New battery suggestions

[p5200]

Hello folks, I have a Polaris 500 Scrambler. Not positive I need a new battery.  The folks I got the ride from said they put a new battery on it right before selling it to me. It's been a couple cold months before I tried starting it. After jumping it now, I let it idle plus revved it quite a bit for about 20 minutes. Then I shut it off and tried to restart barely turns over and that's it? Am I not giving it enough charge time maybe need to actually ride it? The battery on it is a Continental CTX9-BX. I lf a new battery is needed would maybe Amazon have a decent one? Thanks!

[davefrombc]

Put the battery on a charger to  charge it right up.. If it was left for a couple of months without a battery maintainer on it the  charge  on it  could have been  very low  and  a 20  minute charge  from  the  quad's system  would not likely bring it to anywhere near a full charge.  I  just did a search on your battery and the recommended battery for your quad.  Your battery is woefully inadequate for that machine.  It  is rated for 120 cold cranking amps  and  likely only 9 amp hours reserve.   Specs for your quad calls for a battery with 210  CCA and 14 Ah reserve.  The little battery  in your scrambler  might start ok  when  the battery is full  charged and in warm  weather , but  in the cold  it is not likely going to do well even  if fully charged.

[Gwbarm]

I would put about a 2 amp charger on it leave it over night and see if it charges up.

[Mech]

Good call Dave..

[p5200]

Thanks very much fellas, I think I'll do a little checking around and see if I can find a more adequate battery. I'm sure I can find a use for the one that's on there. I don't know if Amazon has anything at a reasonable price or not. 🙂

[p5200]

Anyone know if this battery will physically fit my Scrambler 500? Thank Again 🙂     https://www.amazon.com/RG14AH-WS-Cranking-Polaris-Sportsman-BATTERY/dp/B073QW7ND3/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1KW5XXB3ZNKJG&keywords=2005+Polaris+500+HO+Scrambler+battery&qid=1706392841&s=automotive&sprefix=2005+polaris+500+ho+scrambler+battery%2Cautomotive%2C173&sr=1-1&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.006c50ae-5d4c-4777-9bc0-4513d670b6bc

[davefrombc]

The dimensions of that battery are shown  in the  amazon  ad.Measure your battery box to see if it will fit .. If you search for  a battery for the specific year and model  it should take you to  ads for compatible batteries .

[p5200]

Ok, if it ever quits raining here I'll get out there and measure it Thanks!  🙂

[Gwbarm]

The renegade will fit it will be about an inch shorter on the length but thats ok.

[p5200]

Thanks GW  🙂

[p5200]

Put the new Renegade battery on today. It starts up great! Of course it's 60 degrees today 😂 Now I think I should probably get a charger for when I might need it. I'm going to get something versatile for the car, Scrambler, and riding mower. 🙂

[Gwbarm]

👍    I use maintenance chargers 2 amp for my smaller batterys in motorcycles and ATV, i also use them on my cars for the ones i dont use that often, but if you are charging a dead car battery i use a 6 amp, dont really like to chaarg with anything stronger than that its not good for the battery. If you are really in a hurry with a car battery i crank it with a jumper pack and let it run for a while and charge with the cars alternator. 

[davefrombc]

I  keep 1 or 2 amp  maintainers on all my batteries that aren't used regularly .  One is on my quad,  one on my riding mower, one on a jump stater / air compressor  pack  and one on my 3/4 tom 4x4. They're far cheaper than replacing  batteries that have lost capacity or completely failed  because they sulphated up from  self discharge while the machines sat idle for extended  periods. A battery kept  charged up on a maintainer can  last several years while one allowed to sit at less than  full charge  may  fail  within  a year or two.

[p5200]

My Renegade battery says not to use a maintainer. Says this battery was not designed for that it can shorten the battery life. Also says don't use larger than 1.5 amp automatic charger. Sounds like maybe I should have bought something else?

[Mech]

The recommended rate of charge for a lead acid battery is amps at ten to twenty percent of the amp-hour rating of the battery. I'm not sure what the rate is for AGM but it's probably at the lower end of those figures.

Once a battery is charged, even a car size battery, then two amps is plenty of amps. Two amps is what a car battery will take to keep it's voltage up to 14.5 volts. Two amps is quite a lot for a maintenance charge and would likely make it use water.

A good battery shouldn't loose more than ten percent of it's charge in a month, which is so little that it doesn't harm or take life cycles out of the battery's life. A battery life has a certain number of discharge cycles, but they only consider it a cycle if the battery gets below eighty percent of it's capacity.

You P5200 could just connect your charger once a month for between four and eight hours and it will be plenty enough to keep the battery fully charged. Two to four hours will probably be enough even.

Edited February 3, 2024 by Mech

[p5200]

Thanks Mech, I'll copy that info and keep it on hand. 🙂

[Gwbarm]

Never heard that but maybe AGM reacts differently to being maintained daily. I know they dont like to be charged with high amperage  or quickly.

[Mech]

AGM don't have water to boil away from being at 14.5 volts for long periods of time. I don't think they would really like being held at 14.5 for too long though. Starter batteries are made for high discharge for a brief time, and to then be topped up and only run(or charged) for a limited period of time. Deep cycle batteries for power supplies and stand-by power get charged to 14.5 for an hour or four and then throttled back to 13.6, which they can sit at indefinitely with just an occasional top up of water. If they get charged at 14.5 they get hot, and also bubble a lot, and use a lot of water, and are probably damaging the plates. Bubbling is physically hard on the plates.

Modern smart chargers these days though, and especially those maintenance type chargers, will all most certainly throttle the voltage off to about 13.6 after an hour or two of 14.5.

Trojan batteries has a lot of interesting reading about batteries and their maintenance and performance and all sorts of stuff. .