Do you know how to charge a dead ATV battery? If not, you are on the right page. This article will take you through the necessary information you need to bring back your battery to life.
A dead ATV battery can put a damper on your plans and ruin the mood especially if you’re with company. In situations like these, it helps to have some working knowledge of batteries and how to revive them.
The charging system of an ATV battery operates on 12 VDC which is the same as most automobiles.
This piece of information has probably already given you a clue as to how the dead ATV battery can be fixed and in this article, we will look at the steps that should be followed in order to safely start a dead battery.
Charging Quad Battery – The Process Explained
The charging system on modern ATVs is made up of essentially three parts:
- The Rotor
- The Stator
- The Regulator Rectifier
The regulator rectifier is responsible for controlling the power that is produced from the other two components. The stator is made up of multiple individual laminated bars. These bars are wrapped with a thin copper wire, which makes each individual pole or coil.
Factor design and machine requirements will dictate just how many of these poles or coils are on your stator. The rotor, on the other hand, is a small real light design that is mounted to the crankshaft of the engine.
The rotor is a small, light design that is mounted to the crankshaft of the engine and will spin either on the inside or the outside of the stator. As the rotor spins past the coils, the magnets and the rotor will induce a current in the coils of the stator.
With each revolution, the current reverses itself, which creates the alternate current needed to power the machine.
This entire process is called electromagnetic induction.
With the combination of the rotor and stator creating so much power, there has to be something to control it and this is left to the regulator rectifier, which changes the current from alternating current to direct current.
Because this is the only way that your ATV battery can actually store the power, the regulator in the regulator rectifier combination controls the stator’s output of your ATV charging system. Most regulator rectifiers are built with fins on the outside casing.
What this does is dissipates the heat from the semiconductors inside the regulator rectifier. One thing you want to make sure of when you store your ATV or UTV is that you provide the battery with some type of power source.
This can be a simple charger which puts out a small amount of amperage while the vehicle is being stored and actually protects the battery’s integrity so that next time you get your ATV out for a nice ride, the battery’s going to be ready to go.
Check the Battery
First things first, it is important to ascertain if a dead battery is actually what is stopping the ATV from running.
Vehicles that have been sitting idle for an extended period of time tend to lose the power in their batteries. To confirm whether or not the battery is the problem you can turn on the ignition and check if it starts or not.
If there is no response from the ATV it is safe to assume that the battery is dead even if it was working perfectly the last time.
If the engine does turn on but seems slow or lethargic with the motor spinning for a few minutes that also means there is something wrong with the battery.
It is not strong enough to spin the motor and requires recharging. If there is a clicking sound but no motion in the motor then there might be a loose connection or a battery problem.
How to Charge an ATV Battery
There are two types of charging technology, the bench style charger and the battery tender.
The bench style charge is something you’ll find in a garage nowadays and it can charge anything from an automotive battery, all the way down to a Powersports battery, including your ATV too.
It is highly recommended that you use the automatic charger for charging your ATV and that you don’t charge the battery any more than two amps.
Failure to do that may lead to a dead battery, so ensure you charge your battery properly.
The first thing to do is to look for your amp setting on the 12-volt charger and hook up to the alligator clips, making sure that the battery is charged up to 12 points, 7 volts.
The automatic charger (also battery tender) usually comes with alligator clips and you can leave it on your application at all time.
You can hardwire the clips right to your battery and keep it charged at all time as other riders do. Often, this can help you get around the problem of a discharged battery.
The tender has a float mode so that once it gets to a certain level, it will shut off it’s automatic and once your battery drops below 12 points, 7 volts, it will kick back on.
The fully automatic process will really help your ATV battery be at an optimal level at all times.
How to Charge a Dead ATV Battery
Charging an ATV battery doesn’t have to be difficult, even when it’s dead. As long as you know what to do and how to do it, you should not have any problem charging an ATV battery.
So:
Once you have concluded that the battery is dead there are three ways to revive the dead battery. The one you choose depends on the equipment you have available at hands.
Each one has a specific use so they can be applied by anyone to restart their battery.
Jump Start with an ATV
Want to learn how to jump-start a 4 wheeler? Well, it’s not that difficult. If you have another ATV with power on the battery, you can easily use that to jumpstart your 4 wheeler.
An ATV can be used to jump-start your battery in the same way a car is. This requires jumper cables to be at hand obviously which does not usually happen with most ATVs.
But if you do have the good fortune of finding jumper cables and another ATV present then you can go through with this method.
- The first step is to remove the seats of the quad bikes to expose their batteries.
- Then you take the jumper cables and connect them to the good battery first and then connect them to the dead one. Some people recommended grounding the jumper cables by placing them on the frame of the battery. This involves putting the black cable with the ‘minus’ sign on it anywhere on the frame to prevent a surge of electrical current rushing through the system and causing damage.
- Once the batteries have been connected to each other, the quad bike with the good battery should be started and left idle for two to three minutes.
- When a couple of minutes have passed you can try and start the other ATV. If it successfully ignites then you can disconnect the red cable first from the good battery and then from the dead battery.
- Afterward, you can disconnect the black cable as well in a similar pattern.
It is suggested that you let the engine run once it starts so it does not heat up. Otherwise, the battery might die again and you will not be able to revive it. This only charges the battery temporarily and is not a long-term solution.
Jump Start with a Car
If you are looking for how to charge atv battery with a car battery, you’ll enjoy this section.
The ATV can also be jump started using a car which follows the same step as jump starting with another ATV. The only difference here is that the car has a different battery and a much stronger charging system than a quad bike.
This is why the car should under no circumstances be started during the process of jump starting.
Just because it’s an ATV battery doesn’t mean you can charge it with a car battery. As long as there is still power on the battery, you should be able to charge it without any issue.
A car battery has enough power in it to start up an ATV without having to be turned on itself. Follow the step below to charge the ATV battery:
- Remove the jumper cable from the negative and then the positive terminal of the car battery.
- Connect the positive terminal of the car battery to the positive terminal of the ATV’s battery and then similarly for the negative terminal as well.
- After a few minutes, try turning on the quad bike to see if it has worked and then disconnect the cables.
Caution is advised when you are working with electricity and the person carrying out the process should be wearing thick rubber soled shoes. Also, the red terminal of the battery should not be touched as it could electrocute you.
Use a Standalone Battery Charger
There are many standalone battery chargers on the market these days which are multipurpose. Not only are they useful for charging cars but can also work on other vehicles such as ATVs.
The process is simple enough for anyone to follow it.
- First, turn off the charger before you start connecting it.
- Remove the jumper cable from the battery, the negative terminal first and then the positive one.
- The positive or red cable of the jump wire should be connected to the positive terminal of the battery.
- Next, connect the negative or black cable of the jumper to the negative terminal of the battery.
- Choose an appropriate setting on the battery charger if you have a multipurpose one. You do not want to fry the battery by sending a ridiculous amount of current through it.
- After the prescribed number of hours have passed and the battery has charged turn off the charger first and then remove the jumper cables, this time positive first.
There you have it!
Final Words on How to Charge a Dead ATV Battery
Those are the three ways in which you can charge a dead battery and bring it back to life.
There are many other ways to solve the dead ATV battery problem but the right solution for you depends on your situation.
However, these three methods are a safe bet and can get any ATV up and running in no time.
As promised, by now, you should know how to charge a dead ATV battery. This knowledge will definitely be useful not only for you but also for others that have the same problem and don’t have the know-how.