Another battery question?

[FishaHallic]

OK, I used my plow attachment on the quad today and I have another battery question.

Everything worked fine when I first started using the plow today (my first time using it, and for the most part the first time using the winch except for a little bit on one ride) but the more I raised and lowered the blade, the quad started to die. Now I assume it was because it was draining the battery so much because it would not start back up with the starter I had to pull start it each time.

By the time I was done with my driveway which is 3 cars + wide and maybe 1 1/2 cars deep I could barely lift the plow off the ground with the winch because the battery was so low. That does not seem right, I have never been with you guys when you did any winching but I have never heard of you guys talking about the winch draining your battery that bad.
Now Kendo you might remember this but the contactor box thingy that sits under my seat where all the cables come together for the winch still clicks when under a load and I wonder if it could be that or is it normal for the winch to drain the battery that bad.

WAIT, before you answer that question, remember I took the battery in to the shop and had a load test done when I thought I was having a battery issue earlier and the battery is good. I also drained the battery down while installing the snow plow this weekend but I rode the quad on some local trails for about 2 hrs on Sunday which recharged the battery because it started right up today before I started winching. One last thing YES Kendo, I checked the connections on the battery

[BearCat]

Charge it overnight..try again. A couple hr ride may charge the battery enough to start it but then go plough snow without a good charge and you may be asking for to much. Are you running with lights on? On the Polaris you'll get a warning on the gauge cluster if your drawing to much power from the batt. I've never had that happen...yet LOL.

Mind you if the battery is weak to begin with the cold and running it down may be telling you its time for a new one...Being an 07 I doubt it, but ya never know, stranger things happen with these machines.

[MrBill]

I would think that you may have a weak battery because I can plow half the day and not have a problem.(have not had a full days worth of snow to plow) I only have a 250 watt alternator on the big bad-ass 500 HO

[Kendo]

Agreed. Put that battery on a trickle charge overnight and get a good deep charge on it. If it still kills the battery running the winch, then look at the contactor and possibly your alternator not working.

[d2photo]

gotta go with the guys on the bad battery thing - I had MANY days of full day plowing last year - had no issues what so ever with lifting at any time.

or getting the cat started the next morning.

[GrizzlyGuy]

Now Kendo you might remember this but the contactor box thingy that sits under my seat where all the cables come together for the winch still clicks when under a load and I wonder if it could be that or is it normal for the winch to drain the battery that bad.

Dave,

A while back, Warn issued a recall for some of their contactors (the 8-post types):

http://www.warn.com/atv/contactor_recall.jsp

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml07/07027.html

If you have one of those and it seems to get real hot while operating your winch, that could be your problem. Warn will replace it for free.

[FishaHallic]

Damn, I wish it was the contactor Griz but mine does not look like that. I'll try the trickle charge and give it a good go the next time it snows. In the meantime I think I will order that new roller fairlead and see if that may help alittle. If none of this works I'll have to have the alternator checked I suppose. Thanks for the help

[GrizzlyGuy]

Cool, sounds like you have the 6-posters like me. I was sweatin' bullets when I heard about that recall. I used to store my TP down by Mr. Contactor, under the seat in the old Grizzly, and that sounded like a potential wienie roast that I sure didn't want to be hosting.