The three front headlights will not work. I have checked the connections. The small amber lamp within the larger front main beam will work. The brake light works. The reverse and neutral lights work. I have only had it for one month. The headlights have always worked up until today. I have not driven it in water. This is a Christmas present so my son hasn't even seen it. I think it might be the headlight switch on the left handlebar but I really have no idea. Also when they did work, they would get brighter when the engine was revved up.

Here is a picture of the switch.

 

When the headlight did work, did the lights work with the ignition switch on and the quad motor stopped? If they did work then your quad headlights are powered off the battery. If the lights were out until you started the engine the headlights are powered on AC power straight off the stator.

Did you get a wiring diagram with your quad?

If your lights are AC powered I wonder if your low voltage AC power winding out of the stator is working at all. Start up the quad and measure the DC battery voltage at the battery with the engine running at a fast clip. You should measure 13.5 to 14.5 volts DC. Actually you are measuring the battery charging system including the voltage regulator, but since all this runs off the AC low voltage power winding it is measuring that winding for proper operation indirectly.

 

I checked the voltage of the battery:
At idle 12.8v
Revved up 13.1v

I rechecked the connection of the front main beam and pulled the white connectors (main beam and amber light) apart and reconnected them. I checked the front lights and guess what? They were working!!!! I could have had the connectors connected too tight so I pulled them back until they caught on the white pin of the male connector. This worked so I left well enough alone.

 

once you feel comfortable you got the problem repaired, use electrical tape to secure the connections and zip ties/electrical zip ties to secure the wiring harnesses to the frame. that way you still have some slack for movement but also restricting slack from catching on things and ripping apart. it's up to you though..........

 

I will definitely secure them as you suggested. Do you have any ideas for waterproofing/mudproofing the wires, plastic connectors, and/or electrical system?

 

sorry, i don't know of any. BUT, we do have MUDDERS in the forum. they probably got great ideas that they've applied to their quads and should be able to help you out. HELLO MUDDERS! can you give him some advice? either wait for a reply, or post a question about waterproofing the wiring for mudding in the subject line. that'll get some attention.

 

This is a complicated subject.

For quads it is a little simpler because the majority of connections are low voltage, and leakage currents of a few milliamps don't matter. Other electronics can be different. If you drop your cell phone in the toilet or spill a beer into your laptop it may (or probably will) have a bad outcome. And there are many other issues there. But dunking a quad into fresh water isn't that much of a concern as long as you can dry it out.

That last statement is the important one: The connections have to dry out. If you look at the typical quad connectors you'll see that there is a lot of air around the connections, and lots of ways for the water to escape. Water will attack low voltage electrical connections on quads, but it does this relatively slowly. So this gives two different approaches to the basic problem:

1) Keep all water *absolutely* away from bare electrical connections.

2) Put connections as far away from water as practical, use splash guards etc, but if it gets there then let it drain and evaporate as quickly as possible.

Number two above has a secondary design guideline: Don't let water easily bridge across wires operating at different voltages. That's why connectors usually have plastic tunnels that separate the adjacent connections. This breaks up water beads and thwarts bridging.

Plan number one above is *extremely* difficult to implement. Ever tried to water proof something that goes swimming? It's really hard. And if water gets past the seals it can't evaporate back out. It sits in there and festers away. A leak in a 'water tight' connection is *much* worse over time than the more simple plan two where things are allowed to dry out.

So that's why you see plan two being implemented on most quads.

Another thing you can do to improve plan 2 is to coat the electrical connections with dielectric grease. All this does is coat the connections with something that sloughs off water (like a fresh wax job on a car), and prevents corrosion by forming a thin insulating layer over the outer skin on the connector pin.

 

Thanks Lynn and Jaster. I will use dielectric grease to cover the plastic connections. Hopefully, this will reduce the amount of electrical problems. Where we ride is a mixture of dry/wet. I am not very good with the electrical. Kind of freaks me out. Thanks again for all of your help.

 

I replaced the left front switch assembly and it has been fine ever since. The solder joints in the old switch were pathetic to say the least. The switch was about $23. I put dielectric grease on the new connectors. Wish I would have replaced it sooner.

 

awesome! glad you got it going. have fun and enjoy.......