2006 Arctic Cat 250 charging problems
 

2006 Arctic Cat 250 Utility. Symptoms are weak charging system. Atv will run for a few hours, but drains battery. Battery is new, also bought another new battery with same results. Starting with a charged battery, voltage read at the battery while running is 12.4-6Vand dropping. Last night I pulled the plastic off, unhooked the stator, checked resistance, under or about 1 ohm between leads. Unplugged the "load" side of Voltage regulator, checked connections, with the bike running, I checked voltage on the battery side of the regulator by unhooking it, I had anywhere from 15-17vdc even flashing 20v for a second. Now currently, plugging everything back up, the battery is reading 13.3-6v at idle. revving the motor doesn't seem to have an effect on it. The $100 question is, without a load on the regulator, should I see the voltage that high?? Then when plugged in, Volts drop to the 13.3 range, which for me is still low. Its seems 1 or more connections were bad because I did see an increase in charging Volts, but I am hesitant that I actually fixed it. I did hear that 13.5V at battery when running is considered arctic cat standards but still seems low. I checked our Yamaha, and 2 Hondas and all were charging in the 14.2 volt range. Any help would greatly be appreciated as this is my daughters and is she is really on Ole Dads case about getting this thing fixed!!!!

What is it charging at with lights and accessories on? I find cat charging systems put out the bare min at best. If i use my winch i have to come home and put on a maintainer as the battery will never fully recover after that..