went out today to plow on my 2003 500HO sportsman. fourwheeler started right up. half way through plowing the battery light started to flash on dashboard. stopped plowing and charged the battery. went back out and about 5 minutes the battery light started flashing again. need to know where to look for problem, if anybody can help.

 

hi, how long did you charge for? if you have a meter see what the votage is running,13.8-14.5 volts is good, need battery. if its 12,no charge.

 

when running it is 12. what should i check next? taking battery to auto parts to have tested.

 

See if the voltage regulator came unplugged.

 

yeah somethings out in the charging system,you probably notice no increase in brightness when you give it alittle gas,still cheak batt cause discharge is hard on the batt,clean and tighten all connections...............

 

today i finally got back out to the barn to work on fourwheeler. i put the old battery back in and started fourwheeler, then disconnected the negative side of battery and the fourwheeler sat there and ran just fine. a guy i work with said to try running fourwheeler with battery disconnected, after starting. battery seems bad and have a new one coming on monday.

 

i wouldn't recommend running that bike w/ out the battery hooked up or you could damage the charging system. imo

 

When running at 2000 rpm or so should show 13.5 or more volts if charging correctly, if not its probably the regulator located in front of radiator , left side, square box with wires coming out .Battery should show 12 or more volts with machine off, if not battery is bad.

 

The problem has come back. I need to know how to check the regulator. If anybody could help. I checked on partsland and they show that part obselete and no longer available. But I did find a replacement at ronnies.

 

most likely check the connections to see if it came unplugged or is corroded.