltage at the battery should be at least 14.5 volts, or there is no charging going on. There is no fuse in the system. Either the regulator/rectifier or stator (chage coils) are bad. If you have access to a manual there are simple tests to check both. If not, pm me you e-mail address and I will send you the pages with the tests.

 

Your quad has a stator, which is like an alternator, but with no field wire. Its always on, always pumping out the max. But it needs revs to hit the higher voltages. 12.3 sounds ok at rest, with it off. It may not have been fully charged when new. I know, they say a new battery doesnt need charging when new, but it does.
To check the stator out put, hook up the voltmeter accross the battery, watch the voltage, when the starter is cranking, you dont want it to dip too far. if it drops below 10 volts while cranking, the battery needs more charging or is a marginal battery. With it idleing, you may see more or less than the 12.3, if you turn on the lights, i would think it would drop a bit below 12.3. Now slowly rev the motor up...the voltage should start climbing with the revs. By the time the motor gets to 4000 rpm, it should be about 14.5 volts, but not higher than 15 volts.
You have a battery coil ignition..so if the battery has crapped out, its gonna run bad.

 

slayerextreme, You have mail, 4 of them.

 

Here's an update on my problem......

just got my new regulator in (there is 2 differnt ones for my model , 1 has 2 black plugs with seven wires and 1 has 1 black plug and 1 white plug with 5 wires)

just got everything installed and had to pull start her(reckon my new battery died)....cranked on the first pull....

battery reads 12.5 volts at an idle....but when I rev it up the volts seem to drop off..........I'm hoping this is due to the low state of my battery....turned her off and she fired right back up.......

my guess is it had to be the voltage regulater..... I had the 60 volts A/C on all three legs of the magneto like the manual said I needed...


can a weak battery give a low dc voltage reading at the battery until its charged???? just dont know why the volts are dropping when I bring it up to the 5k rpm

any ideas on this gang

\
thanks for the input up to this point

 

another update....pretty much lost now.......voltage does not seem to be coming up when reading the battery.......actually everything seems to be "screwy"....when I rev up the engine...the lights(both headlight and taillight get dim until I bring the engine back to an idle......

as stated before...magneto output is good...brand new regulator......really got me stumped now!!!!!....

transmission is in neutral, and the "n" indicator is bright green but it is flickering, never seen this before either....


please help....just spent my last dollar on that stupid regulator, and it looks like that wasnt the problem!!!!!!

someone from the forums was nice enuff to send me the test procedures for my ARCTIC CAT...problem was there was an update to my unit...and it is listed on the cat documentation when they ordered my regulator.......the test procedures that I got are for a regulator with 5 wires(3 magneto input and 2 outputs)...my system has 7 wires on the regulator(3 magneto inputs and 4 outputs)

what else can I test????...is there a fuse somewhere that I'm missing?????

 

A low battery can cause all kinds of problems. Charge it for at least 8 hours at about 2 amps max, then let it sit for a couple of hours and check the voltage, should be around 12.3 to 12.4 volts. Then start and run the engine and check the voltage again with the engine reved up and the headlights on. A bad battery, one that even shows charged can cause this too.

 

Im thinking the regulator you bought is either defective or the wrong one. Can you put the old one back in? then try the voltage tests. And i believe you have to totally install it( bolt it to the frame) because it needs the frame for ground. If it just hanging there, by the wires, it might not work right.
Let us know what you find out.

 

started with a freshly charged battery today....took the connectors for the regulator apart and coated the insides with die-electric grease......


battery read 12.22 volts....then I reved the engine and the volts dropped to 11.99, until I went back to idle , then it returned 12.22 volts


[/QUOTE]Did you check that main fuse on the start relay? The reason the voltage drops when you rev it, is because you're putting a demand on the battery for the coil and CDI.[QUOTE]


if this main fuse was bad,,,would it start with the ignition switch????? everything works...cranks with either the starter button or the pull start and runs great...just not charging.....where is this main fuse????

 

I think I may have just found my problem......I pulled the main 30 amp fuse and checked it.....it was burnt and melted on one side......it wasnt blown but look like it has had better days....started testing the ground from the battery to the engine all looked good.....went to start it and nothing happened....reached down and touched the 30 amp fuse and the fan came on...then wiggled the fuse and the pitch of the fan changed.....had somebody hold my leads on the battery while I wiggled the fuse and reved the engine....was finally able to get a dc voltage reading of over 14 volts......reckon I need whatever part that is that the 30 amp fuse and the hot side of the battery cable and the output to the starter is(holds 30 amp fuse and has 2 lugs on it.......anybody have an idea what this part is(name and part number) and where the cheapest place to get it is????