This morning I was going to go out and plow the driveway but I noticed that one of my front tires where down. So I plugged in my tire pump and after a couple of minutes the pump shut off. I thought it just wiggled itself out. But it was still plugged in and I noticed the gauge lights were all out. When I unplug the pump the lights come back on. Anybody heard of this before? Thanks

 

Did the pump drain the battery causing the lights to go out? Was the ATV running when you had the pump going? I've used the pump from the socket on the ATV and my car, and notice that the pump will run very slow when the engines are not running, and very fast with the engine running. That right there tells me how demanding they are on the juice available to them. I think that if you engine wasn't running, the pump drained the battery to the point where the lights went out, then when the pump was unplugged, there was enough juice again to light the gauge.

This is just my opinion, I'm no electrical expert that's for sure.

 

Quad was running the whole time, Noticed that the pump just quit. I thought the plug fell out but it didn't. Then I noticed with it plugged in that the gauge lights go out, as soon as I unplug it the lights come back on. I drove over to the truck and filled the tire from there. Pump works fine from the socket in the truck.

 

I would still throw a Multimeter on the battery terminals or at least check the voltage at the 12V outlet to see what the voltage is. If it is < 12V, you found your problem.

Even with the engine running, the alternator will not put out much power. They are rated at a particular RPM. My new 08' 800 is rated at 500W, at 3000RPM. At idle, I bet the alternator just wasn't putting out the power that the pump was consuming, and as the Polaris battery is so much smaller than say a typical car battery, I'm guessing it still drained the battery. You can always run the senario again with a meter on the battery, and see how low the volts go when you plug in the pump.

Tom
Bryson City, NC

 

Would it not dim the headlights as well if the battery was low? The headlights were nice and bright when this was happening. I will check the voltage tonight though to rule anything out.

 

I would say, Yes, the headlights should have dimmed.

Tom
Bryson City, NC

 

Just a guess but it sounds like you tripped a circuit breaker.

 

The eCM in the newer Polaris has two built in circuit breakers in there for protection!!!........When my ECM failed the first time, The quad's engine would just shut off when I turned my headlights on!!!...........Although my ECM was faulty, It was doing this for the same reason as yours I do believe!!!......Did you need to turn the key to the off position and then ahead to reset??..........Caper...........

 

Checked the voltage this morning and it was 14.6 with engine off. Running I think it was 16-18. But I tried the tire pump again just for a second and it worked. I had to leave for work so I didn't get to see if the pump would shut off after a couple of minutes. And Caper I didn't turn the key off yesterday to reset it. Will it keep "tripping" on me? Or is this just a fluke?

 

Not sure, but should the voltage be that high with the engine OFF? It wasn't too long ago that another member was blowing headlight bulbs because his charging system was putting out too much. I'll try to find that thread.