I went to start my daughter's KFX90 and it has a dead battery. What can I use to charge it? I placed it on a battery tender for a few days and it did nothing at all. Is it okay to place a regular car charger on the battery and use the 2 amp, automatic switch? I also bought a new gel battery (I think it is a BPE5 model number) for my wife's CRF230 from Wal-Mart. How do I charge it as well? Thanks for your help! I want to make sure that I do not ruin these batteries and that they are properly charged.

The battery in you daughters quad sounds like it's no longer accepting a charge, meaning you may need a new one. Some automatic chargers have a desulfation process that can save a battery, but this process applies a heavy amount of voltage to a battery, about 15-18 volts...I think it would cause further damages to that little battery. I would just buy a new one. Usually it would say at what amperage the battery should be charged right on the battery, but I charge my quad batteries at 1.5/2 amps with a car charger.

Some automatic chargers have an option for "gel" batteries. I bought my automatic charger from wal-mart a few years ago. It's an auto charger that does it all. I believe it's a Schumacher. I have used my small battery tender type trickle charger on gel batteries and worked good for me. It was on a Optima Red Top in my buggy.

Hope this helps,

Frank

Thanks Frank! My daughter just left the key on, on her 2009 Kawasaki 90 quad and I think this killed the battery. Since it is a 2009 quad I don't want to buy a new battery just yet. Do you think I can just throw the car charger on it at the 2 amp setting for about 30 minutes? The new battery I just bought is a gel battery. Is it okay to charge a gel battery using the 2 Amp setting on a regular car charger. I hate to spend the money to go buy a new charger.

All small motorcycle batteries should be charged at 2 amps, regardless of type. Charge that 90 battery @ 2amps and see what happens, it might recover, and you have nothing to lose.

i would try the two amp setting and watch the needle on the charger, if it goes up, its working.
try it for 30. min. like u said, then wait another 30 min and ck it with a voltmeter. also touch the
batt. while charging to ck for exessive heat. good luck.

I would defintely try to revive the 90 battery with the 2amp car charger. What happens sometimes to batteries when they are over discharged, internally they go into negative polarity and will not see "any" charging, but def give it a try, it may save ya 50 bucks! I have used a regular car charger on my Optima Red Top which is a gel battery and worked fine. So I think it should work fine on your battery.

Good luck bro!

Frank

For what it's worth, I have found that the battery tenders don't recognize being connected to a battery if the voltage is below about 10.5 volts, which it would be with the key left on. I bet if you connect the charger to it for a while, then switch back to the tender you will be fine.

To properly charge a battery, you can't charge it any more than 10% of its amp/hour rating without causing a drop in the lifespan. I'm not sure what the rating is on those smaller batteries but a battery tender is the correct way to bring it up to a full charge. I use a battery tender jr. at .75 amps for my small batteries. BrianR has the right info with attaching it to your 2 amp charger enough to bring the volts up where the battery tender will charge it, maybe 15 minutes or so. Then hitting it with the battery tender.

Thanks Guys! The 90's battery is getting charged as we speak. Hopefully it will work because I do not want to have to buy another battery. BTW, Why in the "H" is a motorcycle battery $60.00!! They should be about $30.00!! Are you kidding me?

i got one off the internet for less, just google it. mailed it to me dry. took some acid out of an old car batt.
with a turkey baster, charged it up, good to go.

I hear ya man. The yuasa battery in my streetbike was $120 from the cheapest place online I could find it.

I've bought many batteries for many different types of vehicles....most expensive ones were the smallest ones!! WTF!!! I dunno.....

dont they usually send it with an acid pack to dump in?

Simple
The Law of Inverse Proportions
Its the Bikini Rule
The smaller the suit
the more expensive it is


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X2 here. I also wired in a Battery Tender plug to my CRF450X. That way it's easy and I just leave it plugged in so it's good to go.