polaris 400 explorer charging problem

[dairyman]

my explorer--1995--will not keep my battery charged. Short of taking it in to the dealer --is there anything that I can check to see what the problem may be

thanks

[Dave S]

Tough to say without knowing how old the battery is or how well it's been maintained, loose connections to the battery or ground, or how often the machine is used. Based on your post, I'm inclined to believe that this wouldn't be the issue.

If the above is true, then I would consider looking at the stator.

[norm]

If the battery is in good condition it's probably the voltage regulator. Don't usually see many stator issues on the 2 strokes but that's a possibility too.

[jigging-matt]

I have a 99 explorer and the same thing happened a few years ago. Was the voltage regulator. Wasn't to bad to have done.

[spearchucker]

First check and clean all connections. Put a voltmeter across the battery terminals while it is running at a few thousand RPMs, the voltage should be around 14V. If it is a lot higher or fluctuating the regulator is probably bad. If it is too low, the battery could be bad. If low check the input to the voltage regulator to see if it is getting a proper voltage.