ATV not starting; fully charged battery

Not from Yami its not...no idea if (how many) knockoff parts there are out there by now, used to only be 1 or 2, and price was better, but still not "inexpensive", at least not for doing the ole parts swapping diagnosis

 

I've never had a motorcycle battery crap out in 2 years. I typically always get 4-5. And Yuasa is a good name, at least has been as far as I know. If I wasn't running newer lightweight tech, I'd have that brand. In the off season, I kept them on a Battery Tender multibank charger, 24/7.

That being said, if your R/R is wigging out, that can overcharge and end it's life prematurely.

 

Yuasa typically are gonna be great. Had one last in a wheeler for 7 years and the last four were intermittent use. I've had several batteries die in 2 or 3 years. Varying brands. Yep, always hooked to the $60 battery tender. The best is when the little green light is showing, you unplug and go for the first ride of the season and it won't restart at the gas station due to dead battery.

 

There's plenty of inexpensive and good ones out there.

 

That's why I like my ATVs have kick starts. Don't ever have to worry about not starting. I have been kick starting one of them for probably a half year cause I'm cheap and the battery I bought crapped out after a year. And I didn't want to buy another one.

 

Precisely why dad and I got the 500 ho sportsman vs the new 600 or 700 twins at the time. Those twins didn't have any manual / backup way to start it, but there's a recoil on the 500. It's really not that bad to start by recoil. The Kodiak 450 my mom got recently, has no backup start. Which is a shame. I don't think any of the comparable models had recoil start either. Now you need a jump pack. Granted the jump packs are small now, but still

 

I don't think they have actually thought anyone would actually ride them to remote places or get a long way from anything? Your right these days you can take those LI jump packs along, and you would be crazy to ride a modern ATV without a backup start to any remote location these days without one.

 

I charged the battery last night; nothing when I installed it in the quad. Not even a buzz from the solenoid. I did get a “spark” noise and saw a little puff of smoke from the terminals. Took out my voltmeter, and I had 12.4 volts at the battery. Hooked up my jump pack and it spun right over.

Here’s the weird thing. With the battery installed, I don’t see any lights at all; reverse, neutral or headlights. This is when the quad is off. Even with a low battery, I should at least get the lights to come on.

Starts fine with the pull start, but that’s not ideal.

 

That's a little low for a freshly charged battery...should be more like 12.9 fresh off a charge.
It's been a while since I messed with a wolverine, but do the headlights normally come on when the engine is off? Many models don't.

 

Sounds like a bad connection at the battery.

If your jump pack will start it why won't a new battery? Battery and jump pack are essentially the same thing except the jump pack has huge alligator clips that hold a good connection.

Either your bolts aren't tight or the terminal ends are dirty/corroded.

 

Agreed....the spark and smoke is a classic tell tale of either a big draw when connecting the battery, and/or a bad connection.

 

Right... somethings gotta get hot to create the smoke. Only way something gets hot in an electrical system is resistance.

 

Thanks guys. I appreciate you all troubleshooting this with me.

Yes, the Wolverine will allow you to turn the lights on with the ATV off, but the key switch on. So it’s perplexing that even if the battery is slightly low, it still should be sending power to the lights. Also, it should be powering the gear indicator lights; neutral & reverse.

I’m using a battery charger/maintainer to charge the battery. It’s an electronic unit and I’m selecting standard (vs AGM) for the battery type and power sport (vs automotive) for the battery size. I do have a different charger/maintainer that I could try.

 

So it starts when you hook up the jump pack...does everything work properly then? (starter, lights, etc)
And did you just hook it to the battery, you didn't jump out the starter solenoid with it?

 

I don't recommend it. Vicious they are...

 

It’ll start just fine with the jump pack. I hadn’t tried the lights with the pack hooked up. I should do that.

Here’s a pic of the charger I’m using.

 

That should work fine.

 

That charger is what I used to charge the battery Friday night before my failed attempt to use the electric start on Saturday morning.