I have a 200c redcat atv and just bought a brand new battery.. it wont start and to best describe it it sounds like it doesnt have enough battery power but i the battery is brand new and i checked it with a meter.. something like 12.4 volts...... i thought it might be the starter so i pulled it and hooked it up to my truck battery.. it was spinning fine but i dont know if that could still be the problem or not... before i try and buy one online i was seeing if anyone had any suggestions... i just bought the quad used and havent had it running yet... the person had it running for a second with the old battery and a jump pack.. any suggestions??

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00' Kawasaki 220 bayou
74' honda xl250
06' 200cc redcat

You need to charge the battery!

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it said if it was over 12 not to charge it

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00' Kawasaki 220 bayou
74' honda xl250
06' 200cc redcat

it's cca's (cold cranking amps) not voltage that you need to start the quad, charge the battery for 4 hours on a 2 amp charger, better yet if you have a battery tender use that to charge the battery .

i have a 1.5 amp slow charger

can i use that and have it on a little longer? it tells you when it is supposedly charged but i dont know if its accurate.. i borrowed it from someone

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00' Kawasaki 220 bayou
74' honda xl250
06' 200cc redcat

Yep, that will charge it fine. After adding the acid to the battery cells the new batteries require a slow charge. Let that battery charger do its thing and wait for the green charged light. Those little automatic chargers do a pretty good job.

I keep both my ATVs hooked up to a battery tender charger all the time when not in use. Otherwise the battery will loose it's charge if it sits long enough without being used.

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Vbike 250 V4S (Red, black trim)
TaoTao ATA-150B Utility (Red)

ok so i went and charged it until it said it was done... hooked it up and tried to start it... still sounds like its a dead battery - the fan slows down and the light goes dim and it makes a weird noise... battery terminals started smoking.. both wires were hot and starting to melt around battery they were hot all the way to the starter relay and the starter was a little warm... any ideas?

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00' Kawasaki 220 bayou
74' honda xl250
06' 200cc redcat

Hey tja349 did you here the ATV running before you bought it because it almost sounds like the engine is locked up. The starter seems to work and the battery is topped off. The starter jsut dosnt seem to be able to turn the engine over. The wires getting that hot is not a good sign. I'd pull the starter back out and see if you can turn the engine by hand using a prybar to move the gear in that hole were the starter bolts in.

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Vbike 250 V4S (Red, black trim)
TaoTao ATA-150B Utility (Red)

hey i just checked that out it was spinning i could actually use my finger to spin it around. and for it running b4.. they had it running with a jump pack on the old battery and it ran for a second.. i have tried that with my jump pack but it doesnt work.. maybe theres was more powerful... it only ran for a few seconds i was able to rev it a couple times i think but then it stauled and when i went to try and start it again the pack was drained..

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00' Kawasaki 220 bayou
74' honda xl250
06' 200cc redcat

Edited: 05/06/2008 at 10:09 PM by tja349

Try Jumping the atv with your car using jumper cables. If it starts fine then it may be a bad battery even though it's new it still could be defective, any way it will rule out the battery as the problem.

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Jetmoto ATV 250 Sport Blue
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Honda CM450c
78 Honda CB750
79 Honda XL500

Well thats good that it isn't locked up. outfline is right, try jump starting it with a car and jumper cables.

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Vbike 250 V4S (Red, black trim)
TaoTao ATA-150B Utility (Red)

Sounds to me like the starter is pulling too many amps under a load. Only way get wires that hot is a bad connection or high amp loads. If you try to jump it watch those wires closely, don't want a melt down....

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George
2006 Marshin Titan 200cc Utility
http://forums.atvconnection.co...10&threadid=526512
2008 110cc Hanma Utility R-9
http://forums.atvconnec...tid/10/threadid/537171

you don't want to jump it it with a car battery, what are these people thinking? if the battery cables are getting hot and smoking with the stock battery you sure don't want to add more amps and burn up the wireing harness, you need to take the starter out of the quad, and bench test it, this only takes a couple of minutes and you won't burn up the wiring. first after removing the starter turn it over by hand, and see if it binds or how hard it turns over, then put it in a vice hook up the battery, + to the starter terimal, - to ground, it should run like an electric motor, if it doesn't then thats your problem, if the starter works good then remove the flywheel cover and using a socket and a rachet turn the engine over, the engine should turn over reather easily,

stop what ever you're doing and start looking for a loose or badly connected ground wire, make sure their's bare metal under the ground wire terimal, if theirs paint remove it. a bad ground wire will make your battery wires hot and smoke.

ok so i got it to start but now when i try it again there seems to be no power at least not enough(the fan stops and the neutral like goes off and it stops cranking and trying to start).. should i try charging the battery again?.. is it bad to keep charging it? i havent done anything to it yet besides the initial charge a few days ago

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00' Kawasaki 220 bayou
74' honda xl250
06' 200cc redcat