for some reason the battery in my 1996 454 bearcat keeps draining while im riding it. what would some of the causes be? i am thinking it is either the magneto or the voltage regulator. any suggestions?

 

Is it a new battery - these batteries only last about 3-4 years tops, more like 2-3 years. Is it full with acid. Replacing a low batter with water is not recommended - use battery acid.

You also need a good quality charge and if the battery has been run dead or really low it may have a hard time to come back an hold a charge - these are not marine deep cycle batteries - once they get down they don't like to come back.

If you run the engine under 2000 rpm a lot then you are draining the battery (lights on make it worse) - the magneto will only start to charge the battery when the rpm's go over 2000.

I charge my battery after every ride and most definitely before 100 miles.

Sometimes on trails going to a lower gear or low range will help keep the battery up. Only takes a couple minutes... So if you are just meandering along at 5-8 miles an hour it won't hurt to slip into a lower gear of a short time, just so that you know that the engine is running over 2000 rpm...

 

it is a brand new battery. this past week we were driving anywhere up to 30 mph so thats what makes me think that it is the magneto or something in the charging system. do you know of any cheap place to get the parts it might take to fix it?

 

You can check with "Pat's Small Engine Plus" do a yahoo or google search...

I did it for you: check this link....

http://www.psep.biz/

 

thanks man