dead battery

sounds like time for a new one

check the charging voltage on the machine when it is running. use a voltmeter across the battery posts and tell us what the meter says at idle and about 1/4 throttle with the lights off and with the lights on.

Don't ride the machine that often...wondering if I should pull the battery between rides? You think the LCD display that keeps track of time and hours would be enough to drain the battery?

Does your winch have a direct wire switch(usually a big switch has 4 large gauge wires going to it 10 gauge) or a contractor/selenoid (smaller switch with 3 smaller wires maybe 16gauge).

If you have a direct wire switch the problem might be in the winch switch. I had a problem with this on my bike. What I did to fix it was put a 25amp on/off toggle switch in the (+) wire going from the battery to the switch. When ever I wasn't using the winch, flip the toggle to the off position.

A battery tender is a good investment if the bike sits for a while between rides.

Hope this helps.

Blessings,
TRHOD

HondaMechanic,
Interesting information...I was not aware of this...Thanks
TRHOD,
I do have a Superwinch with a 4 wire direct connect but I usually disconnect it because I have heard this can lead to discharge...it has been disconnected for some time. I also have a trickle charger that I don't always connect as I probably should...but now it won't charge the battery.
If noone else has these recurring problems then I will start to look at this situation as unique and start looking deeper to solve this issue.
Thanks again all for the responses!

Sounds like your battery is no good, my wife had the same exact problem with hers and after checking her charging system, I swapped the battery with mine, 2 days later the same battery was dead again. If it won't take a charge from your trickle charger then your battery voltage is probably way to low for it to take, once a lead acid battery gets very low, say 1-3 volts the chance of it recovering are usually very slim.

If thats the original battery id say its time for a new one. If you got 5-6 years out of your battery you def got what you paid for with that battery.

I thought I just got a weak battery from the factory and after replacing it have seen the second battery sucked dry! Not rally a big deal but a real annoyance and frustrating because it won't stop. My brother's Foreman did the same thing by the way. Must be something in the air here

Do you have it hooked up right? Not tryin' to sound like a smarty pants, but
on my other atv i used to have, my battery went dead & i bought a new one.
It went dead after one day of ridin'. The problem was, i had the battery
cables crossed. It sucked it dead. What a moron i was.

I think it is hooked up correctly but I will check it out.