I have Polaris atv that is not charging the battery. What should I look for??? I have disconnected the battery while running and it still runs. Battery is good.
Can anyone help??

 

With the engine running check with a good voltmeter to see how much voltage you have at the battery...it should be 13volts or more. Then check the battery after it has set for at least a couple hours without engine running and it should check 12.6 volts or more. You can also have a load test done on your battery, I have seen new batteries right out of the box that are bad, testing is the only way to know for sure!!

 

DON'T do this.. It can possibly cause more damage. Older models didn't need a battery for ignition,but disconnecting one is never a good idea. First off make sure the regulator wires are hooked up. Some Sportsmans and other models had a habit of having regulator wires pull loose. Also as Kymco 450i mentioned make sure the battery is ok with a simple load test.
" Load Test the Battery"
Your local automotive shop is more than able to load test your battery for you. But it's quite easy to do at home. All you need is a digital voltmeter. For any load test to be accurate, the battery must be fully charged. Let's use a motorcycle battery for an example. Remove the seat and expose the battery in your bike so that you have access to the terminals. Do not disconnect the battery because you will attempt to start the bike. Hold the prongs of your voltmeter to the correct terminals on the battery. Now push the starter button and watch what the voltage drops to. It doesn't matter if the bike starts or not, what you're looking for is a voltage reading.

"DC Voltage on a healthy 12 volt motorcycle battery should maintain a range from 9.5 - 10.5 volts under the load for a good 30 seconds straight. If the battery begins to hold and then steadily drops in voltage, there is a problem. If the voltage instantly drops to 0 volts, that is also a problem. We call this the open cell. On a new battery, this can be a result of manufacturing flaws, but it also may be caused by sulfate crystal buildup. Under the intense heat of the load, one or more of the weld pieces connecting the cells is coming loose and separating. This will cut the current, and voltage will drop. When the battery cools off, the pieces will touch, barely giving a complete connection. This gives you a false voltage reading. Batteries with open cells may read fully charged in idle, but they fail under a load test every time. Once a battery reaches this point, there is no going back. The best thing to do is recycle the thing." Other tests such as checking resistance between the yellow stator wires leading to the regulator can help eliminate a stator being at fault. The yellows should have some resistance between each other with no yellow shorting to ground.Also what year and model do you have? It either has a regulator or an ecm module that gave everyone fits.

 

What year and model is it? Some of them will blow all the light bulbs, or worse, if you run it with the battery disconnected.