I dont mean to sound stupid, just starting to work on my quad....but it seems like the battery drains easily. Is there no charging system on the bike?

2005 sportsman 400 4x4 stock

 

there is..when the bike is running and idled to about 2000 RPM you should read around 14 volts at the battery terminals. if its not over 13v then there is something wrong with your charging system

 

Are you doing alot of snow plowing?...................

Long idle and using the winch will drain it faster!!!...........Caper....

 

Thanks for responding

Where abouts is this located? (The charger not the battery) LOL

 

its in the stator and then you have a recifier that controls the amount of voltage. im not sure, but i think that year would have the infamous ecm that so many had problems w/(like caper) and that controls alot of differnt parts on the electronics. it should have at least 12.5 volts at the battery when not running and 13.8 at around 3 to 4,000 rpms.

 

Hi 4stn4cr.....your problem sounds similar to what I went threw. What I found out was that my "Warn Winch" had a faulty 8 post contactor that drew power even when the bike was off. I removed this and went to my local dealer and exchanged for free, installed the new one and appears to be fine. Also I should mention is that I have a trickle charger also that I plug into the bike after every ride to keep the battery at optimum charge...when the battery is topped up the trickle charger shuts off.

Stendori did touch on something else....there is a recall on certain "ecm's" you have to cross reference this with your serial number on your bike.

Check these links out.....

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml07/07027.html


http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml05/05568.html



I hope this works out for you

 

hey thanks for the info

Thankfully (or maybey not) my machines numbers do not fall into the recall range and the winch contactor is a four post design. I'll keep searchin


Planning a big weekend may 24 if anyone is interested..kearney area

 

Kearney area.........That's where my wife and I do most of all our riding!!!!
Where are you from?.........Caper...........

 

Let me know when and where as well. I'm not too far away

 

Maybe a dumb suggestion. Does your machine have a diagnostics mode on the instrument panel/dash/whatever you call it? If the charging system is not working properly there may be failure code.

Other than that it could be that the battery is ready to be replaced. I've seen old batteries show decent voltage but can't seem to feed the amps when under load. Either way a battery tender may be a good idea. They last a lot longer when they're kept topped up.

Rob