The battery on my wifes Predator wont hold charge anymore. I have been jump starting it off of the pickup truck to get it running , but i wonder if jumpin from a vehicle battery will damage any of the elictrical components. They are both 12 volts of course but im sure the amps are way higher on the truck battery.
It runs fine once its started , but it wont charge up any more.

 

I had the same problem with my Sportsman 500. I took it to the dealer and they told me they have had a lot of batteries go bad and they replaced mine with a new gel battery. I don't think jumpstarting with your truck will damage anything.

 

volts is how much power is being supplied, amps is how much stored power there is.

 

I'm interested in hearing if this will harm the ATV, too. I drained my battery dead when I was playing with the winch one day and ended up jump starting it with my van. The battery is fine, and I haven't had to do it again, but when I told a friend this, he told me this is very bad for the ATV and I should NEVER do it again! He couldn't tell me why, though.

 

[quote]
Originally posted by: GITRDUN
The battery on my wifes Predator wont hold charge anymore. I have been jump starting it off of the pickup truck to get it running , but i wonder if jumpin from a vehicle battery will damage any of the elictrical components. They are both 12 volts of course but im sure the amps are way higher on the truck battery.
q]

Yes, you are correct--volts are the same, pickup amps are higher. As long as you don't have the pickup running, then you should be just fine. The potentially damaging higher amps would be a concern if the pickup were running at higher rpms.

I realize that money may be a concern, but I purchased a battery for my old Foreman for about $30. That may be a lot less expensive than risking electrical damage to your Predator.

 

I am an electrician and am going to try to make this as simple as possible.

In this example electricity is the same as water.

The Wire is pipe
The Battery is a bucket of water.
The Voltage is water pressure.
The Current is water volume, the amount of water running through the pipe.

Let's assume you have a fully charged car battery at 800 Cold Cranking Amps (CCA). Remember amps is your current.
Your dead atv battery is probably around 12 CCA, when fully charged, 0 when dead.

Your ATV battery is an empty bucket of water, and your car battery is full.

When you connect your jumper cables you create a pipe route.

Both batteries are 12 volts so the water pressure in the pipe is the same at all times.

However, you have 800 CCA's coming from your vehicle feeding 0 CCA at the time on your ATV.

Since the one bucket is full and the other is empty the water is going to run down as fast as it can meaning your volume is increased, pressure stays the same though because both batteries are 12 volts. I know that the dead one is going to be around 10.5 volts but that won't matter much. It is the current that you have to watch out for. Make sure that both systems are 12 volts though. Do not use a 12 volt battery on a 6 volt system, it would be like a pipe that is rated for 50 pounds, and you put 100 pounds of pressure through it. Something is going to give. 10.5 volts is the fully discharged level of a 12 volt battery. When your ATV is running it should have around 14.2 volts, which keeps the battery charged. The extra voltage pushes back on the battery and allows current to flow into the battery that was discharged while starting, and maintains the current while running. If you are confused try and relate it to the water idea.

It is recommended to charge an ATV battery at 2 amps or less and a car battery at 10 amps.

The sudden in rush of current coming from the car battery will try to charge the battery very quickly, and the faster you charge a battery the more heat is produced. Which makes the potential for the battery to explode.

The ATV is going to draw only the water that it needs to start, not like the battery which is going to draw as much water as it can to get charged back up. The battery does not have a brain to tell it when it is taking on to much to fast.

I have probably lost all of you by now, so I am going to end this.

Basically I would not recommend jump starting an atv off a car battery, unless you disconnect the battery from the ATV, and jump straight to the battery cables. I have never tried this so I don't know whether or not the ATV will stay running once you disconnect the jumper cables from it. Just make sure that the positive (red) cable never touches any metal on your atv or your vehicle. Once you disconnect the jumper cables, (if it is still running) you could reconnect the ATV battery. Never let a live positive cable touch metal, it will be live if it is connected to the battery, or disconnected and the vehicle or ATV is running.

Always remember the order to connect jumper cables also, with today's computer controlled vehicles it is important to connect red (+) on dead, red (+) on good, black (-) on good, black (-) on dead (preferably the engine block, or chasis. This way the spark from the connection has less potential of igniting battery acid fumes that can blow up a battery as well.

The only reason I am so careful around lead-acid batteries is; my friend's dad was a mechanic, and he had a battery explode 18 inches from his face. Needless to say seeing him now is not a pretty sight.

 

My understanding (and years of practicing have backed it up,) that when you jump start, the donor vehicle has to be off. If the pickup is running, and the alternator is running, its very posible to excede the 15.5 volts of the zener diode of the voltage regulator of the quad.
So...as long as the donor vehicle is not running, and you observe all the other saftey aspects of jump starting...the car battery wont hurt a atv.
Current is limited by the resistance of the circuit, doesnt matter how much capacity a battery source has, the resistance determines the current flow. You can have a 12 amp hour battery, that will flow 3 amps, and then change it to a 800 amp hour battery...itll still only draw 3 amps. The electrical resistance of the starter, and cables and connections will limit how much flows. Think of it this way, you can hook up a test light, like a 1156 bulb accross any 12 volt battery, and itll light up with out burning up, whether the battery has 12 amp rating or 2000amp rating...the bulbs internal resistance will determine the current flow of the circuit.

If you do a google search, youll find more information, like this
http://www.msgroup.org/TIP104.html

 

Your truck's voltage regulator limites the voltage to 14.5 volts DC.

Your quad will only pull as much amperage as it needs to start. amperage is an ondemand type deal.

The truck's voltage will not harm the quad. They use identical systems.

Don't sweat it and jump as needed. But I will mention that batteries are fairly cheap.

I won't give you my pedigree in electrical because I don't see the need. But trust me when I say your not causing any problems.

 

I ordered a new battery yesterday and the dealer said you should put a voltage maintainer on the battery to keep it up to voltage. He said the battery cells in motorcycle batterys are too thin and if you use more than 1.5 amps to charge them they will warp the cells and the battery will go bad. I boost charged mine once or twice at 6 amps , so maybe thats the culpret. I also had to replace the battery in the YFZ last summer and also the DS650 battery. Aparently i might be ruining them by charging with too much amperage.

 

now overcharging them like that can cause problems. but not jump starting