I have a 2002 Savage. 7600 miles.
I posted a couple of weeks ago about an electrical problem and it seemed that I had a bad battery.
I put a new battery in it Friday and the same thing happened Tuesday morning. We`ve checked the battery and it shows to be bad.

My question is:
                    I can jump the bike off without the battery in it. W hen I take the cables off, it will idle fine, but will not take much gas. It starts popping and sputtering. Does this mean that the magneto is bad?? I can hook the cables back up and it will run like a charm. I don`t know much at all how the electrical system works on a bike. Someone please let me know about the magneto. Thanks. G Harper

I haven`t tried to push start it without the battery, but I can jump start it without the battery. When I unhook the jumper cables, it will idle fine, but will not take the gas or as you say, it runs like crap.

Furthermore, unless you have a known good battery all electrical tests other than simple resistance tests of the alternator coil legs (3 legs) is rendered dubious by association.

Get a known good fully charged battery into your scoot then we can help you with the troubleshooting steps.

You also need to get a Clymer manual to refer to.   We have an on-line manual referenced in the tech section if you can't afford one.

Lastly, a question -- you bought a new battery and it went BAD instantly???  Take that sucker back and get your money back ASAP.   Somebody sold you a stale battery -- Walmart won't even do that to you as their stock inventory program keeps them hand to mouth (fresh) on batteries.

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Personally, I buy lead-acid batteries that I put the acid into them my very own self -- that way they stay neutral in storage and don't age any at all until I wet them and charge them just before putting them into service.   I always get maximum service life out of a lead acid battery.

Buying a pre-wet lead acid battery just means I lost some service life unnecessarily.

Exception:  Big Crank gel pack batteries come wet but are a "longer than standard life" battery anyway and Big Crank manages their inventory to assure good customer use life once you get it.   People here on the list only have good things to say about Big Crank gel pack batteries.

OK. I read the clymer manual on no-load performance test. It says to start the engine and let it warm up, then disconnect the 3-pin electrical connector from the voltage regulator and start the engine. I`m still jumping it off. When I disconnect the jumper cables from the bike with the connector disconnected, the bike dies, so I can`t perform the voltage test.

This might help someone in the future.

I put the new battery on charge yesterday afternoon. The last time I checked it last night, had been 6 hrs, and it still was not fully charged.
Note: The other two batteries(a different brand) only took 1 1/2 hrs to charge. One lasted 6 mnth and the other, 4 days.
I put the new battery in this morning and unplugged the connector going to the voltage regulator, and got more than 100 volts at each leg, at 5000 rpm`s. I believe this means that the alternator is good, which I was thinking was bad. I will ride to work for the next 3 days and will give everyone an update.