Our Rhino 450 Special addition 2007 got 10 or 11 years out of the original battery before a bad cell left me stranded on one of the highest hills on July 4 of 2018. The only place open that day was Advance Auto so we bought a new one but the last couple of days have been hit or miss when trying to start it. I put the battery on a trickle charger a few nights ago and it ran fine the next day, last night I had the battery maintainer on it (the light on the maintainer was green this morning) but it wouldn't start. I tested the battery and it read 14 volts but under load it read bad, I thought we would get more years out of it but I guess not. I guess I'll take it in and have Advance Auto test it just to make sure my battery tester is good, I have it on the battery maintainer tonight just for the hell of it.
Yep. But they'll run it on their battery analyzer. Is there any warranty on the battery? 2 years of pretty bad, especially on a trickle/ float charger.
There's that. But typically trickle chargers are good at not doing that. thewoodlands , what brand charger? Does it go to "float" once charged?
My battery seems to be run down most of the time now but even jumper cables don't seem to get me started.
I have the Deltran Battery Tender Plus Charger and Maintainer (comes with the ring or alligator clip attachment) but it was never on the Rhino until the battery was bad. Both the Deltran and the trickle charger will go into what I call float mode when the battery is done charging. The guy I talked with at Advance Auto said I was lucky that I got two years out of it and the warranty was 90 days. I also have a Carquest Battery Maintainer on the tractor which works nice. When the original battery went bad on the highest part of our property on July 4, I bought the battery Advance Auto had that matched. the original battery was sealed but not the Advance Auto battery. After taking the battery out last night so I could bring it into a local tractor dealer, they tested it and it was fine until they put it under load, they said it most likely had a bad cell. The batteries they sell are sealed but the one they had was bigger than what would fit in the Rhino's battery compartment. They said that they should (not positive) have a delivery of batteries coming in on Wednesday before Thanksgiving and they'll have the correct size so I didn't purchase a battery today. Since I was going into town the wife needed me to stop at a few places, the first place didn't have what she wanted and the second place was mostly out of the dog food we feed the dog but we still have good inventory but will check early this week.
That's a good one. You might consider an AGM battery (commonly referred to as a "gel" battery) they are more money, but typically last a long time. I've had OEM batteries that lasted a long time, and some that didn't...but all in all, they are usually worth a little extra $ in my experience...
Thanks for the info but since I told the dealer that I would take a battery if they come in Wednesday, I'll wait but if they don't come in on that date, I'll check on the AGM batteries.
The local dealer who had said they might have their battery order before Thanksgiving never received it so I went to Advance Auto and bought a gel battery. I hooked it up yesterday afternoon and took it for a night run around the house trails with everything working fine so far, I also have the battery tender ring hookups on it so we're set for winter and some runs back in. I mentioned the other night to the wife about selling the Rhino and she said no so we'll put the miles on the Rhino running back in and around on the bigger piece of property but still use the RTV for plowing and around the house lot.
The Deltran Battery Tender Plus Charger and Maintainer is good for a regular battery, a gel and a third type that I'll have to get of the box the maintainer came in.
Good that you got an AGM battery for it. They really do last a lot longer than typical lead acid ones
That's ridiculous. What kind of a dealer shuts down for winter? ATVs/ UTV's can and do get run all year. They don't sell snowmobiles? Seems like a bad way to run this kind of business.
Yep... Bat Tenders have worked well for us. About 8 years ago, I decided to add the short pigtail connector they supply, to all of my equipment using batteries... even our old Jeep... and kept them all (6 total) plugged in. Those batteries never failed to hold a full charge cap. Guess the battery likes to be topped off 24/7.
I've had one on the tractor battery since 2017 and it has never failed me, I wish that it was on the first year but I used the trickle charger the first winter.
I'm sure the business isn't there or else they would stay open. There are more guys doing work on the side without a sales tax number that hurts the guys who do have a sales tax number. With our area getting less snow each year, it makes that season even shorter so they have less work when it comes to the snowmobiles.
After getting the Gel battery and running it for a few days, there was a different smell so I called the business where we bought it. They had checked it before we bought it (everything tested fine) so I pulled the battery checking for any leaks, none. I was told to run it for a week and see how it was, yesterday after putting the Rhino in the garage the battery took forever to charge off the maintainer so I new something was wrong. Today I took the battery in and the reserve volts tested bad, since the warranty is only for a new battery and not credit, I had them order the same which will be in tomorrow morning. Before I did the above, I called a local dealer who has batteries from Interstate and since they had them in we bought one. We'll see if it was the battery or something else on the Rhino is going bad. I did put the battery from Interstate in when I came home and took it for a run and everything seemed fine. I did put it on the maintainer and before I left the garage it had gone from red (that's normal) to a flashing green which means it's 80 percent charged or above 80 percent.
I'm not sure when I started the Rhino last but today I took the battery tender off it and took it for a spin, all was good. Tomorrow I'll start the Stihl 311 and the 390, hopefully I can start cutting something around the third week of March.
