I have a 2004 Prairie 700 purchased new in November 2003. I was riding regularly but, with the wet Winter weather, it hasn't been cranked in a month. I tried to crank it Saturday, and the battery was too weak to do the job. I pull-started it, and left it running for an hour. On Sunday, same problem. Do I need a new battery? Or to keep the current one on a battery tender when it won't be cranked for extended periods?

 

Your battery should be ok - it just needs a good charge. Idling for an hour may not have been enough to charge it back up. If you have a charger pull it out and give it a full charge and let it sit out overnight. If it cranks the next day then you are most likley ok if it doesn't crank then its not holding a charge. An auto parts store can do a better test by placing a load on it and seeing how much charge it held.

 

I got 3 months out of my first battery, and 1 month out of the one after that, and now I have about 1.5 years on the current bad battery. I havent had good battery luck. Also, if you were trying to charge the battery with it running at idle, it probably wasnt happening, I found you have to ride with good rpm's to charge the battery from the machine. Im getting a solar battery tender for when mine sits a long time.

 

Yea, takes some major RPM's to charge any battery. Usually like 3 grand or somethin? not sure. idling won't charge up a battery. If you do charge it fully and it still goes down, i'd say you got a charging coil prob. hook a volt meter up to the battery and rev the motor up. If its got 14Volts and climbing, its charging. Then i would say you got a bad battery. Good luck!

 

Sometimes I go a month without starting my quad. The battery is 11 months old, and shows no sign of slowing down.

 

Bought my unit March of 02...Had to replace the battery July of 02 {warranty}
Been fine ever since
Maybe Kaw got a batch of lame batteries?

Kasi