Newarcher Posted January 25, 2010 Report Share Posted January 25, 2010 I have a 2000 Honda Recon that I ride rarely...in fact I would say that in 10 years of owning it, I have only put five tanks of gas in it. My battery has performed REMARKABLY well over these ten years. It would discharge if I didn't use it for a month or two at a time but I could always pull start it, run it for a couple hours, and it would be good again. I put an on-board trickle charger on it and would leave it plugged in from time to time to keep the battery charged. Well, after 10 years, it died. It will not hold a charge what so ever. So I bought a new battery. I installed the new battery from the dealership that was supposed to be charged, and it appears to be dead. I plugged in the trickle charger and could get enough power to make the solenoid click. After I try that once, it apparently discharges the battery to the point the solenoid won't click until it has some time to charge again. I have had the new battery on the charger (trickle) since mid-day Saturday. Before I call the Honda dealer and gripe them out about selling me a dead battery, is there anything else it could be? When I pulled it into the garage the last time, it was working so there shouldn't have been anything I did to break it. Thoughts? New Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted January 25, 2010 Report Share Posted January 25, 2010 Check the connections real well. If you have a meter check the battery after it has been off the charger a while, should hold voltage and be close to what it was after you took it off the trickle charger. You might also try starting the 4 wheeler with the meter still connected and see if you get a voltage drop. If the voltage is good(+12 volts) and does not change at all when you push the start switch you may have other problems, bad switch, wiring, solenoid, starter relay, or starter. If you attempted to start the 4 wheeler with a weak battery something could have gotten fried from too low an amperage supply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun_300 Posted January 25, 2010 Report Share Posted January 25, 2010 Probably a dead cell in the battery, after a long charge check it with a multimeter, 12.6V should be fully charged, if there's a dead cell there'll be 2.1V less than that (10.4, 8.2, so on) If there's only 1 or 2 volts the cells are probably shorted together inside. I'd just take the battery back and get a new one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newarcher Posted January 25, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2010 Good deal guys, thanks. I don't have a meter so I will just take the battery back. New Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newarcher Posted January 25, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2010 The dealer had me bridge the gap on the terminals of the solenoid and try starting the bike....nothing. In fact, as soon as I unplugged the trickle charger that I was using, the solenoid wouldn't even click. Bad battery. The tag on the battery shows an October 09 ship date and said to charge the battery within 30 days. I see a notation of 1/13 on it so I assume it was charged in January. I will have them test the new battery before I leave. New Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Kat Posted January 25, 2010 Report Share Posted January 25, 2010 Sounds like you could have a bad solenoid, or nasty connections. If the new battery doesn't work, thats what I would try. Let us know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBow Posted January 25, 2010 Report Share Posted January 25, 2010 (edited) If they just use a voltmeter to check the battery, you might not get an accurate picture of the state of charge of the battery. Batteries have to be "load tested" with a load potential and voltage is only one snap shot in considering the condition of a battery. Battery testers (depending on the quality and cost) will test and possibly record the following: 1. the surface voltage (no load) 2. Voltage under load 3. CCW (Cold Cranking Amps) 4. Capacity (may be rated in % or AH - Amp Hours) And most battery testers merely try to take a snapshot in time to try and read the conditions of a battery (at that time), but they aren't always 100%. Talk to any battery manufacturer and they'll tell you need to review ongoing and cyclically recorded (historical) data from that battery to really determine the "State of Charge" of that particular battery, but few, if any dealers or people rarely take those measures. It's best to charge the battery out of the bike's circuit, as internal circuits could be applying loads inadvertenly or you could even have circuit faults in the bike that would need to be addressed before a battery is placed back in. The dealer can also put an amprobe (reads amps) on the line to the battery in order to determine if there are any internal loads when the bike is off, or excessive loads when it is started or running. A combination of an ammeter and voltmeter will also determine if the bike's charging circuit is working within specs. If you have done any wet and muddy or sandy runs with the bike and then the bike has sat for a long time, then those conditions sometimes will play havoc with electrical connections and circuits and may have to be troubleshot and corrected too. TBow Edited January 25, 2010 by TBow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WHISKEYSWAMP Posted January 25, 2010 Report Share Posted January 25, 2010 check your wiring... I stored my quad in a barn one winter and had a mouse buid a nest inside my light housing and chew up a lot of my wires... talk about a mess trying to figure out which wires go where and soldering them back together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newarcher Posted January 25, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2010 ~! Problema solved.... I took both my old battery and the new battery back to the dealer. I figured that if their battery came back okay then my original battery might have been okay as well. They tested the old one and it indicated "recharge and retest". Then they tested the new one and it indicated "recharge and retest". Exchanged the battery for a new one and they tested it before I left...bingo. The good news is that I now hold the record for the longest use of an original ATV battery. It is a 2000 Honda Recon and this was the original battery--no not kidding. They said they had never heard of an original battery lasting that long. For about the last five years I have been running the ride along battery tender so when I get done using it, I plug it in and let it sit. Problem solved ! New Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slughunter Posted January 25, 2010 Report Share Posted January 25, 2010 Good deal, glad you got it figured out. Now you can go ride. -shane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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