Well the search button but yielded no answers. Any Honda techs out there have an idea why my brothers 3 month old rincon is draining the battery dead after a week of nonuse. Any updates or recalls on this? Thanks

 

No recalls or updates on this issue Wistech. There's a couple different ways to deal with this. First off charging system operation should be verified, simple enough with a voltmeter...should be around 14.0 volts at moderate RPM. Key off current draw can be checked and compared to another Rincon. There will be some because of the clock memory, I'm guessing between 7 and 20 milliamps. You could also disconnect the battery, give it a real good charge, like about 2 amps for 12 hours and check the voltage, try in the machine after a week or so. I'm guessing the battery is just weak. I've seen several of those Yuasa maintainance free batteries get like that. You can charge them and they're OK, but they just go flat very prematurely. Most commonly on machines that are used very infrequently, or in some cases right off the showroom floor, if it sat there a long time and nobody charged it, or it wasn't fully charged at set up. I think it says in the owner's manual to charge the battery every three weeks with infrequent use. Anyway, your brother might want to bring it back to the dealer where it was purchased, and appeal to them as they did the set up and predelivery.

 

Need to charge it every 3 weeks? That cant be right. I think he said he already replaced the battery and its still dead after a week. Once those small batteries are discharged for more than a day or 2 they are usually sulfated and ruined. Ill have to check the charging system next time I see it. If the electronics are the culprit I would say a master power disconnect would be in order because his quads usually sit for months between use and I know he will never charge them regularly. LOL Thanks.

 

Does he have a birthday coming up? Have you checked out those Yuasa battery tenders? They're like a smart trickle charger. They come with a quick connect harness you can hook up to the battery terminals. Plug it in and leave it on indefinitely. They're only about 30$ and they work pretty good. You better show him how to drain the carb too, or you'll be having to clean it. I'm not positive about the "every three weeks" in the owner's manual, but I'm not far off. Of course, they're gonna try to cover their butts but anyway, it should stay up a lot longer than a week. I think sometimes the problem can be these batteries don't get an initial full charge, or charged completely when they're down. For a while we used the automatic chargers at work and found they didn't do a great job on the maintaince free batteries. They only seem to have a half-a$$ charge when the fully charged light comes on. Now we use the "plain old" manual type, and of course they don't shut down so you have to watch them close for getting hot, overcharging. But they seem to a better job of charging, if you keep your eye on them. Anyway, we've had assorted problems with Rincons, but nothing with the charging system, or excessive current draw.

 

wistech you need to put a meter on the battery and see what is going on, putting it on a trickle charger is just masking the problem, my rancher has gone 3 months and it fires up fine,, my buddy over 6 months, im actually suprised how well it last, seeing as i destroy it pulling around 30- 40 amps a couple times a day using my winch, pm me if you need to know how to check the drain on the battery

 

Ya my 300ex sat for almost a year when the engine blew and after I got it fixed the battery still was able to start the quad. Actually there is really no reason the electronics need to draw so much current that the battery will lose its charge in a couple weeks. I would say 2 or 3 months minimum is not that much to ask. The battery tender would work but thats just masking the problem.
Ive had my share of quads come in the shop from customers that run 2 or 3 years on the same tank of gas. Then they wonder why its suddenly hard to start.LOL

 

 

Im sorry you spent so much time on this issue . When I get to see the quad I can do all the diagnostics . I just wanted to know if there were any updates or recalls on this particular machine so I know what to look for when it comes in. Thanks.

 

86'd

----- Gimpster -----

 

I wasn't suggesting a trickle charger would fix your current problem, or that a charge shouldn't last a month or two. Wistech, you were the one who said his machine will sit for months at a time. If that's the case, he's probably going to be buying a lot of batteries in the future if he refuses to get handy with a charger. I thought it might be more ecomonical to spend 30$ on a tender. The manual doesn't say the battery will be dead in three weeks...it recommends charging it about that often in storage to maintain it. How long a particular vehicle can sit before the battery goes flat depends on initial charge, temperature (the warmer the quicker the discharge), and current draw. Excessive key off current draw problems are very rare period, and charging problems are at least uncommon. Most likely the battery is weak or discharged.