A little Battery 101

Feel free to add to this.

I have noticed that alot of people are having issues with batteries, eg. dying prematurely, drainage, how to install ect,ect. I am not an expert in this field but I will add my two lincolns for any insight. First of all if you purchase a new motorcycle battery I believe it tells you that the battery needs to be charged before use, they are not ready to go like a car battery, technically a car battery needs to be charged to but since the AH rating and reserve capacity is much higher than a motorcycle battery it will start your car. Anyways, new batteries...charge them. Now an easy method to check for a draw on quads with fuse panels... remove the + batt. terminal connect a test light or a multimeter set to amps to the + wire and stick the point to the + batt terminal if the test light is glowing or the meter is reading anything other than zero then there is a draw, start pulling fuses one at a time until the light goes out, once it does check to see what the fuse operates, chances are that the culprit will more than likely be a accessory port (cigarette lighter) or a corroded headlamp bulb socket, because we all never ride our quads in the mud,water or snow. the last thing I would like to mention is cleanliness: make sure your terminals are all cleaned and sealed (die-electric grease) then pick yourself up a can of battery terminal cleaner, the yellow foaming spray that turns pink when it comes in contact with acid. spray the entire battery let it set for a few min and spray it off with water. before you do that heres a test to prove a battery will draw itself down. get your trusty multimeter out select the proper voltage for your battery now clip the ground lead to the - battery terminal then take the positive meter lead touch the battery + then touch the top of the DIRTY battery by the + post slide the meter lead towards the - terminal I think you will be amazed that the top of your battery is carrying voltage. Cleaning will not totally eliminate this but it will help a great deal. Feel free to add anything to this for I know I haven't covered everything. I hope this helps out

ADDED:Also guys if you are charging your battery make sure you unhook it from your quad. power surges and spikes are not good for you bikes electrical system, jumping is fine just don't switch it to the 200 amp boost setting you may burn up a starter or solenoid.