New battery in my ATV is dead already

Doc

Admin
Staff member
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I bought the battery last May. Installed it. Ran the ATV some. Then hooked up a battery tender to it. Used it a few times in June / July time frame. No issues. Went to start it in early Oct and it was dead as a doornail. Nothing. Battery tender appeared fine.
Frustrated but I was getting ready for a little FL vacation so I left it sit. Got back to it yesterday to take the battery out of ATV and back to Auto Zone. I fear it was only a 90 day warranty but figured it was worth a shot. Unhooking the battery I notice the positive terminal of the battery tender is missing. Found it hiding down beside the negative battery terminal. I totally missed that when hooking the battery up. Duh. Totally my fault. So now the battery is on charge. No indication that it's taking the charge. 120 bucks trickled away. And all my own dumb fault. :bonk:
 

bczoom

Senior Member
Staff member
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Don't give up on that battery.
The trickle charger may be giving it a "soft start" and may take upwards of a week to get it fully charged.
If you have a bigger charger (2A, 5A or 10A), you may want to use that for a day or three to get it up to around 80% then use the trickle charger.
I wouldn't go over 10A on a small battery like that.
 

Doc

Admin
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
I didn't totally give up but after charging overnight on a 2amp charger I hooked it up and it worked. :eek: Shocked me. So then I finish hooking it up try to start ATV, no luck. Choked it, full throttle, made sure kill switch wasn't on and there was gas in the tank. Still no fire. WTH.
Kept trying cause this thing always has started up. Got off of it figuring I'd get back to it later. Just glad the battery was working. Then on a whim I put the gas on reserve and vroom vroom she fired right up. Geesh. Sometimes I make things hard on myself. LOL All good now.
Thanks BC, for your input.
 
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