i have a electrical problem where my battery goes dead in 3 to 4 hours and start riding with a new charged battery after a couple of miles i cant shift it due to battery being dead. i have a Honda rancher es auto shift i have had a couple of home shops look at it but got no help i sure hope someone can help me
thanks

joe

 

There is a draw somewhere. Do you have a meter? If so, unhook the positive cable from the battery. Set your meter to amps, highest setting. Put one lead on the lug and the other on the dangling cable. Then, reset the meter lower and lower until there is an amp reading. If there is a draw, you will get a reading. Normal should be zero, unless there is a computer or something that needs a tiny bit of power to maintain. If no meter, take the positive cable off the battery. Being careful, as you put it back on, look for a spark from the lug to the cable. This will tell you there is a draw. Now you have to eliminate circuits one by one to find where the draw is. It might be a light, starter, alternator, ES, or anything. Unhook things one at a time until there is no draw.

 

The above tip to check key off draw is a good place to start. A couple miliamps would be normal.

If you find you have huge key off draw, try unhooking the voltage regulator and test again. If the draw is gone, regulator is bad.

If you find there is no excessive key off draw, put the cable back on and read the battery voltage at the terminals with the machine not running, and with the machine running and reved up.

You should see an increase in voltage when the machine is running and reved up if the charging system is working.

If both of those check out, you may have a defective battery. Charge it with an automatic battery charger, take a voltage reading after it has been sitting (unhooked) for a couple hours. Then take a voltage reading in a day or so. If it has dropped significantly the battery likely has a dead cell.